that search and rescue agreement and exercise it now because no one country can provide all the resources that are necessary to take care of a major maritime disaster. so let's inventory what we have and see how we might work together better to be able to share responsibilities and share responses. maybe all those icebreakers out there -- maybe there's a way for us to cooperate between countries. i hate to go down this line of logic, but i watch fantasy the "star trek" movies, and you see on the bridge of the enterprise you see a russian, an asian, an african-american whatever might be countries came together, pooled their resources and worked together. wouldn't it be beautiful if within the auspices of the arctic council we could pool resources and work together cooperatively? i think that's worthy goal but the united states, at the end of the day, has to do its part as

well and start investing in resources there. i'm hopeful the president's new executive order, the responsibilities of the arctic executive steering committee will start setting priorities and start pushing resources. >> we had a gentleman right -- lady over there -- >> hello, i hamlin da, partner doing federal relations and ethics and compliance at a law firm here in washington, dc i'm also the secretary of the american chamber of commerce and for 14 year is was deputy general council in the white house office of drug policy. i was interested in your comment about the federal advisory commission act the federal government of the government in the sunshine act. i presume your comment expressed a concern -- correct me if i'm wrong -- about the u.s.

participation in the u.s. economic council convert that u.s.a. federal advisory commission. is that the concern you were raising. >> that would be the concern. i i'm not an expert on the laws but it has been expressed as a concern as we talk to people in the state department. >> that's right. a legitimate concern. but i note with the president's new executive order on interagency coordination there's no position or representation there few nonfederal interests. i understand that as well as far as enter agency although die have an idea hugh to dress that but regard regardless. my question to you is in light of the very first question, there is a desire for people to have infountain the federal policymaking process who are not already in the loop the insiders, whether that includes oklahoma or other areas as well do you foresee the creation of an actual federal advisory commission for u.s. arctic policy being created to address

that need? >> i have to admit right up front i have not even considered it or thought about it. and i'm not going to use it as an excuse. i think i've been in the job seven months now and there's -- while i had a very narrow and parochial interest as the commandant of the coast guard i have had to broaden that the international portion of this, and that has consumed an awful lot of what limited brain space i have. so getting into other finer details, how to refine this that's a worthy suggestion for consideration. we'll make a note of that. certainly i could foresee it as a possibility but i just don't know. >> on the side there. >> ely with science magazine. admiral, the arctic is one of the most important places in the world in terms of climate change, one of though most

volatile regions. and yet it's very poorly instrumented for climate. i note in your remarks you didn't mention this issue. how important is it that the nations of the world improve monitoring in the arctic and what do you think the arctic council should do about that? >> the -- it is in fact a part of our u.s. program. we're looking at various mapping systems, censors. we're looking at inventorying what other countries are doing and bringing them together so we can have better observation. there's great need for increased satellite coverage whether it's communications observation, navigation, most of what we have put up over the decades is optimized for the middle lat

tattoos, not for the higher latitudes. so that's another thing that clearly the united states can't take on all by itself. there's benefits to all the countries operating in the arctic so that's another area we're hopeful we can bring people together and start investing in. but you are absolutely right. we need better coordination of what sensors there are up there and we'll attempt to identify those that are needed as well and start moving towards getting them resourced. >> thank you for holding this event, i'm claire with national journal. you talked about the need to kind of raise public awareness. it seems like one of the big challenges with the arctic is getting adequate funding and resources and convincing congress, but also kind of convincing the american public, which night lead to more

attention from congress. can you talk a little bit more about how you can get the public to pay attention and i also wanted to ask if you heard anything back from disney about your offer to them to perhaps use the "frozen" characters as a way to educate the public. >> i'm frame my name isn't very good at disney. for those who don't know -- i don't know how you couldn't -- actually, when you good home tonight, google half disney arctic, and last time i checked there is at least ten pages of articles there. one of the proposals we had was a very bright young lady in my office, a big fan of disney the movie "frozen," i think she can recite the entire script of the movie and sing all the songs. but she suggested that we need to start teaching the youth about the arctic and perhaps

have something public service announcements done with the disney characters from the movie "frozen." anna and elsa and sven and olaf itch know because i have granddaughters and i watch the movie all the time. when i arrived in norway it just so happened they were in the middle of their film festival, and on that particular evening there was an outdoor theater, there were 300 children all bundled up and watching disney's "frozen." so i tell the story to the crowd at the -- at the next morning, the 1300 people, and i mentioned i had gone out to disney in los angeles to meet with them and i didn't think by marketing through very well and i said you know you have taught all these kid around the world about a fantasy arctic city in norway. a city that doesn't exist and conditions that don't exist. you need to start teaching them

about the plight of the polar bear and alaskan villages falling into the ocean abuse of the permanent ma frost -- permanent ma frost i thawing and this guy was becoming more andmer concerned and he said, admiral, our culture here at disney is to project positive images and happy things. hoe is right. how do you-than into the find something happy endings for the arctic? that can be done and we're continuing discussions with disney. it's a very good company and they put out a good product, and i like to have them help us raise awareness. your baseic question is how to rates the bareness in the american people. if had the secret i wouldn't be working for the government. i would be a lobbyist -- i'll never be a lobbyist but i'd be

running a media business or something. it's hard to get band gil twit. -- bandwidth. look at the front page of the pose pose and look at things drawing the attention of the american people, and yes, long term we're becoming concerned about what is happening in the arctic either because of climate change and other things but it's slow. and there's no major cataclysmic event that is happening. and when you have so many cataclysmic events drawing your attention after day, it's hard to get the bandwidth to spread it out. it's like we say why isn't the white house taking this up? well the white house has got a lot on its plate. secretary kerry is going to be the chair of the arctic council, but you think he has the time devote to the arctic council on a day-to-day basis with dealing with ebola syria isis, and everything else in the world?

there's a -- something that goes along with leadership and that's you have a lot on your plate. the united states is fortunately oar unfortunately involved in a an awful lot of things around the world. therefore the arctic isn't a huge problem so it's hard to draw attention. hive been trying to do how to couple with the national imperative, something that will draw in the american people, and we are still struggling but we're getting closer. >> yes, sir. >> thank you. richard ranger from the american petroleum institute. the lady's question prompts a suggestion for you to consider and that is through some resource associated with the u.s. chairmanship, a recommended reading list something you could develop over time with the state of alaska, with academia. a lot of greet books are out

there, very lopez, arctic dreams, the "50 miles from tomorrow." i think from the standpoint of the long pull, building student interest, academic interest public interest, i throw that out as a suggestion that could be developed over your tenure. >> and that is part of our public diplomats program. we're using the fulbright scholarships to gain some interest and start bringing people in. that's why i -- one of the reasons why i was really keen on trying to get disney in there. you have to start with the youth. like anything else when you're looking -- one of the challenges we faced in my previous job was getting the best of american talent diverse mental talent into the coast guard academy and you can't start at the junior year of high school. you have to start marketing when they're in grade school.

and we need to carry over some of these programs and perhaps introduce it in our schools or otherwise. you're absolutely right. >> admiral, in the very near future there's one cruise line that has plans to send a ship carrying as many as 2,000 people into the arctic waters. do we as a nation have the ability, if we believe this is fool hardy, to regulate this kind of activity and not allow ships that aren't truly seaworthy in arctic conditions to proceed into our arctic regions? >> we have the ability -- this is win of those things as -- when i was in the command adapt i would bring in my lawyers and -- commandant i would bring in my lawyers and start looking at this. if a voyage is manifestly unsafe you can terminate a voyage yes. if it's an american flag vessel. so that can be done.

will it be done in this particular case? i'm sure they're going to demonstrate they have the capability i'm sure the united states coast guard and other agencies in the government are going to take a good, solid look at this and say okay, if a problem happens, how do you rescue those people? i personally have been involved with a cruise ship that broke down and the only way to rescue all the people was to bring another cruise ship alongside and transfer the -- in that case i think -- so many years ago -- i think 800 people and you had to transfer 800 people by ferry across to the other cruise ship. do you require them to have another cruise ship come behind them in their wake? do you require them to have an icebreaker escort? there's a lot of things that canada and the us are the united states are looking at and will place as requirements. at the end of the day i'm sure the united states and canada will deploy resources and have

them on standby and those are resources that might otherwise be used for other things. if you are going to do some new task you have to pull them off other tasks. you might have to send ships up there that would be down interdicting drugs and illegal migrants and send them up there to make sure that you can provide for the safety of those 2,000 people that are transiting the northwest passage. >> identity like you all to join me in thanking the admiral for a very interesting presentation. [applause] [inaudible conversations] courtesy.

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas mr >>

>> to the coup will be joined from the senator from south dakota. i just want to put up a quote from one of the leaders of the anti-trafficking movement the coalition against trafficking and of women to express my sentiments exactly and frustration over a partisan filibuster of a piece of legislation that has had bipartisan support and somehow of it is a bipartisan commitment to help the victims of human trafficking. that democrats are choosing

a phantom problem over real victims. in that expresses the fact interning to the senator from ohio who is a leader in the effort has offered an important piece of legislation or the incorporated into the bill capital so has additional amendments. but in particular his provision bringing missing children home act with senator feinstein from california with a combat human trafficking act so with that with the senator from ohio for any comments then we can engage with the colloquy.

>> thanks for those to bring it to the floor and senator grassley i appreciate the fact the bills and are included in your legislation but sadly some of the most vulnerable you if are missing or in foster care to be exposed to human trafficking so the idea it is very simple let's hope -- hope to find these children as quick as possible. we had 71 kids that have gone missing since j refers. 71 children that are out there somewhere, minders and

for those we only have 22 photographs. so the legislation says get the data to find the show and people subject to human trafficking. with the smaller communities with sex trafficking. between 11 and 13 years old. we have talked on the floor about these issues but they are the most for verbal there are crimes against children and it is in the bill. if we can't pass legislation

for a better awareness and training is all part of this. the legislation is about increasing the penalties for those involved in trafficking because we haven't had a major bill in 15 years. sova to take these cases ever prosecute to stop the heinous crime. there is some better legislation one is with regard to the of these the other is with senator schumer to bring children home but this week we have a move forthwith legislation

so let's start having votes for. i thought because they got out of the committee with the unanimous vote there would not be disagreements paillettes and that discussion and debate. and before with this legislation to have the views be heard. the legislation that i talked about comes out of the folks back home with this issue to go through the difficult process of recovery with the amendments to offer to help to respond to the young people.

>> it comes to a caucus to a half years ago we cochaired but we bring people yen from around the country better experts. as they tried to stop the issue barrasso unfortunately they found themselves in an unfortunate situations. others have come forward to your talk about as a young girl taken in by a trapper -- schaede trafficker and then they become dependent. to me it is a form of bondage because they are young people who are depicted and in ohio it is

typically heroin. the keeps these people trapped so the drug treatment said recovery so agitated the reformation and that we have received the it is a good experience for the staff to raise consciousness now we take this information to put into legislation. over the next week over the couple years with the bipartisan process.

and through south dakota and illinois to talk about this issue so my hope is we can begin the process to move forward with amendments to help the most portable. >> thank you for your leadership of these issues working hard to redress some but i want to emphasize of the average age of the people who are targeted for human trafficking are girls between the age of 12 and 14. this is a very flavorful part of our country and i know we're wrapped up about procedure and politics and a lot of different issues we need to keep our focus on them, the victims, the

children come with the girls from the tense and others that make money selling their bodies and we should try to figure out what do we do to help them? they will be though loser because of the political movers -- maneuvers. that is why our friends at the coalition talk about the phantom problem over real victims the focus should be on the real victims but that phantom problem is basically trying to litigate which has been the lot of the wheel and since 1976 with legislation they voted for. it is a phony diversion from the real focus of the victims turning to the senator from illinois that has been a leader dealing

with the people who run the web sites for the back page in particular but also trying to figure a way to integrate some of the veterans better leaving military service into the investigation. for the senator care to make any comments? train wreck thank you for moving though legislation and 535 that was bipartisan that would also have the wounded warriors to be on the internet to find these exploiters but the amendment of is trying to offer earlier i intended to go out with the largest provider of service in the country making $30 million per year of the slavery.

glading of the mess that they create. >> the focus is howard you take the of profits out of the modern-day slavery and redirect to help the victims? that is what the bill does and hence the impunity that some of these purveyors of human flesh with the rewards they're reaping and helps the victims but i know talking to senator feinstein she is very concerned about how the internet is integrated as part of the business model of some of these perpetrators of the crime. and i am also told that some of the veterans.

>> i was told they to get on line to find some of those laid dealers but with the back page.com we should thread the needle very carefully to richer under the communications act freedom does not mean you have the freedom to enslave others. we have established a real principle there is the ever expanding wall of freedom it does not include human slavery empowered by the internet. >> take no offense about talking about the fact with the losses from civil wars director think with your state. [laughter] >> was first held by sea in houston the resigned his seat as governor rather than

participate in secession. he was a union man so i know you worked period tardo of bipartisan basis with others of this legislation. that is really what i find so baffling at what has been a uniquely bipartisan effort has now turned into a partisan filibuster and frankly i am perplexed by that. review rica have friends of the other side explain why they filibuster the bill they've toted for in the judiciary committee. it was a unanimous vote with 10 democratic co-sponsors forget the leader senator reid says there will not allow a vote on any amendments and will kill the bill because they the want to vote on the provision

they have voted for that has been a lot of land 39 years for carol so we're joined by senators from south dakota who i know has been very concerned about the dysfunction in this place is all this as an opportunity to demonstrate we can do the people's business once again for 34 knickknack. . . so i would yield the floor to the senator from south dakota for any comments he'd care to make. mr. thune: i appreciate it. i thank the senator from texas for his leadership on this issue, as well as the senator from iowa, senator grassley, for moving this legislation to the floor. as the senator from texas who has authored and been involved with this legislation for a really long