they are concerned that the sustainability of large and one of the messages is that in this is the inability movement in the 70s the only thing the public could really do to show that they wanted it to assemble is to recycle. but now you can embrace clean energy and by alternative energy vehicles. there's so many things you can do, and i think that the big brand-name companies like coca-cola, the mcdonald's of the world, they view it because of their brand and also because their employees. employees are demanding. ..

thank you. thank you. >> thank you, see. thank you especially secretary hagel for joining us. let's start off with one bit of this. there is some ebola order today, tell us what the significance is. >> what i signed this morning was a memorandum to the chairman of joint chiefs of staff in response to the memorandum of recommendation i received from the chairman and the chiefs yesterday to go forward with a

policy of essentially 21 day incubation for our men and women who would be returning from west africa. that policy was put in place by the chief of staff of the army a couple of days ago for general williams, and 10 of his associates who are now back at their base in italy. and what i said in response this morning was, give me within 15 days the operational specifics of how that would work. and then i believe we should review the policy within 45 days. the fact is the military will have more americans in liberia than any other department. that's number one. number two, our people, our younger cohorts are different.

they are not volunteers. and this is also a policy that was discussed in great detail by the communities, by the families of our military men and women. and they very much wanted a safety valve on this. so that's essentially what the directive says. >> so that's the news of the day. let's talk about broader picture. steve mentioned all the parts of the world for thing things thate the concerns you and the military are blowing up. could you give us a brief the picture of a dangerous you think this time of history is? isn't chronic annoyance or actual danger? and when will the united states see some end to these wars, especially in a 13 year war in iraq and afghanistan? >> jim, i think we are living through one of these historic

defining times. i think we are seeing a new world order, post-world war ii, post-soviet union implosion being built. many questions about first among the american people and our leaders, what's the role of america in this new world that is evolving? should we have a role? what is appropriate? and the inventory of issues that steve mentioned coming onto the stage with you, and your question, gives us some snapshot into what we are all dealing with. each one of these issues, regardless of where they are, affects us now, will continue to affect us into the future. i said, chairman dempsey said, president obama has said, secretary kerry, others, that what we are seeing in the middle east with isis, isil, is going

to require a steady, long-term effort. it's going to require a coalition of common interest which we are forming. we have more than 60 countries now with us to deal with this. this is an ideology. this is a dynamic that in total we have never quite seen. then you look at all the other dimensions, the rise of china, russia, what russia has been doing the last six months. pandemic disease, ebola being an example. budget issues. we have a congress that can't work together. i hope that changes after next tuesday. i don't know but we need all of our institutions functioning, including the congress to do with these great issues. because they have long-term consequences, global warming. i mean, every facet that we see out there today is rolling back on us in some way. if we are not paying a price

today, we will pay the price to mark. >> the secretary made interesting speeches about the role of climate change as a security issue. you mentioned the role of the congress. it's a unique phenomenon and you were an influential center -- senator and there are four former members, president obama, joe biden, yourself in secretary kerry who are now in these positions a great executive authority at just the time when there seems be less congressional involvement in the decision-making, the accountability and the connection between defense policy and the public that historically has been the case. how should we think about this? is this a problem? >> well, in one way there is not less involvement. but the way i would say it, i think there's less partnership. and partnership is critical here because it isn't a matter of we all have to agree. that's not the issue. we need different opinions. but we've got to have a strong

enough partnership, for example, with us to allow us to make the kinds of reforms internally, whether its base closing or we don't need anymore of these planes on these ships, but we do need these for the future. we've got to have the partnership strong enough so that both sides can get to some conclusion and make a decision on how we go forward. congress is critically important here. it is article one of the constitution. i was in the congress as you noted. i was very protective of that constitutional responsibility. they control the money. they are closest to the people. so we need them, and i have tried in the time i have been secretary of defense to continue to reach out and build those partnerships. we can't do this any other way. and again, i'm hoping over the next couple of years we will see a culture of self correction.

because that's probably the greatest strength america has is with difficulties and problems and issues we can self correct. and i hope that comes together. >> i go back and ask again part of my initial question i through at the end, again it's been 13 years now that we've been involved in more or less open-ended combat in the middle east, about 1% of the population affected and the rest not. at what point, if ever, will and administration be able to say this war is over? >> i think the way we have to look at this is tyranny, terrorism, the challenges and threats to our country, the freedom for certainly the short

term is going to be with us. it's a reality. now, the challenges and threats to a nation, to an individual are not new in the sense that threats are new. the history of mankind has been about that. it's always the response and how do you do it. and we have to be smart here. we've got to the big things right. we won't get everything right. we've got to get the big things right. what i mean by that in answering your question, coalitions of common interest. we won't get it right with every country. we will agree with every country, but we've got to focus on in of common interests to build a relationship that deals with the threats to all our countries. isil, extremism, radicalism, terrorism is a threat to every state, to every society. we've got to build those platforms to work from there to get. unfortunately, i see these

things continue to stay out there, jim. i think we're in for longer-term challenge here than maybe any of us would help. but that's the world that we live in and we've got to be honest about that and we've got to be smart about it. >> the climate issue, in the senate you saw the extremely polarized discussion of climate and energy issues. now in the defense department it's been one of the leaders on awareness of these issues both the potential threat and fuel and all the rest. what is the defense department doing on climate issues, different fuels? might that change the broader national debate do you think? >> from my perspective within the portfolio that i have responsibility for, security of this country, climate change presents security issues for us. what do we mean by that? well, let's take the arctic.

glaciers are melting. there can be arguments about why but let's put those arguments the site. the fact is the glaciers are melting. you are saying that part of the world opened up. if, in fact, the continued we're going to see a new waterway right into the heart of the arctic. that means exploration for natural resources, oil and natural gas and minerals. that is going to attract, it already is, great powers. that there's a security dynamic to that. as the oceans increase, it will affect our basis. it will affect islands but it will affect security across the world. so just from my narrow perspective, what i have responsibility for, that's happening now and we have to be prepared for that.

the leadership as much anything else estimate in this room knows is to prepare the institution that you serve, that you lead for what's coming. and so we have laid out a new arctic strategy. i did that first in halifax last november. i was just in south america about a month ago to lay out the roadmap and how we are dealing with this. i just sent this morning one of our deputy assistant secretaries to iceland for a conference the next two days. this is critically important that we pay attention to this. bottom line is, with all the crises of the moment, and that's part of my job, to manage immediate crisis, we also cannot lose sight of the strategic longer-term challenges that face our country either. and this is one that we got to be smart in how we handle it. spent behind the political figures who would resist and argue about climate change respond differently when it's coming from the pentagon?

>> i think there is sometimes more of an awareness and edge put an issue it comes from the pentagon. only because the military, the pentagon has maybe at least perceived by many people in more serious look at the world. and doesn't mean the state department that series or anybody else, but when you talk about the military, i remember, jim, when i was in the senate one of the committees i served on was the senate select committee on intelligence. john warner and i introduced legislation a number of years ago to project and bring up in the intelligence committee authorization bill, a study on climate change on how it would affect our national security. and this was quite a few years ago. so i wasn't the only one

thinking about the john warner, john kerry, and bipartisan, a lot of people thinking about it. >> you were in china, is place where i've lived a long time coming country many people think could be the next competitor in some way to the united states. how from your perspective do you fear, not fear, pay attention to china and to details about your aircraft carrier visit there? >> well, i've been secretary of defense about two years now, and i have taken six long asia pacific attracts. and one of the visits was a four-day visit to china as you noted earlier this year, and the chinese gave me a tour of the retrofitted the training aircraft carrier that they bought from ukraine. that was an interesting experience but as i had an opportunity to visit other facilities, and i have over the years have some relationship

with china. i first went to china in 1983 as a businessman. that relationship is one that as i said earlier in more general terms that we need to make sure we get right. we are not going to agree with them. we don't in everything, but we should be focused, they should be focused, and i think we are in many ways, on where we can cooperate. they are great power. they will continue to be a great power. we are a great power. we have made a point on the asia-pacific we balance, that was not about trying to contain china. or to cut shine of short. we don't want that to happen. we are a pacific are. we been a pacific power. we have strong obligations and treaty obligations there in that area. our economic interests are in that area. we can cooperate. we want to make sure the air and maritime channels are free and open. that's clearly in her interest

in the interest of the world, not just economic interest of the world. so yes, we are going to have differences. we do have differences but we have far more areas with we can agree and that's where we should be focused. >> as a volunteer observation, i often saw the connective tissue between his military both actively and some retirees with our chinese counterparts which was an understanding tool between the countries i thought. >> i just met with state council gang when user a couple weeks ago, and when i was in his and i got in all their ambassadors well and was there a number of times. i've got some personal relationships that up and helpful, and we all know that nations are always responding in own self interest, that's predictable. that's good, but personal relationships are the looper got, just like in congress. if we could develop a little more of a personal relationship basis, the lubricant, it makes it less difficult. it doesn't change a policy but

it makes it better. >> in our last minute or two of want to ask a personal question. as the president noted when dominating you, your first enlisted veteran of your sort to lead the pentagon, ask you what your personal hope is in the remaining two plus years in this job. and also that time in which you serve, it was a very bitterly divisive vietnam area. you're not in the volunteer force anywhere a tiny fraction of america is serving while the rest of us are not involved. how does the experience of your vietnam service affect the we think about this ongoing service like this 1%? >> jim, we all are products of our experiences. and yes, it affected me. i was there in 1968, which was the worst year. we sent home 56,000 dead americans in one year. 2000 that today is unbelievable.

-- 2000 that today assembly the. i learned an awful lot like anybody does when you go through that. but it helps and i think in many ways to do this job and if nothing else, it has always made me aware of, be careful of unintended consequences, be careful of good intentions, always think through a whole sequence of questions. what happens, where's this going, what's the end result? and what could go wrong? and i wish are smart enough to have all the answers, i don't, but it's made me cautious. now, cautioned to appoint is okay but nothing you've got to make decision to get asked about the next two years. what i would hope the next two years we can do is bring this country back together to work together, to address these big, big issues coming at this country that will long-term

consequences for our society, for our next generation. that's what help we can do. i will do everything i can to continue to do that. we will have differences, okay, should debate those, that's okay but we've got to get the big things right and come together. >> well, please join in thanking secretary hagel forest service and for coming here today. >> thank you. thank you very much. [applause] >> steve, thank you. >> in mechanical injured out of mit, megan smith is a silicon valley leader and entrepreneur. she took on her role as the chief technology officer after serve as vice president of google x, developing google self-driving car. google glasses and drone delivery system project win. megan was part of the mit student in the design built and raced a solo across the a chilling out back. she joins us today to talk about her new job with buzzfeed editor

in chief. i'm hoping he asks her if she got president obama off his blackberry. spell run amok. this is quite a crowd. i may skip that question, steve. one thing i guess i did want to start on in the news, the white house was in the post today that the wireless network has been breached again. and i guess, maybe wonder, are the technologies here and their contractors, will they ever make products that are as good as gmail? or should they just give up and switch to the stuff getting built out of there? >> actually relates to specter m of the technology teams to our fabulous as -- i am aware the issues going on that attack not only folks can places like the white house but companies where i've worked before, et cetera. so the main thing there is a great team working on this and

working through it, and we will see where that goes. >> you think the tradition of having government contractors and government officials building their own e-mail systems is something that makes sense at this point? >> one of the things that is exciting but we think the president and i think it comes someways unfixed bridge with healthcare.gov, this amazing policy and legislation and clan and the aca is really working. all of a sudden kind of hit this wall of the website not working. what was great is the tech folks showed up to help transition that to get into a place where we can move forward. and the new one opened in rome is about to come shortly. so i think that's a silver lining of witnessing and seeing these elite teams, i don't do things that you said so this new way, different way has brought more, has said the president focused on how to get more the tech talent into government.

we don't want to build systems, all of our systems internally. we want to buy great stuff off the shelf or in the club. when we write software that the american people pay for we want to make sure it's open sourced. where it can be a default and make exceptions when needed. that's kind of policy we are trying to work towards. and having people like mike addiction is come in the digital services which the present spun up under the cio office, great talent now with the backing design, the classic stuff are now here, which is exciting. it's part of why i came. i wanted to make sure that together with our extraordinary economists and legislators and writers and all, the techies that were showing up on behalf of our government, if we are not here anywhere going to be lagging behind. >> palette may be the whole ballgame or issued part of it. you watch the obamacare debacle from the outset, the website debacle from the outside and is not exactly -- beyond attracting

talent is a huge part of. are the other lessons learned from the website that you see are trying to implement now? >> again i don't work on that but the use of digital services is now spun up and they're working systematically with each of the agency teams on a couple high priorities, website areas. gimmick and people should interact with our government to the kinds of technologies that we interact with in general. mobile services and websites come and want to be able to be as good as the commercial sector. so we want the talent from the commercial sector to not only come into leadership roles and also get a hold of some of those technologies for our services. >> i think you are building products in silicon valley for the last 15 or 20 years but one of the things that's been interesting to watch from here is this relationship between silicon valley and this powerful companies in these very wealthy individuals and washington and how it's evolving. when google was building a

surely virtual company, chino, search, things that were not colliding with the government but now talk about building cars, aviation, uber clashing with tlc every day. there's a realization out there that government is something you to do with. i wonder, i don't i see the relationship evolving, you know, where you see it headed? >> one of the things that's happening in general is it's becoming less and less expensive to make things. and so whether it's 3-d printing or websites and services, and so the regulator, talented regulators are running as fast as he can to keep up with those advancements. one of the opportunities we have increasing great innovations, folks like faa creating sand boxing, the fda recently listed -- >> are you in the loop on the drone policy sounds like a lot of fun spent on learning many of these things but would from a commercial perspective the ability, the jets of the future is something we do want to get to in some way, however that

will play out and whether it's hollywood or real este or other culture, would like to use aerial view, disaster response. we want to protect the american people at the same time protect our indicators to move forward. sometimes the agency been working hard to find places where safe harbors are sandboxes, a place in the city where you could apply some of this to test. i think people are in good conversations. i don't think there is some kind of tech versus government in any way. i think people have good dialogue. >> traditionally libertarian very like the staunchly anti-regression attitude. certainly the talk of people at goober and certainly the average drone hobbyist feels that way. do you feel, the agency working to create sandboxes. is there a sit reciprocal thing happening where people are engaging regulation as a thing to have to do with what they want to shape the? >> it's an opportunity. we need, the best policy happens when all the people are at the

table talking to each other. instead of having people sitting against each other, how to get on the same site up with a problem out there and come up with solutions? i think we are seeing created conversations coming out of, we've been talking a lot about uavs, but whether it's transportation policies, self-driving car, weather, all the different areas. they key is to get the dialogue and keep the dialogue going and to be open. it's hard for regulators, but they are open to the conversation has been my experience. >> do you fly uavs yourself? >> i've done a little bit. >> there were signs all over town that they lost a code last year. i don't know -- >> there's good technology innovation going on. i think one of the twitter questions have to do with investment in science and technology. i think the president has been really good on pushing for innovation and funding and has successfully gotten the budget, even though there's been some cap to include science and tech,

and you maybe think about some darpa innovations around security, around flying vehicles, that they and others as we do basic research can bring to bear to solving the problem, not just a regulation that technology solutions around control and security. >> for instance? >> the darpa folks have demonstrated some ideas about how to make sure people can't break into the internet of things technology, and how are we going to address that. as we begin to censor is a discrete technologies that can help us. just want to make sure that a secure network and having someone like darpa and nsf funded, other researchers working on those problems will important. >> you have this -- i guess what you're most excited about. you have been here a month. where you feel like there are places with resources but also the constraints as a federal official, i don't know, you can change this behemoth bureaucracy that we've got speed and i love

to work on technologies that help people's quality of life. help a big challenges and focus their as well as how do we reduce our impact on the planet. i ran into a friend of mine from the solar car team upstairs where they go beyond the stage, so you know, i think that what we want to do, what i want to do is unlock taliban. there's so much talent in this country. talent at the highest income talking about our greatest innovators, the elon musk, these advanced and reports of the past, clare barton, how do we help them do their thing by helping with regulation conversations and policy. how do we help with jobs? we need all americans to be included in this innovation opportunity of the 21st century. one of my favorite things is the work we're doing now with nec, and there's a million jobs that are going to go unfilled in the

i.t. tech sector. we need america and was going on with supply to been? why are americans not able to train for that? all of the opportunities, these are fun jobs, tech jobs are collaborative, engaging, incredibly high pay. there's been a fabulous innovation on the short course booty camp coding classes. how do we get those skills into working at the college's quicksand we help with people who are income companies not making that jump to the next wave and making sure that leadership is there and the talent is there is retraining. if it's in computer science, new kind of linkages and technologies, thinks they might need to move to. leveraging the infrastructure we have been doing the policy side of that, whether it's making sure that veterans can use some of their g.i. bill money for this kind of retraining, really thinking through the ecosystem of engaging all americans into that and especially our youth

spent i think that doctrine for the jobs of the future is something president of candidates have been talking about for at least 20 years. would you see it working? it feels like a talking point. >> it's amazing to watch. people are getting, seeing 80-90% pickup on -- >> general assembly? >> does. companies like that or hack wright academy. they are new so there's not billions of people through the but there's beginning to be hundreds and the thousands into these programs. you can imagine it's like taking a semester long class in bring you into coding. in some cases the people who are already tactical and it's upgrading their skills into a more modern set of products. i was just with the founder of square who plays 1000 people in miami into new jobs despite -- would he do if he created a meet up for people to come and do these online courses together to upgrade themselves. but having committed and help them placed into jobs.

more of that. >> there's a little minor backlash to the argument where people say like in 1932 there was a confrontation, everyone should not to be able to repair car engines that ultimate that like these are ultimately not going to be well-paying jobs. kind of basic, basic coding is like repairing a car engine. it's not technology to is not a high level tech job. not the job of the future. i wonder if you've heard that kind of argument. >> you begin somewhere. in the beginning we didn't have these degrees, so people started and a lot of young people, high school kids if they get hold of computer will engage. and apprentice model together with education can work very well. one of the things that's important is helping our schools have more opportunities for young people to have experiences doing this. we are happy to teach people reading and writing, you know,

and to start with basic abc intel you write your term paper in high school. we on board you. but in the s.t.e.m. fields we've counseled a lot of the classes in our schools. you are learning all these faqs for science and learning math but not in context. so you don't have lab we don't have signs or you don't have art, you don't have home ec, you don't show. we have to get the will back. if we can do the special the classes, can we adapt to more active learning in science so it's more discovery based and then learn the facts and what other people are but also you get the confidence. i was lucky that science there was mandatory in my high school in inner-city buffalo. and yesterday we had the incredible middle school winners from the broad, convocation, the ability to play at an expense this as a kid, if you ask any technical person taken drawback to that moment. it's them when they realize science and tech is not bad at first but that it begins with a

few steps. not only is it fun and interesting and you don't know the answers, but also that you get the confidence that you can do. i think it's important whether it's with the kids but also with any americans. because these are lucrative, important, fun, interesting sectors of our economy, and they are not all programming. these are growing sectors, and a fat goose faculty member at a berkeley did some research recently that every stem our text of high-tech job that is happening he calls the brain have come high-growth cities like austin and boston and d.c., san francisco is generating five more jobs on average. so to white-collar, three blue collar, and those job whether a doctor, lawyer or taxi driver, carpenter are better paid than other jobs. so we really need, they attract

money to reach and distribute into the ecosystem. we need more people to invent more these companies and illiterate in this economy in this kind of you spank you think all states should learn to code fiscal? >> definitely. in vietnam you learn from second grade. that's happening in china. the uk is moving there. cody, a friend of mine, doctor sue black from the uk, second grade, third graders have learned to read. it's the perfect time to lead. they can learn instructions. >> are you going to make that happen? >> we're working, people are working on that across the country. the best leadership is coming out of group called code.org. i encourage everybody to national computer science week is the second week of december it happens to be grays harbor's birthday. if you don't know, please read walter isaacson's new book. the chapter starts with there. but during the time all of the

kids are encouraged to do an hour of code. by the most people in this room are probably not programmers. take one hour this year, go on co.org into some of those activities. star to demystify this. it's an important skill to get in everyone should be a programmer but it's a 20% of skills double to make as much as right. >> i wonder, you were a woman in tech long before there was this loud conversation happening around why there aren't more women in tech. are probably more than the are now according to some of his charge. i wonder what you think things are getting better, whether this public discourse around them is effective in moving pics? >> yeah, i think none of us greater these problems in general indiscriminate should come on unconscious bias and buys. we didn't create them as they become, come to our consciousness we need to fix them. i think the tech industry is at that moment where it's starting to wake up.

you're talking to the instructors. in engineering most other fields just have a continuous increase of women getting much more balanced. by computer science goes up a cliff in the '80s and dropped from 40% to 15, 20%. there's a fibrous npr piece that goes into researching that but we really culturally decide as personal computer came in that it was for the boys. and so you can talk to some of the women are in computer science and had to get a key from the brother to get into his rookie be able to go and use the family computer that was basically his. leslie park is an astonishing place where churchill put the team to crack the enigma codes for world war ii. more than half women, a new movie coming out with women in it where people said 119 lives,

shortened world war ii by two years by using code. what's interesting is our cultural bias, when people in un the uk go visit the museum, it's 25 to one avoid this is to grow visitors. it's just because people are naturally selecting but it turns out that touches of cambridge -- the duchess of cambridge grandmother was a code breaker. we need the uk parents and he was parents to help us out the girls in. a big part of the. the of the part of solving this is kids to have the expenses. the sooner we can get this into class come elementary school, middle school, high school, mandatory making, the more kids will realize they often do this. they are all cable. all the data shows that. >> think is a much for taking the time. >> thanks. it's great to be here. [applause] >> thank you very much. when david ehrenstein worked in the west wing, he ate most of his meals out of vending

machines in the basement commenting that such food was underrated. is eating a as now forster and e takes the riches of a longer and private equity into the public sphere. is among a group of billionaires who signed a giving pledge to donate half the wealth in a lifetime. ihas led to the register rebuilding the washington monument and the kennedy center to preserving the magna carta and meeting pandas. another lessons allowed for greater with gridlock. we welcome david rubenstein to share some of his ideas out loud. david. [applause]

[inaudible] how many people came to because want to figure what to do with the rest of their life? anybody? how many already know what they are doing? okay. so i have 10 minutes to do everything you need to put the rest until it. is what i'm going to try to do. as you heard i'm the person got very lucky in life. i came from very modest circumstances. my parents didn't graduate from college or high school. i needed to get scholarships to go to college and law school. my father worked in the post offices entire life. made about $7000 a year maximum. it was a great advantage going up that way. and seen away the time perhaps but if you realize you have to do something on your own, you can work harder and perhaps maybe accomplish more in life. my own children public at a disadvantage because they probably have grown up in a wealthier circumstance but veryy difficult as a latino to raise children parsing world is to do is to raise children at them

grow up happy and healthy, particularly jewish, grow up happy and healthy. [laughter] but i can to washington to do good. i thought i want to get back in the country got inspired by john kennedy's famous speech, asked not what you country can do for you what you can have your country. i did come to washington. i wanted to work in the white house. i got lucky. i got a job as a deputy domestic policy adviser to the president when i was 27. i wasn't qualified for the job of many people weren't qualified. i felt i fit in. i managed to get inflation to 19%, and the country didn't want me to stay. ultimately, i live. i went back to practice law but it wasn't good at it. my client repeatedly said maybe you should do something else. so my life changed at 27 years ago. i wasn't a good lawyer. i wasn't very good in public puc policy. and so i decided to do something different. many of you taken a chance and you like and it worked out. some cases maybe didn't get in my case i got very, very lucky. i brought some people in with me

and i started the first buyout firm in washington, d.c. it grew to be one of the largest private equity firms in the world and now i'm in a position to no not only run the not onlyn of this country, it's a public company with my co-ceo but i'm in a position to get back to the country in ways i couldn't get back when i was in the white house getting inflation to 19%. what i decided to do is to give away not just have my wealth but essential all my wealth because i feel very lucky to come from very modest circumstances with a last name like mine and rise of a position to the kind of wealth i'm not fortunate to have. i don't think i could've done this and other countries and they decide to give it back to the country in many different ways. i call this page philanthropy which is to say, to recognize how wonderful this country is, how unique the freedoms our, and rights we have in this country while its imperfect in many ways investment problems over the years and we're still struggling with some of his problems. generally i think there's no country in the world that is as

good as attorney. i want to give back and do something i can say i feel that my time on this earth was worthwhile. we are only there for a very short period of time and we are very insignificant in the grand scheme of things. over two weekends ago we kicked off the smithsonian capital campaign and i'm the co-chair and had a chance into jim lovell. jim lovell you'll know from apollo 13 was the person who is on the famous mission and, of course, i asked him why nasa didn't recognize it 13 is an unlucky number and skip 13 under right to 14? anyway, he didn't know why the use apollo 13. thing us most focus on was not the apollo 13 mission in a way. some of you may remove that was the first time that humans had gone around the earth and exited the orbit of the earth and gone to the moon. it wasn't designed to land on theonthe moon but to orbit the . that was in 1968. and he and two of his colleagues, bill anders and frank boorman from where the first humans who went to the moon. they went around 10 times and some of you may remember on the

ninth time on christmas day 1968 they read a passage as they saw the earth rising, the first human ever to see the earth rising. they read in the beginning god created the heaven and earth, and they went through the beginning of genesis. and then i remember jim lovell said he put his thumb up and take a blot out the entire earth and his entire life had revolved around the earth but you could block it out with just your thumb. he began to realize how insignificant the earth is in the grand scheme of things and how finite we all our relatively speaking. and so happened to me what i over to realize that if you're going to do something meaningful with your life, try to pick something that you think is worth justifies your existence on the face of the earth. none of us really know why we're here. all of us have tried different things that make us feel we've done something useful. we are here for 60, 70, 80 years budget to do something useful. one of the things i'm trying to do in addition to the difficult problem of raising children and making them happy and healthy is to get back to the country.

as i said i tried is paid your philanthropy. one of things i try to do was to restore the washington monument. it had earthquake damage as you know. what i did is i said to the head of the park service i will put of the money, just repair. he came back and said congress is upset because they want to get credit for do something so can they show the critical it's okay, can put up half the money. [laughter] at one point i was asked if i want to climb up on the scaffolding, it was a brilliant lit and some people said keep the scaffolding up forever because looked better but we also like to get down to the aspen to go up and see the top come have the greatest view in washington, 555 to do. i got the win saturday morning. the secdef into such like to go but she said she's a mountain climber and she wanted to climb the. i said i wouldn't be humiliated. she said she would add climb to mount rainier seven times. i said i have flown over. is very different later around? there was. i finally get to the top,

looking around, the sector is looking this way, the head of the park this would when they were looking at me i took my pen of a to put my initials at the very top of the washington monument. [laughter] if you get there you will see my initials. [applause] one of the time i happened to be in new york and some invited me to a viewing of the magna carta but i said what is it doing here? it's in england, 1215. there are 17 copies but only one in private hands that ross perot had owned. he was putting up for sale because you want to use the money for iraqi war veterans medical relief and he put up for sale. it was the only one in private hands and one in private hands and the only one in attorney. it had been on display at the national archives. a lightbulb went off and i so we can't let this escape from the united states, such as resolve that night to go back and buy the magna carta the next night. it sounds presumptuous so i went back the next night and they put

me little room dating and all of a sudden i can do that well when they get from the telephone to go in and the book and i do know with what i did they came and said you just bought the magna carta. who are you? they didn't know who i was. [laughter] well, i can explain to me said it's yours. if you have the money for this. yes, i do. we can slip out the side to a nobody who owns it, or you can talk to these 100 proof. i went out and said i want to give this to the united states as a down payment on the obligation to repay the courage with a great portion of it. so it's now on permanent display at the national archives. i hope all of you will get to see it. [applause] >> ice subs we bought other historic documents, the emancipation proclamation, declaration of independence, try put in place were people sitting at one of the thing, it's not my greatest focus but i did want to do something to the national zoo. i was told they did have the money to keep the pandas here so

i said i'll put up the money to help the panthers but it turns out the early 1600 his in the entire face of the earth. why are there so few pandas? that's because they don't reproduce quite the way humans do. a female panda goes into estrich on for four hours a day when they get. they'll get to do this for hours a day when they get and, therefore, there in extremes. when they come together -- [laughter] they fight over each other. the parts to go with this post ago. in china they show the movies of what to do. facial pandas movies up and the mating. executive and there's what to do because of the same fate as does with human beings but barely so they don't know. they have to artificial and some of them. when they came together for for our period about a year ago they thought as it didn't go to the they artificial incented the thing of the face of what you like to see? i said no. is that what you like to see the semen extracted i don't want to see that either. we now have a baby panda and

members of congress know what they're supposed to but they don't have to do. the pandas are the same way. [laughter] [applause] so all of you have a chance to listen to a lot of great speakers here. all of them are trying to do something to make the country better. and all of you a little bit many of them are government speakers and work in government and the continent the country a better place. my point is you don't have to be in the government do to make the country a better place to try to do something that makes the country a better place giving her time, energy, your ideas to try to make this country a slightly better place than it already is to it's a wonderful country but we can all country be any giveaways. user skills and so want to get back. i called patriotic philanthropy. you might call it something else but please think about which can do to make this country a better place because we are only here for a short bit of time. when you put your thumb up to the earth are you put your thumb up to the moon, the sun, you realize how insignificant all of us are which a chance to be more significant if you get back to the country. thank you very much.

[applause] >> that was 10 minutes. that was 10 powerful minutes to imagine an hour. we work on our, david. thank you very much. [inaudible] >> what's that? [inaudible] [applause] >> that will give them some places to initial. i want to just do a quick callout to our viewers on c-span who are watching live now and have been with us all morning. thank you for the. the next two women are going to meet know something a thriving in the boys club. in quotes of the youngest comes as of the youngest, sassy and sexy as owner of an nfl franchise, closed quote is how nbc described rita benson any today profont. she brought -- brought the think saints back to new orleans after hurricane katrina ravaged the city and nascar's lesa kennedy now runs the motorsports empire go by her grandfather. the sport is growing in the

racetracks are helping transform and revitalize cities. my friend jonathan karl of abc news is with them on stage to learn more. jonathan. [applause] >> this is a retreat for me. a lot more interesting that what you did today in the white house briefing or. i knew with the two most powerful women in sports. so very exciting. not only are you at the top of a profession that we see largely male-dominated, i mean the nfl and nascar. got to be not only male sports, and those two sports particularly put your also both doing very innovative things in business and community development. but first i've got to start with women in sports. we do. just come right out and tell us, what's it like to be the boss of a 350-pound offensive lineman? [laughter] what is that relationship like?

>> i'm older now. first of all am also in a family business so when i started on people that worked for us, i was a kid. i was eight when my grandfather bought the team. so it's a difficult thing insurance of some of them of no made one of the child. but the players are now younger than me. and so i think of them, more of a cousin kind of relationship if they are not my children any shape or form. they are good guys and their larger-than-life and they have big hearts and they do a lot in the commend a lot in the community do a lot of guilt to make our fans proud. so i'm very blessed to be around all these big guys. >> you have a very different approach than some of the other owners. just to pick a name, dan schneider, jerry jones. what is your -- jerry jones is up there in the owners box can like living and breathing every play, kind of micromanaging the team. >> absolutely. the beauty of all leaks is that

their combination of all the teams come and particularly team owners and the personalities. so i most affectionate about the nfl because i've been with the league of the locus. they have such diverse backgrounds. jerry was instrumental in pushing the lead in the marketing directionally for skimming. sometimes when you push things you ruffle feathers and we are structured in the end of the. i appreciate that structure but also really appreciate that we can change and adapt to what our fans want. if you're the own and you bought the team, you can run it a as yu feel that we're also very collaborative in the business of football. people see only the competition because they're watching the games and jerry is very competitive. and he has the ball where he about picking the players. and that's his prerogative. for me and my family with so many different countries, i feel it's the general managers responsibility. they had that autonomy to be powerful and make their own decision. but the collaboration that happened on the league level is so important. some people might think that's more of a feminine trait that is the strength of the lake as a

parody, the unity we have would make decisions. we discuss, argue, fight fearless for police and yet we all know we're moving forward in the same direction. >> so lesa, nascar, one of the most fastest-growing sports, again we think of it as kind of a male dominant area but we were talking earlier, what's interesting is how important women are to the bottom line of nascar. >> well, it's changing come and i think you bring up a good point. sometimes it's thought of as traditionally male dominant sports but i started in the '80s with nascar. it is a family business and have seen dramatic changes, notches on the track but i know everybody probably is sort of -- shows great -- danica patrick the great star power and given nascar l. different phase which is true that but there's also some up-and-coming stars as well that are females and been making a positive impact.

it's notches on the track which may be more for me with, it's also the business side, what's going on behind the scenes can what's going on in the boardroom, engineers. nascar officials found out on the road and really participating and hands-on in the sport. so dramatic changes in really making a difference or all of us. >> what about your fan base? >> our fan base is about 45% women, and i think that surprises people a lot of times as well. but we have a very strong female fan base. >> it's been a pretty rough year for the nfl. it's been a great year for ratings and for the bottom line but it's been a rough year you know, certainly on the public relations front. do you think the nfl could have come through some of what we've been through this year looking bed if there'd been more women in leadership in the nfl? >> lesa and i devised. we think that if women, if there

are more women involved in the conversation, and it does strengthen every conversation. but i think it's very important that we have a role we can mentor and we can pull of others, and also i think because everything is so focused on the men that play the game that the usual people don't understand that there are a lot of them, particularly on the club level where you're actually impacting and that the face-to-face interaction with the fans at our players and dorky nerdy. so what i appreciate are those feminine traits that resulted from this. you can't go through katrina and not turn a negative into positive. this is a very important time for us to discuss social issues. women tend to be more collaborative, empathetic and share more. and embracing people that deal with tough issues by keeping them within the family and dealing with those issues and improving society as a whole i think we will see more women involved and we will do better. >> it's sports, it's entertainment but how important is that role model function that

sports play? not just kids but look up to your players, to your drivers and see them as more than just somebody going out and competing on a given day. >> well, i would like to go back to what we are all about, and when you talk about women in our sport, our fan they can when you arrive at the track it's a full day of activities, not just for the mail that's going to watch the races but also the female fan and the family sport. so you're trying to entertain families all day long and provide great value. and rita talk about it in perspective, something when we women that are in the business side of the we can also discuss what's important to the fan from our perspective. what's going to bring the family in and what's going to attract a family to come spend all day with you. a lot of opportunities and options out there, and they think it's up to us to understand that and to be able

to deliver the guest experience for our fans. >> just to touch on the youth programs, nascar and football and basketball, we also have the new orleans pelicans in the nba. so much we done in terms of building grassroots programs, whether that's the fields and the courts that go into unifying our community in that way. one of the things i've been very proud of is that it used to be their most interested in the players, and that we won the super bowl ring, and i have mine on my hand, remarkable how kids would run up to me and the ring. so for little girls i could say, see, you don't have to be a football player to get a ring. you can be a girl but even for the boys if you stay in school and get a job, you can be a part of the overall business. it just takes speaking to them and talking and having an interest. it's amazing that they can idolize those players and they may aspire to be athletes, but the vast percentage of us are not going to be an elite athlete so it's important for us and the

juniper develop a program or a basketball hoops programs that these kids have fun, engaged in the sport would also have realistic and really connected expectations. and the head of come are the director of our committee relations program, choose an african-american schema and she's from new orleans. so i'm so proud of having her there to speak to these young kids because boys and girls can identify with her. her. >> rita and i were talking earlier about how we can use our sport and also our businesses to be able to educate. there are so many educational opportunities that make reading and writing and math, engineering, just a little bit sexier to the students as they go forward. so we are programs as well, and i know rita does, but we are very proud of that. we had a chance to talk about it earlier. so it was fun to compare notes. >> they have a stamp and one of our sponsors added an a for the arts so we esteem in the new orleans.

that commonality is focused on science technology -- but in mathematics and all the things that they should be learning, but youth and sports examples. so nascar the use of the car and at our new renovations for this center we use the for possible. it's the sneakers and the technology and outcome and just delete and join with the players can do. but sports is such a unifying element, clearly we all watch it but it's expanding the program so that that touch comes home. and i think because you're focused so much on the game a lot of times, that's a very masculine thing as for competition and winning and be aggressive to be at the top. ..

the plans are so exciting and we will be able to open up to concerts. they have wine festivals in all kinds of charitable events, walks on the track for instance to raise money but we will continue expanding or of those

entertainment options. >> you did this in kansas city at the kansas speedway and this is something that required public funding. how does that impact the economic vitality of what was the region that was really depressed. >> we learned we had a great partner in the state of kansas and also the county. we got together and there is a delighted area and it is going backwards rapidly backwards. there's only $265,000 a year they are collecting in taxes. there is a casino getting ready

to go down to a hotel. there's a whole village west area west area development that's right around the race track. a place where nobody nobody exited -- existed before but it was $64 million in taxes today and we are very proud of that not just for nascar but for the community has done and how they have embraced this and it is a story of how you can be successful if you partner together. it's one of the most dramatic stories of the sports and business community was of course katrina. >> we all watched as it hits the city. what was the state if your team indoor stadium and how did you lead.com back blacks to be co

>> even if i can't hear it i still choke up so it was very, very emotional. at the time, this collaborating and listening to experts participating in the business is that i was a part of iowa's counsel that you would have an increased enthusiasm and domestic violence and drug and alcohol abuse because all of these people are going through trauma and they've never collectively done that and dramatically pulled from their homes. so, it was very, very traumatic. you couldn't really talk about what you hoped to do and accomplish, but the decisions for people that could handle the situation became very finite. you could only do what was possible. one of the things we were very fortunate they had the window of the problems that the biggest thing is if we put it back together when everyone is

thinking that we might not be able to that would be a testament to what the community could accomplish together and it truly was. we had a promise and a commitment to give other people. we had investments from the owners as far as for the gaps and process for what was seen by then and what was insurance. but it was so much time and effort of our entire time succeeded. we won the super bowl but pretty much everyone that was involved in the game shows that with the most impactful experience that they've had with their career or anything to be a part of it. so that was the step to get back on their feet and talk about what we could do. in our public-private partnerships about three years after katrina was still empty and in office tower and other

retail and parking and rather than having a direct government subsidy that very creative conversation the state was going to invest in 110 million-dollar building to collectively bring back the state agencies together instead of giving that we invested our dollars and therefore they gave us a long-term lease agreement on the estate office space. so that is an intra- gold key to the agreement in that facility as we put everything back together and reinvested versus our city that is another milestone of the authentication that the costs of the building were brand-new in the cost. >> they devastated and were there any voices saying maybe they should just move to an entirely different location. >> from the strict bottom-line did it make sense?

>> it made sense because people were there but it was a very different conversation to have daily because i was being asked by people why are you back, because we are committed. i knew whatever played well was going to be covered. but you have to send messages to the people that we worked with but we all had to be there. everyone from every socio- economic background have to go away for a bit at some point and get the all made a financial commitment to go and be there and it wasn't easy but we have to have people, first of all you have to have a building so the first year you have to set the schedule. the first year obviously we were in multiple different locations. but knowing that people were there and also that the companies were there didn't have the nielsen ratings. it was a very difficult for the companies to make decisions of what they want to do and whether they could function but just there well but they have employees of people to be their

customers. but we have our student ticket holders that stepped up and were sold out before the start of the next season and so that was the one fact we could say 72,000 people were planning to be there for the home games. we were a catalyst and we did everything we could for the community. we are happy that we are home where we are and the hornets, they were displaced. we didn't own the team at the time. we acquired the team in july. both have a completely different phase but we are all committed and determined to help support the cultural city. >> it's one of the great stories in kansas and daytona and we look forward to seeing what happens down there. a pleasure to talk with all of

you. thank you very much. [applause] thank you so much. >> we have a parting gift. [applause] >> now you have to visit. >> thank you. >> sitting in the airport waiting for his aunt to answer to pick him up, a young lawyer named warren brown realized how much he loved cake so much so he decided to trade the courtroom for the kitchen and start a business based on a scientific analysis of how ingredients interact to create the freshest product. with four published cookbooks to his name into distribution in places like whole foods, warren brown is here to talk about his

culinary creativity with award-winning food writer and commentator. i should add as they walk in on the stage give a round of applause i live at 17th town and i love it so there is. maybe not journalistic, but a big round. [applause] >> a lot of people dream i'm going to go into the glue ten of three biscuit business. this is a whole trend that people want to be food entrepreneurs. they are throwing it away. it's so curious that you left the law to be a baker because that is they want to be a tv chef or they want to be a baker. how is it that you manage to change the transition? >> a lot of support and blood, sweat and tears quite frankly.

i thought that it would take three months to leave the wall and law and open up a business and it is a team 20 months or so. >> and why being a baker which a tall, strapping heterosexual man -- i hate to stereotype -- >> i get all of the questions a lot of people get you look like a rockstar or wrapper rock star or wrapper or something because i had dreadlocks back then. i love food and i loved putting things together. when i was busy developing a hobby which this was at first because it was a new year's resolution in 1999 and i found myself wanting to understand how to bake all different kinds of things i realized it reminds me of a love of models i used to make miniature tanks and soldiers and whatnot and there's lots of meticulous work i love

that but you can't share that. no one really understood how much i just got into them. with cake you can slice it and serve it and people can understand a lot easier. >> i can't resist interrupting and saying the origins of the french pastry was a man that was an architect. so the first book that was widely followed by pastry chefs was 89 -- a designer. it's lots of different parts. >> it's butter, sugar, eggs, flour, cocoa powder. how much protein is in each one, how much fat is in what we are using whether it is milk, soy milk if we are doing something light. i like thinking at that level

and what i realized when i was baking and my hobby stage is that typically as i see the aching world for cake is like mostly decorators people that are into what it looks like at the outside. it's not what drove but it's not what drove a lot of the frenzy that we hope will die. it never dies. it had eternal life which is what gave you the beginning. but is that not these adorable little things that you pretend have no power? >> i always felt like i'm not in in its two and a beauty contest. when i first opened up a club we were doing hand tossed with a spatula and i was like okay won't that work? and years later people started typing out a standard, which we do now. it's faster and it does look prettier. but i never started with the

intention of being like i want to have cupcakes that look like number ten. i want it to be topped with coconut or topped with something that just resonates with it looks like and tastes like and that taste is a nice clean finish. >> it sounds like you're most interested in flavor. i wrote a piece about the cupcake phrase i was sure was going to die five years ago by now. and i went and tasted it with cupcakes and generally people didn't give a darn about flavor. it just didn't matter. i think they were delivery vehicles that did matter a lot. but in different to what it sounds like -- >> i care a lot about the cake but i've learned in the last 12 to 13 years as i can like something as much as possible, but it doesn't matter if it doesn't resignation of the customers with the customers and that's fine because i'm a cake merchant if you will. one of the things we've done in the last couple of years is

listened to closely what they want. and it is cream cheese icing. that seems to be the thing that people are really all about. cupcake delivery mechanism or whatever it is going to be. so, i don't know. i've learned a lot and grown a lot and changed a lot and it's not just about me and my kitchen and apartment tinkering with the recipes area i think it's all very important. i don't want to -- i never leave behind what the ingredients are but i also have to keep in mind that it's not just all about what i want. i have to blend in a launch. >> you were telling before hand that you went from very successfully having seven retail stores to having the two decided that he would concentrate on wholesalers and then there is a vast innovation and change to the jar. can you tell us something about what precipitated the change and i think it had a lot to do with customer comments. >> it did.

a lot of people overtime gave feedback and commentary and for a while i was looking at and paying attention to it and i said well, you know, we do what we do. we want to stick with what we know. some people like your product. let's just stick with that. and the rise of the feedback go to the point that we have to pay attention to it. my staff said what are we doing wrong and what are we doing right? lets focus and start over with recipes and with our feedback from our customers and from the whole approach what we did was a series of focus groups that lasted for months in the beginning of 2013. and we asked our customers to tell us. and critics, too. people said i don't like. and i wanted to know what they wanted. i wanted to know what it is that they were looking for. so many people said to me it must be a blow to your ego and that kind of stuff. i am in it to understand and

make something better. >> you are a very practical businessman but in fact what is it like because there is always the artistry component of making and serving food if you thought that you were making something that was as good tasting and as expertly as you could turn out and you like it and liked the flavor but was it like to hear people beat up on it and what was it like to see finite world something i don't particularly like. >> i am after the truth just like everybody else. one thing i found that it's difficult to get his honest feedback. and so, when you get that feedback and when you get any kind of feedback is a gift, someone once said that. >> even if it is on yelp. >> it doesn't matter, and even better if it is. there's probably some truth and

made some plays. and that is what i just needed to kind of look at. for me one of the things one is how do we make a better take? i want to know that. and part of that means it is the text are going for? what's the flavor? what are all of the dimensions and characteristics of the cake and the sponge? what is that supposed to be? i've come to terms with the fact just because i like something doesn't mean everybody else well. it is a huge radiohead fan. i was a huge fan as a kid. >> we are about to be really hungry and restless to taste some of your cakes. what are some of the things you liked before hand and you said farewell? >> potato starch. it is loved by jews at passover.

>> indeed. and it's french baking and its extensive. it's got a great text are and it lends itself to adding starch without proteins or you can have a fine texture. it makes a delicate cake flour but it can kind of added to redraw a text or after a long pier co. of time so that's one thing that i said let's at least reduce the amount of data. but really it's all about such double facts. you have to look at what you are using in the cake in order to shorten the length. >> i thought that you were a great defender of butter. >> we use a blend rather than just one solitary shortening agent. >> and does that change? >> i used to do butter, sugar, flour, now we do palm oil which is a naturally saturated fats of

it isn't using artificial only hydrogenated fat. so, blending that end was a little bit of canola oil and i know we use a little extra edge -- egg joke. >> tell us about these jars and we will find what we will find when we opened them which i assure you that i can't because there is plastic wrap. >> what happened in that feedback session in 2013 as they said we want cream cheese icing. that's what we want especially but you make and the cupcakes, a little tired of there just like you were saying that it's hard to handle and difficult to carry. if i take one bite i feel invested and i don't want to eat the whole thing in one shot i just want a little bit of sweet here and there. people want portability.

as a way to corporate information and feedback and it took a while. it took a good eight months before we got down to the jar to the individual portion of the cake snack. and it's working really well because one thing i love it. i am engaged and energized and i can see a different business model and i like the idea of kind of re- watching the business in a different business model because it just has got a lot more details. >> there's a couple things. isn't it the idea that if you have something that's this small you really haven't had any calories. there's nothing that you can possibly worry about. the other thing is you can go back to it. >> my wife take like one bb spoonful.

>> and also for you with the mass production because you are going from the wholesale to the resale model. >> it's a totally, to me what is needed is going into that whole thing of reusing machines and a different approach, and it's just it serves what my interests are a little bit better and i think it serves the customer's interest. no one came to us saying i want cake in a jar but based on the feedback this is the element that kind of solves problems people have. >> have your cake and take eat it, too mac. >> you will all be able to have -- we couldn't have could have talked about this without providing you the chance. you can now pretend nothing that he will go out and you will learn something about cupcake cleanliness and truth in

cupcakes from a very admirably entrepreneurial warren brown. [applause] >> thank you both. now we have a lineup for you and we have to in credible sessions about to come for the rest of this first morning of the washington ideas network from investigations over the financial collapse of 2008 to the gunrunning investigation called fast and furious to the civil rights lawsuits it's been a drag time for jurisprudence in the united states. at the center of the ring is eric holder of the u.s. attorney general and he will soon conclude his tenure at the department is now on stage and the jobs. round of applause. [applause] thank you. >> mr. attorney general i. don't i don't think they are applauding for me. you said they loved me but i

think that they are here to see you and to hear you. i want to start by asking you about something that's on msnbc.com supporting that video is being worked out that would remove ferguson police chief thomas jackson and also removed the officer bear in wilson, the police officer that shot and killed michael brown in this past august in missouri. this is all part of a first step takeover by the st. louis county police department of the ferguson police department. could you shed any more light on the story? >> we have an ongoing practice investigation that we have announced with the ferguson police department, so i don't think it would be appropriate for me to comment on any specifics that you have just mentioned that i will say i think it is pretty clear that the need for the wholesale change in that department is appropriate exactly what the forms of this change will be i think we will wait until we complete our inquiry.

>> this is another leak in this investigation that has seen a number of weeks since august. you expressed at one point exasperated over these leaks and you called them an appropriate and inappropriate and troubling. explain. why is that? >> because somebody has made a determination that they somehow try to shape the public opinion about this case. it is inconsistent in the way that we conduct investigations and especially the grand jury investigations which are supposed to be secret. this notion of leaking out selective information started as early as the tape from the candy store, the convenience store and then about what's happened these are all that kind of the kind of things that i think are inappropriate. that's not how things should be done. >> what can you do about that?

you are mad, do you have any recourse? >> well, the investigation, that's part of the investigation is being done by the state and local authorities. we have a separate investigation of our own. the sources of the leaks need to shut up. [applause] >> i'm going to to conduct a different weeks. president obama is the one that sends you sent you down to ferguson for your visit in august when an actor robert e. the impetus to actually go there came from you. why was it important for you to go down to ferguson at that time? >> ie will say that i worked with the president trying to determine. don't get me in trouble with my boss but the thought that i had

is that there was a possibility that it could have a calling influence talking to people in law enforcement. it was one of those trips remember we landed the vice president's plane and i thought this is gritty and eventful day. it could be something that turns out to be extremely successful or it could be a disaster, and as it turns out it's turned out pretty well and i think you was a result of our interacting with or having a chance to talk with regular people in ferguson and assuring people that we would conduct a thorough independent investigation and look at the conduct of the police department >> are >> army still a nation of cowards when it comes to talking about race and and feeling -left-brace? >> i think we are still reluctant to talk about issues of race. we've been criticized a great deal and i've never backed off

the use of that language and i think that if you look at the instance that happened. we had these episodic that are too superficial. we are going to continue to face these kinds of problems. >> when it comes to race folks now view you as basically the translator from comedy central keele and peele. is it fair that you say things about race the president won't say or can't say especially as long as he is in the oval office for? >> i don't think so. we have to look at the different jobs. i'm the chief law-enforcement law enforcement officer and as with the issues that i talk

about our within my response body. i think the president has been forward leaning and has expressed himself in ways you wouldn't necessarily expect a president. think about the comments he made after the shooting involving trayvon. that was different. he did it without notes and went straight to the white house and i think he spoke very effectively and passionately about the way that he feels about these issues. >> you were the first african-american attorney general under the first president of the united states. how has that helped or hurt us moving forward moving away from being of this nation as you said back in 2009. >> we have made great progress as a nation given the fact we have the first president, first african-american attorney general --

>> [audience shouting] she's getting to a question i was going to ask you about. he anticipated a question that i was actually going to ask. [laughter] and that is what do you make of the critique of your tenure as somewhat schizophrenic? on the one hand you have a terrific record when it comes to civil rights but when it comes to civil liberties your critics say that you have fallen short as the protester just said the justice department is going after folks who are leaking national security information and you are going after journalists who have written stories that reveal national

security information. explain that schizophrenic nature of your tenure. >> i would just say agree with the gentleman that expressed himself or review. look at what we have done since president obama took office. we repudiated some memorandum that i think ran counter to our values as a nation. we have tried to close close quandt on about unsuccessfully. we have done i think a whole variety, we tried to work with doing our national security responsibilities consistent with the rule of law and again, consistent with our values. i think for instance the torture of the report is to be released by the senate intelligence committee needs to be released as soon as possible with few reactions as is possible. there've been a variety of

things. when it comes to the question of whistleblowers, we have gone after people who have said things were revealed things contrary to the oath that they have taken and when it comes to reporters, what i have said, we make changes in the processes that we have in place about how we interact with members and the media after the controversies erupted a couple of years ago or so but beyond that, what i have said as a guiding force for this administration is any reporter that is doing his or her job gathering news is not going to go to jail as a result of that kind of activity. >> but are you going to compel them to justify such as james in "the new york times"? >> it is one that has to be tried and i think that we will take actions that are consistent with what i just said. >> such as compelling testimony?

>> people have to understand something. we have been in touch with his lawyers. we talked about a variety of things. and what we have talked about remains true. there will be a resolution that will be satisfactory to everybody but nobody's going to be going to jail. no reporters are going to jail as long as i am an attorney general. >> another spot on your tenure is wall street, what we just talked about as a dark spot. >> in terms of the critique of your tenure you secured millions in settlements from wall street, j.p. morgan chase, bank of america cut 16.6 billion. but no one has gone to jail for the criminal actions that led to the 2008 financial implosion. the former staffer told of the political magazine he cared about national security and civil rights. wall street wasn't even on his radar.

is that a fair assessment and why didn't you go after the change? >> if you look at the settlements that he got from those institutions the way in which we have used that money to give assistance to people who suffered as a result of the financial implosion homeowners that lost their homes as a result of gaming goodies record amounts we have made cases against individuals. one of the statistics you will see individuals have gone to jail we have ongoing investigations that may perhaps produce individual prosecutions. every time we had a settlement with the bank but we have caught out of those settlements is our ability to go after individuals. >> one of the things you are the proudest of this criminal justice reform. you've done things on minimum sentencing and just announced recently the population has

dropped. why did you pursue this type of criminal justice reform and why is it important to you? >> it comes from my experience having been a lawyer and a judge here in washington, d.c. look at these statistics one third of the budget in the justice department goes to the bureau of prisons. it is a growing part of our budget. too many people go to jail for too long for no good law enforcement reason. so i thought it's time for us to ask fundamental questions about the war on drugs. can we do things more efficiently and in a more fair way? you've talked about a drop in crime and above federal prison population and that is the first time that we have seen that in 40 years.

the policies that we have put in place are beginning to work. >> while they last when you are no longer attorney general and certainly after president obama is no longer in the oval office? >> we have for him is to institutionalize this. they were institutionalizing to would institutionalize and they have interesting supporters. they have cory booker, patrick leahy, people from the left and the right, conservatives, republicans, conservatives, democrats, liberals and conservatives and i think that there is a chance in the next session of congress to institutionalize something more efficient and fair. >> we have less than six minutes left. but i can't let you go without asking about same-sex marriage. i've written a piece a couple of years ago now naming you one of the black men that were out

front on marriage equality. and it wasn't a decision by the obama administration to no longer defend the defense of marriage act that got the ball rolling for the supreme court's decisions that we saw last year. why was it important for you to do that? >> if you look at the defense of marriage act into the legislative history it is consistent with i think a really bad part of the american history. it was an act based on fear and stereotyping and discrimination it was on that basis we made the -- it seems to me that this whole question of marriage equality is part of a larger piece. i think it is a civil rights struggle of our time what are we going to do for our brothers and sisters and a quality is a part of that but there are also ways in which we have to help that

community be treated more fairly and more generally. >> what do you say to the folks in the african-american community that might not like the fact that you and others including the president say that presidency that this is the civil rights issue of our time? >> it is. the country is always trying to become better and in the way that we try to identify those places that we see the discrimination with regard to african-americans history of slavery and discrimination. we saw gender inequality and we continue to see it and i think that dealing with these issues in the community is simply a continuation on that process that we have been engaged in. >> i have some questions since we are down to less than four minutes. the last movie that you saw

either in the movies, on television -- >> i agree watched the godfather of the greatest of all time from my last trip to los angeles. the most played song on your ipod to? >> since i lost my baby and the temptations. >> who would you want to play you in the movie? there's only one person, then denzell. [applause] >> you could meet anybody that you want but who would you most want to be and why? >> the easy choice would be nelson mandela. i think (-open-paren this would be an interesting person to sit down with and speak with because i think that as many changes

that have been credited to him there's a lot more that we are going to see. >> what is your guilty pleasure? mine is live tweeting scandals. [laughter] >> i like to binge watch lost to series television. boardwalk empire, homeland. these are things i love to sit down and go for hours. >> about anticipated the last question the homeland scandal. >> depending on the administration i would say house of cards. there was a pretty bad vice president of the house of cards.

>> my final question what do you want to be remembered for? >> as a person that tried to make the country better we used the power of the office to raise issues that all too often were not addressed and who alternately moved to the country in a direction that should always move. the country that was a little unfair with a great sense of insurgency to take sure people are treated equally. >> i lied. i have a last question. and that is what is the one decision that you made that you wish you could do over again? >> i think about the subpoena to the fox reporter.

i'm careful looking at the language that was contained in the filing that we made in the court labeled as a -- you had to do that as a result of the statute but there are ways in which i think that could have been done differently and could have been done better and that is one of the reasons the criticism that we've received because of that in the matters as well was something that we have to act upon. >> do you think that you are still going to be in the job six months from now considering that you said you would leave when your successor has been not only nominated and confirmed? >> there will be a nomination shortly after. my hope would be the senate would take up that nomination in the same way that mine was in early february we would have a new attorney general. >> attorney general eric holder,

thank you. [applause] >> how is everybody doing? he keeps saying everything is good. maybe he he's watching on c-span. gary is in the back. i have been getting tweets from some of the audience. who else is on the list to? put your hands up. there is another one. great to see you. what has been the best session so far this morning? >> chuck hagel. very good. >> i've been thinking about that what can be onion do for me and make my life better? how are we doing over here am i

getting any instructions? keep going. but me tell you all the jokes. i am not humorous and i believe in ruthlessness and i think frank underwood was based on me. what is your favorite session today. david crane. did she mention mcdonald's they had an interesting idea of putting solar panels on every mcdonald's in the country that was an interesting session. i hope that you have tweeted nice things.

remember ideas for him. we must must contend with the the threats at the time the american public is exhausted by the centers abroad and divided by the leadership in the 21st century should be. to walk us through the complex and dangerous world is the national security adviser susan rice who has been purged the administration since the president's first term. she was joined in the conversation with wall street journal washington, d.c. bureau chief. susan rice and jerry. [applause] >> thank you all very much and thank you for coming. i was thinking about preparing the questions. you must have spare time on your hands constantly. so, we will try to see passed about a couple things happening right now. let me start with serious and the islamic state. i'm going to ask you a question

you might not have been asked about this subject before which is what happens if we win and if we defeat the state and i ask you this because you put together a nice coalition to combat the state but the only thing that they probably agree on is that the islamic state were isis off to be defeated because what happens to presidency are and the kurds they don't agree on anything. how do you hold the coalition together if you are successful that happens to them? >> first of all, thank you for doing this. i look forward to the conversation. thank you all for being here. if and when? because i do believe that we will degrade and ultimately destroy with our coalition of over 60 countries. it is a serious threats to iraq threat to iraq and syria and the neighboring countries to the united states and europe will no

longer have a function of the safe haven in that critical region. he would no longer be in the position to terrorize and destabilize both of those countries in the neighboring countries as well. it's a critical and strategic objective because as we have seen from such safe havens to which the foreign fighters and others are attracted attracted, they can export terrorism and other forms of violence. so that in itself is a critical objective. that will not in and of itself resolve the problem of c-reactive. it will substantially create breathing space for the new iraqi government and the leadership to stabilize and unify the country that is facing its own sectarian and economic and other challenges. so, it takes a critical impediment off the table.

it's over three years ago when the peaceful protesters challenged the regime and the indiscriminate violence which is sustained. the political issues that remain at the heart of the conflict will end -- and do her. there is no democratic process. you have an illegitimate and exceedingly violent leadership that has created conditions not only the population has made it a very attractive magnet for terrorists. but we still need to see a political solution and that's been our view all a long. it will have to result in the

departure because given the violence that he has perpetrated and given the division. and it will be unbridgeable alternately. you may have a transition of some port that will be critical for them to be lasting. that is one of the main reasons that we have supported the moderate syrian opposition and why we are trying to substantially wrap up that support not only to counter isis but also create an environment ultimately in which it is more likely that there is a negotiated settlement. >> but as you know there has been some confusion the last 48 hours whether we are arming the opposition to fight the islamic state were to fight president assad. are they giving both? >> they are having to do both. they are fighting a multi-front conflict which is obviously taking a toll on them. so our support for instance is

to fend off what is defined in the concept of trying to help create conditions on the ground that are conducive to the negotiations and that means helping them and their conflict against a assad as well. >> arguably doesn't exist anymore. iraq is between one and three states and some people think that jordan is imperiled by the economic state and lebanon could conceivably be threatened. what is the region look like, what states survive and how does it get put back together again? >> the states survive again in the context with a successful outcome. the border between iraq and serious will be established. obviously the borders will be

very fully and well defended and remain sacrosanct in our commitment to that is unshakable lebanon has long had its share of internal challenges and i don't suspect that they will go a way as a result of isil being defeated. but jordan is one of the countries that has been most challenged by the outflow, the overflow of refugees. >> maybe you can transform that. >> we have invested very heavily in supporting the jordanian government, helping to build its capacity. helping you to deal with the refugee outflow. i think jordan will be a part where it will be critical to show up for a country that is suffering the brunt of what transpired. >> let me move further and ask about israel.

they said said that said a u.s. israeli relations are in a state of crisis. i guess the twofold question is are they and are they strong enough even if they are not in a crisis to withstand tough decisions that lie ahead about the nuclear program. >> the relationship is not in crisis. the relationship actually fundamentally stronger in many respects than it has ever been. we have the greatest and the strongest security cooperation between the united states and israel that has ever occurred and the premise or has heralded that on many occasions. president obama and the prime minister netanyahu have met one another more frequently than the president obama has met any other foreign leader. he was in the oval office earlier this month for extensive consultations and tonight i'm i am taking my counterpart the national security adviser to dinner that we do two times a

year. i will host a large delegation for something called the consulting group which they will bring to their defense establishment and the diplomatic establishment. they need with our colleagues and counterparts at the senior levels in all of those agencies and we share information and engage in the strategy on the range of issues that are of mutual interest in the region from iran to isil and all of the issues we are discussing today and many others. that's kind that kind of deep cooperation and consultation sharing strategizing is unprecedented and that is something that has evolved uniquely and this administration. so their issues disagree on the most prominent one that you have seen manifest itself unfortunately in the press has been on the issue of settlement where for decades the united

states has had a different view of settlement and their legitimacy and then the israeli government. the u.s. view has been under multiple administrations to settlement activity is illegitimate and counterproductive to the goal of the two state solution. this government has taken a different view and when such announcements were made that are significant and the consequence we are compelled to comment on them but that is not a reflection of the help of the larger bilateral relationship which is quite strong. >> interestingly at the same time there seems to be a lot more areas of common ground between the u.s. and iran emerging not the least of which is isil obviously, but perhaps even a stable iraq and other areas there've been disagreements in the past. is it a kind of detente emerging with the iranians, and does that lead to a successful outcome of the conversations in the negotiations over the nuclear

program? the >> of that that is not a term i would use. détente no. we still have a very difficult relationship with iran for all of the obvious reasons. they have a record of supporting terrorism, they have a record of destabilizing the neighboring states and countries in the region. and we are very concerned also about their effort to obtain a nuclear weapon. what is true is that over the course of the last year, we have been able to reach and implement an interim agreement that has halted all progress in the iranian nuclear program and has rolled it back into some critical respects. this joint agreement has created a stable foundation to reach a comprehensive agreement to eliminate any risk that iran can

develop a nuclear weapon. those negotiations as you know and others know that come to the milestone by the 24th of november we have the period of negotiations expiring. so there is no détente or dramatic change in the relationship. if we were to achieve that would be a significant accomplishment that would make americans more secure and the region more secure but it wouldn't end our concerns about other aspects. >> odds of success? >> it is hard to judge. 50% or less. >> shifting due russia and ukraine because i want to touch on that and ebola. president putin gave a remarkable address that makes for a fascinating region in which he said the u.s. declared

itself the winner of the cold war and try to impose the universal globe. it's it supported since then the fascists and the radicals have used economic propaganda pressure to meddle in other nations domestic affairs and has resorted to outright blackmail and support the spending of the billions of dollars to keep the whole world under surveillance. how is that relationship going? and more seriously, can you work with it? seen it sounds like a classic soviet diatribe. the relationship with russia is obviously very strained by its actions to annex crimea and the rest of ukraine. the relationship is also under a strain because the united states is successfully rallied the major economies to impose very

biting sanctions on the russian economy to extract a very high price for their behavior. now they have the force forces in ukraine and there is a very fragile agreement and sometimes cease-fire which has created space of for the ukrainians could have a successful election for the parliament last sunday and we hope will enable the president to have the kind of governing coalition that would enable him to act on the critical reforms and move as he has chosen to towards europe. the relationship on russia is strained and their main areas that we have been able to continue working together in a constructive way. the negotiations are an example of that. and i could give you others, but there are a wider range of areas

where the relationship is more difficult. >> i did want to ask about ebola before we are out of time. you're heading off with conversations this afternoon of conversations this afternoon as i understand. what have you learned about the ability to cope with a problem like this since the outbreak of the ebola crisis come if that is not too strong a word. >> first of all it's important to understand that what we have all learned as a consequence is something that we understood quite a while ago which is that the global health infrastructure is exceedingly fragile. we saw that following sars and with the virus that has evolved out of the gulf region and recognizing that as a result. back in february of this year president obama launched the global health security agenda bringing 40 countries together from around the world to commit

to help the more fragile developing countries build of their national health infrastructure is. and what we have learned in part from this experience which frankly ebola is a far less transmissible disease than the one that i transcribed the tb symptomatic and exchange bodily fluids and get it obviously causes a great deal of loss of life in west africa and fear and affects in this country and beyond. we have a national security imperative to build the capacity of countries around the world whether in west africa or southeast asia or parts of central asia for that matter such that they have the health care infrastructure. we are only as secure when i say

we i mean the united states and countries of the world and the weakest link in the fabric. this is the illustration that we have seen. we are living in an interconnected global economy and global system. we had no direct flight to the united states at the present from those three countries in west africa. and yet, we are linked up with them read some 60 to 70% of the people who travel to the united states from those three countries are in fact american citizens or green card holders, so we are linked up in a very significant way. ..