difference. they are paving the way and our job is to implement the right policies so that they can continue down a successful career path and become her senior leaders of tomorrow and that's our biggest challenge. >> thank you. ..

[inaudible conversations] >> thank you from everybody and welcome back. we have a thrilling panel coming right up. i think the next session gets right at the heart of everything we are talking about. my name is mike green and executive director of the truman national security project. we're very proud today to introduce treatment and is led by a remarkable group of women including combat leader smart bargains nation and hardly supported by a larger number of men in the truman project who also have combat experience myself included. i served in iraq and afghanistan

and i don't know when the issue is settled for me. i'm supposed to be an objective moderator but to put my cards on the table, my sister is currently serving with the station as it attempted in the new york police department. she could kick my asked. outside of that for sure. you know over two years on the sharp end title field i've seen more than enough examples of women establishing themselves including providing the fire support from a cockpit or another platform that we desperately needed various times defending convoys under attack. for many of us who seen this movie on the ground the debate was over a long time ago. those are my cards on the table. out of curiosity, how many

currently serve our former members of the military any audio today question art i should've asked how many civilians were in the audience. excellent. it is no exaggeration to say there is an absurd wealth and that is why it's more of a conversation and i know we are all looking forward to that. this discussion is about the central question of leadership. and the battlefield and how much i people that provide a great across the board. dr. megan mckenzie, senior lecturer in the international relations department and center for international security for research that carrots universe of international published on foreign affairs parameters and security studies.

her first book, female soldiers in sierra leone includes interviews with 50 female soldiers to mckenzie's forthcoming book we are very excited about and lends its name to our panel today. beyond the band of brothers u.s. military debunks keeping calm in combat roles in this one of my favorite miniseries. we also have dr. robert egnell with the senior faculty advisor for the georgetown institute of women peace and security. he's currently only from a position at the swedish national defense college. dr. egnell -- in response to growing demand for accurate

object is a nongovernmental research and policy device swedish international context. also sure that makes a job sub 68 to 2015 or so ago p. fellow who works for me at for national policy. after six years as an army as an army entry officer for combat deployment to afghanistan for bow valley. if that place the name doesn't mean anything to you, perhaps it will if you look it up. i had the privilege of spending a year there at a different time. john provides an incredible experience. the infantry unit with high intensity and a number of cases and i think respect in this perspective. currently a member of the maryland national guard and works as a national security focusing on counterterrorism security partnership policy. also joined by marybeth

bruggeman. mary beth graduated from the u.s. naval academy in 1999 and was commissioned in the marine corps preachy separators including the deployment to iraq as company commander during the 2003 invasion as a combat engineer. after transitioning from active duty mary beth helped develop and market counter ied robot. she's currently executive director for the southeast region of the mission continues than a student of policy management at georgetown university. this is a great panel and i will start by turning to dr. dr. bruggeman and ask her to replace me at the podium. tell me about the question that lends its name to the panel. what did you find is here researching on the band of brothers and what does it mean for combat? >> okay, thank you. i'm the outsider in the room. i am a researcher and i spent

the last several years looking up the topic of women in combat because i started my research in sierra leone interviewed women who participated in the calm lake to their peer but with interesting effect on some of the arguments. a high percentage of women participated in the conflict. even though i talk to women who participated when i presented my research i got a lot of feedback that said they weren't really soldiers. they were following and i found the arguments similar in the debates happening around the combat exclusion for women in the united states. that is how i made the shift. i spent the last three are sifting through all the research i could find on physical standards, cohesion and women in combat. i will talk about that. i want to say thank youiting me. it's an honor to be here. focusing on cohesion. one of the most common arguments used in justify the combat has

been the position that women undermine the types of funding necessary for combat troops to operate efficiently. the cohesion hypothesis presumes all-male combat units are more cohesive and therefore more effective than mixed gender units. this became the dominant argument along with physical requirements for excluding women from combat in the two decades that into january 13 decision remains the main argument used by other militaries across the world to retain the combat exclusion. today i would really like to talk about the role of myth emotion and gender bias in shaping debates around cohesion. there's two points i'd like to make. the first is there is an extensive amount of research on women and cohesion. the question of women's impact on cohesion is addressed in a

staggering amount of well-funded studies in the u.s. and abroad. at present there's a greater need to reflect on results of the finance such a get to in a minute. rather than call for another study on cohesion. second in my book irq all-male units have been central to military identity and national identity for a long time. they are deeply embedded assumptions associated with the band of brothers. i perspective cohesion arguments rather than simply focusing on mission effect of his can sometimes be code for preserving band of brothers. while cohesion is often treated as if a dynamic objectively measured much debate about cohesion is driven by emotion and stereotypes that serve to reinforce a perception that come out of race, loyalty and bonding is exclusive to men. let's start with the evidence

related to combat cohesion. the first point in our study showed showed the need to disaggregate between social and passed cohesion. social cohesion refers to the emotional bond between members of the group, feelings of trust and camaraderie. by contrast, cohesion is a commitment of a corporate assured russian art active. put another way social cohesion refers to other group members like one another. passed cohesion to whether they can work together. site distinctions between passed cohesion of social cohesion, they measure them together and this is important because some indicators that women slightly impacts social cohesion and this makes sense. many workplace studies have found they tend to work with people who are similar to us in terms of race, class gender, ideology. to their men feel more socially bonded to mail call it the military as no surprise.

those studies that isolate cohesion has found passed cohesion is more linked to mission effectiveness and social cohesion. one majors that he concluded military performance depends on whether servicemembers are committed to the same goals, not whether they like one another. knowing the task cohesion is a greater indicator and is significant because when we focus on task cohesion, women are not faster. leadership is. there is room to learn from other militaries that is integrated women in combat. research on the israeli defense force found cohesion can be inspired to shared commitment to a mission irrespective of previous spersonal interaction and the canadian report determine cohesion of a mix combat unit was primarily a leadership challenge. in turn, research the complaint social impacts cohesion

mistakenly overemphasizes social dynamic in underestimate the role of leadership and training and moreover lead to potentially broad conclusions about women in cohesion. so now getting to the heart of the matter is quite a few studies that indicate that have been connected domestically and internationally that find little relationship between integration of women in various understandings of cohesion. the 1970s u.s. military connected test that determine women did not have an effective operational capability. we are still having similar conversations. conclusions were supported a 1993 gao report that found gender homogenate he was not listed by participants of the requirement for unit cohesion and brand has done a couple studies said they found in the

1990s the real cohesion story was one of leadership. something often overlooked here is the fact that similar cohesion arguments were used and put to rest when it came to african-american troops and servicemembers paired we ignored the effects of social cohesion and various workplace settings including military overly cohesive or homogenous groups associated with grouping for diverse groups have been found to have enhanced intelligence as well as enhance problem-solving decision-making skills. so let's talk about gender cohesion. there are two main indicators that there may be gender bias in relation to discussions on cohesion. first is cohesion is often referred to either implicitly or explicitly as male by the fact

income evidence in a case pending in adamant to cohesion may be attitudes not women themselves or their ability to perform. the first point cohesion as male bonding. when we look at the public space and the broader literature about cohesion, some descriptions assume cohesiveness requires sex resegregation benefaction of the masculine nature of the bonding not the bonding or trust itself that is essential. anthony king and his research at knowledge of sociologists have preferred to emphasize the role of informal masculine rituals and sustaining social cohesion. similarly kingsley browne, former u.s. supreme court clerk made the following observation. men fight for many reasons but probably the most powerful is the bonding with combat for

fundamental reasons women choose not have the same length of comradeship that india. so linking national security to all-male units makes it difficult for those trying to integrate women into combat units. defining military cohesion and troop effectiveness by masculine rituals or masculinity places women as a threat by the very nature irrespective of performance. this perspective can't be countered with more research. it requires a change in perspective. this is my attitude matters. going to the second indicator, i mentioned research earlier that shows little correlation between women and reduce cohesion, but there are some studies that show the contrary. if you dig deeper you can find some interesting conclusions. let me explain. one study found the units with higher numbers of women reported lower levels of cohesion because

women as a group reported lower levels of cohesion. the more women you have come at the lower levels of cohesion. women report lower levels. another study found that women negatively and packed cohesion found acceptance of women and acted cohesion. the more exacting, the higher the rates of cohesion and a group. here you have a separate fact their effect in cohesion. this has been reproduced and international studies on mixed gender units which has found acceptance of women positively correlated with horizontal cohesion and combat readiness. this is really important because it means meant attitude towards women and accepted that women not women themselves might be the key factor in levels of cohesion. it is also because it seems to respect the avoidance performance, negative attitudes

about their place in the military persistent in fact have a group describes cohesion. a couple weeks ago results of a survey given to the special operations forces were reported in the survey used to gauge apprehension in relation to women in combat to prevent deadly address them in the results that show several misgiving and concern including concerns about sexual assault. we need to understand how misgivings that reaction to women in combat might impact group dynamics and reported levels of cohesion. we also need to acknowledge sexual assault is not a gender integration or cohesion problem. it is a sexual assault problem. again with studies show is the main issue may be meant attitude and perception. so we may want to spend our attention focusing on cultural change rather than studies on

cohesion. debates about women in cohesion, particularly those focused on women in combat with several important questions unanswered including why does there seem to be more concern regarding women in cohesion with regard to combat units? do women only hinder combat troops? to combat groups require cohesion from other units? and are we suggesting the training and literary leadership are unable to foster social cohesion among soldiers? i would argue, cohesion is not a gender-neutral concept. an essential element of the band of brothers is the unexplainable or indescribable bond of the all-male group. this representation of cohesion can make it a moving target that's impossible to pin down a

measure and therefore difficult to counter with research. irrespective of the vast research indicated women don't impact cohesion, ideals associated with a greater special bonding are all too often treated as fact rather than narrative and characterization with our male and female troops short. it implies men cannot be professional in serve alongside fellow service members irrespective of gender and assumes women are not as trustworthy or dependable comrade as counterparts. evident indicate these claims are true. we cannot let the myth override reality. the idea of units on the frontline of women stayed behind is over. stories like ashley zwart are stories i hear over and over not only in the u.s. but australia, canada and new zealand.

women on the frontlines play a major part in honored warfare. speculation can actually reinforce myth rather than make women's jobs easier. i think we need to move forward and we have the research we need to do so. now we need to address the attitudes about women and consider how military culture needs to catch up with the reality of participation in war. thank you. >> thank you very much. ha ha -- [applause] robert, i will turn to you now and ask a straightforward question. based on your experience and research, detailed the evidence in the experience will degrade performance or do you not feel that way? >> so, we will see.

first of all, thanks for a brilliant president patient there. just look it up my notes, wondering what i could possibly add. i would definitely like to go back to the quote by general dempsey that was up here in support of this early on. i am an academic and i am a foreigner so i don't have to be nice to anyone in here. we will expand opportunities to women in a way that intense readiness, morale and unit cohesion to preserve our capability to do such a nation. that is all good but when i am packed that, there's lot of problematic assumptions in negativity based about one. is about maintenance personalization of the existing order. that is an assumption the existing organization is perfect. whatever we do can only have

negative or no would act if it's done really, really well. pat to me is the wrong starting point when it comes to the inclusion of women in combat. i just want to put that out there. it is horrible to join an organization and feel the only way i can impact his negatively or not at all. let's think of this more in terms of the increase. maximize combat effectiveness. i also think on the other hand military effectiveness unit performance is either right measures. those are the right topics to talk about. we have military organization for specific purposes. the army calls a fight any limits were to send the nation i should add units to allow or in fighting the nation's war

entails a whole host of complex tasks beyond the tactical level engagement for the enemy. physical fitness and unit cohesion are to traditionally very important aspects of a terry effectiveness. it's absolutely right we are focusing on those things. that is also where most of the complaint or she are sorry. we have to tackle them. i think we've done a pretty good job of physical fitness. at this point i would get over with it. just do it. but women can be but the existing standards and make sure they are not only gender-neutral that only hides gender blind man's because it's the same for everyone while they are part of a highly masculine tradition and

view of what war is and what it means and how it is conducted, et cetera. also part of the masculine/. we have to create standards is i also think we should be aware of the argument of the fact that ms. since we have not exactly come out for 15 years of continuous war with great success and glory. there's tremendous mistakes most of them at the strategic level but also at the tactical level. there are reasons to improve the way we fight the way we organize, the way we train, et cetera. we should view this issue as part of the ambition to always in proven maximize the

effectiveness of the armed forces. something interesting that came out of iraq and afghanistan are a number of organizations of innovations. we have the lioness teams with the early version. the female engagement teams, gender focal points, cultural support teams, et cetera. lots of innovation going on. those were not ordered from the political level and imposed on the organization. there were attempts at dealing with tactical level challenges for units we face in the field. that is not just what that is in terms of maintaining effectiveness but a way of improving. these were necessary measures. i will come back in terms of the most appropriate ways i female engagement teams et cetera, et

cetera. remember they were responsive to tactical challenges, not imposed on units. a number of fields of research and make them did a great job of covering them. you often hear the story of more evidence. there is quite a lot of evidence out there. the challenges we are up against what is considered common sense within the armed forces pounded the feeling that what we have really works and we know how to train a good entry unit. with china for centuries in the same way and our drill sergeants know exactly how to push your recruit they know they should encourage the activities then do as well hard drinking and wooing the ladies at the local pub, if i read.

those are ways we know work we are comfortable because we assume is the way we do things. if it weren't for centuries, why should we change it? but also quite a lot of research highlighting these types of masculine social cohesion unit or construction safety will get quite often lead to some extreme and problematic cases of hyper masculinity abuse. now i don't thought it is directly related to violence within the armed forces, but it seems to me a pretty obvious connection. there is also the link to toxic leadership that would quite often consider quite acceptable because they are quite effective. they create the units that perform according to standards, so why should we fire them?

while they are producing unit cultures that in the end they become really problematic. in all kinds of ways. there's again some experience from iraq and afghanistan with the worst cases of units misbehaving or leading to war crimes, for example. we have the business literature civilian literature supporting moran war. that doesn't mean so much because again we are looking at combat and that is considered unique and special. if the business community is improved but inclusivity, you can always dismiss that. that is very clear. we see this called the negotiation. if you conduct desegregated

analysis. you do it more effectively. that applies to military affairs as well unless it is so unique. we can also obvious when you look at the impact on non-combat units. most of the studies from the past, there's no serious indicators. sometimes we all know that it doesn't work. we all know what happens and what have you. the ruins unit cohesion and effectiveness. if they have performed so poorly and no one said anything, shouldn't they be on trial for misleading the country is such an important way. we are talking about direct combat support units who are absolutely crucial to those on the front line.

either way that distinction of modern warfare is pretty ridiculous anyway. we have the opposite integration of combat units internationally as well. so fired what i see in my own researches spoke with the referred to or dismissed as anecdotal these days because we don't have enough cases to make it quantitative. but we see very little of negativity in the studies. what you hear first of all it's usually an absolute nonissue. it doesn't matter at all. she perform the job grade. she became one of the guys. i don't see why sex were gender has anything to do with it. that is the first reaction. when you probe them, then let knowledge that it is an issue that it has combat units.

how to resolve certain issues. those are not the worst things that can hotbed and a good leader can tackle these issues just as any other challenge any of these units come up with. so it is an issue that we should begin be aware rather than being gender blind, let's be gender aware. i suggested tackle issues that might arise. you've also hear interesting stories of improving effect to mr. and inclusivity. one being that men over perform when there's women around. so they get better. they don't want to lose to women, for example. i don't know about that. more importantly, lots of stories about a culture within the unit.

again, we have the diversity dimension that with more background evolving the group sing. it is a bit of a mixed bag but it is looking very positive. as i always highlight, the very thought of last year about the end total as it is the opposite that i served with women and it really didn't work. it ruins the unit et cetera. be sure that the people who have never served in a military unit that are very vocal about how a unit should function because they've seen it on movies. but also the people within the organization who have never served with women or women in combat. of course that is pretty rare. staggering amount of people you

would dig that they would see about more of the commentator fields and the professional journals. some of them would step up for the sake of the country and the organization that gave such an important issue to defend the effective organization. that is very urging. men's attitudes towards women is a key factor. i thought it was absolutelabsolutel y astonishing in so many ways provocative and also accurate. it was the way of saying what i've been trying to get out for a very long time. that also raises issues about consequences perhaps integration is low. it is not just a nonissue. it's not just preserving the existing culture. it might be something more

fundamental that has an impact but it can be an incredibly positive and rewarding process and let study that as well. let's try and study the improved impact and five the negative impact these days. i will stop there. there is so much john and mary beth have as well. >> that answers the question. it does indicate too often we ask how do we avoid the floors and that is implied sometimes then the question would have to be a good ourselves is how do we improve the force. it is fair to say there is an endeavor that is not benefited from extending the opportunity to join me in another to all those qualified at gender or other characteristic.

this feels to me like a case like that. you raise a couple of questions and i want to turn to john and mary beth. the first is john you can speak with great credibility is combat so different from every other sphere of human endeavor that rules don't apply? john, you had the experience of your breach or qualified infantry officer. you had the experience of training and leading into some of the heaviest and most sustained combat experiences in the vietnam war. of all the folks who talk about this, you are certainly one of them. from your perspective, du theo having access to a talent pool

of women for your unit would've improved your performance? would you attack during the bout that? i do think it might've improved your performance? be my first off, i want to say my views here today are my own. they don't represent the harbor defense of the maryland national guard. to answer your question -- there i was falsehood that in afghanistan with my wife in the korengal valley and the war on terror. 75% strength. when you are asked, would my platoon had devastated if we opened up a greater pool of talent to draw from? the answer is yes. so why was i platoon shrink. we trained for a year before

deploying and we lost people. we lost lost people. we lost it though because of injuries. we lost people because of drugs discipline issues and many workers in our unit as we are building up, we continue to lose folks. so we never got to 100% strength that we are sent into this crucible. now we kicked some books and didn't bring him with us. maybe i kind of regret taking him with us. they weren't necessarily physically fit enough to do the job. the infantry army to be a male and pass the minimum of the pt test. it is not differentiated whether you are an amateur event in afghanistan or a cyberguy or gal at fort meade.

is so when i think about the women that cds or go to ranger school right now made it through wrap week, i don't think 42% of my platoon could have made it through that i deployed with. that is a pretty tough challenge. so is to open up the field to have the best people possible would have been a value added. the point that you are making about the band of brothers certainly i served with a lot of outstanding human b. and i thought that our unit overall performed at a very high level. not every infantrymen is eddie murphy or john rambo. you have folks like that out there and may serve individuals who were heroes.

but there's other folks that are just kind of barely skating by. and so when we think about bringing women into an infantry unit, we are thinking you are going to replace john rambo with joe rambo or whenever and shall never keep. that is simply not the case. a lot of women would be able to perform at that same level. and they certainly well enough to have been a value add overseas. getting to that discussion about cohesion and what does it take to build cohesion. we did focus in the unit on pasture and cohesion. you are leaving on translating a bunch of 18, 19-year-old kids

who try to be squared away, doing their job and make up what is cool. young soldiers are emulating squad leaders. what it means to be a good soldier and those young soldiers want to emulate their altars and following their path. we worked at a really high level. going to the idea of working in a business environment i think at least the stress my unit was put under in afghanistan was much higher than the stress he would find in a civilian occupation. there are times when individuals were unable to keep up. we had a number of soldiers that go home on r&r and it wouldn't come back. they were scared. they were suffering from ptsd.

there was a lot of issues. and he had a lot of soldiers who were tossing it out and kind of did not seek care because they knew their friends were a fair. that level of stress and the level of cohesion you need to maintain an face that level of adversity is much greater than what i've found now. most of my experience in the military was not in korengal valley. there were times in afghanistan that weren't necessarily held. you want the most cohesive unit possible when you are going in

like that. but most of the techniques and leadership skills that we would use have a broad base of support to reach out to people in the military as well. >> answer that question, you that a company of marines and certainly not an officer retreat in 2003. can you speak to what that experience was like for you and the leadership challenges you may or may not have had. i think also possibly speaking to the larger question. i am continuously fascinated by the way we look at this if we are diving in to an unknown world that we have not experienced in terms of having women in direct fire combat. does that strike you as accurate

or maybe something that's been going on the last 15 years? >> yeah, for sure. it is interesting we approached it when i see so many faces some of them familiar to me. we have been doing this for an awfully long time. the difference between my dad on a daily and the experience of the audience as i hope you won't have to fight so hard to get there. when i was on active duty in a circa 99 to 2007 i served as a com engineer officer. i was in a field open to women but a number of units within the field were not open to women. i could only do two thirds of my job. i was barred from training and a whole third of my occupational specialty. i wasn't allowed to map are. so everywhere we went we thought you trained. i may think i have while i'm talking. i don't mean not to be explicit.

i was actually the older women, so is very much in the fighting to get her to do these. everywhere i went i have to disclose to me because i was a woman and i wasn't allowed to eat them certain places. one example i had an opportunity to take my platoon to bridgeport mountain warfare training center with a company of combat engineer companies which was close to women. there were no women. i had an opportunity to train for a month and the mountain warfare training package. i was told no by a number of people. i have to say was not one of them. i had some pretty amazing leaders. despite being told no by several people, i did it anyway and everybody survived. we did great. the nice thing was being able to come eat and keep up with them and excel on the mountain said something in the 200 member bob

the way having seen a woman from the task left having a different idea about women and i will admit for the first couple days i was a distraction. i can't deny that. they were fascinated by me i got was some weird alien creature in what is she going to do next and how she going to do this and i watched the whole time to find out. they were fascinating, but they got over it and the rest of the month went smoothly and i built amazing relationships to the areas. fast forward to a combined arms exercise that twentynine palms where i was an engineer platoon commander. we were organized at that time. tried a wonderful experiment for the organized into a pool. male, female, no matter what field they put us in a common pool of firmness to the unit. so is essentially detached and put into an engineer pool to be used wherever engineers are needed. when they passed up my platoon

they forgot i was platoon commander and they tacitly to a light armored reconnaissance company headed to the field for a week to train for combat. so i showed up all bright eyed and cheery with a platoon of all men in immediately the platoon sergeant for the lar come in a sad you can't come with us. i wouldn't want you to get in trouble. does the combat exclusion rule that says women can't train with combat units. i said wow no kidding. last night what time do we go because i'm what you've got an i'm here and this is my platoon and coming with you. for the first couple days i will admit i was a distraction. but they got over it so quickly and we went on to have an amazing week in the field i build lifelong relationships. and we have some great laughs about it over a few beers at the

club afterwards. just been getting over the process. fast forward more to a culmination of my career, which was the invasion of iraq. as company commander, across the border with third infantry division the first unit that went across. the days before, all of a sudden a colonel who will remain unnamed realized i was a woman and thought this is going to be a problem. he told me i would not take my company across the border and i would be replaced at be replaced after being company commander for nine in trading the company and doing all the prep work and extremely well-funded with them in my platoon commanders, two days before the invasion of iraq i was told i couldn't go that would be replaced as some of these variants have never seen. fortunately i was surrounded by amazing leaders of one of those was a commanding officer and he kind of did that. at that time the thought of war

worked for me and they forgot and i did it anyways. me being a female did not hold me back from the mission at all. crossing the border was by far one of my proudest moment second only to bring everybody home and crossing the border back into kuwait safely afterwards. this was 12 years ago now. this is not a new argument. women have been doing this a lot time and doing an extremely successfully. i am proud to be counted among them in among you in the audience to the one who gone before me. julius knockout but i have special thanks to her. she busted through the glass ceiling and made a nice, neat old me to climb through with mike atrios. the key was great leadership along the way. the key was not whether i was strong enough to do it. i was. that helped me.

the key was always terrific leaders who trusted in me and my ability to be clamoring and that is all that matters. at.earlier. this is we have got over the course of the day tv so much about ethical standards. truthfully, not to the credit research or draw attention, but i would like to keep the focus on not because i honestly think that is the only thing holding us back anymore. i will not hold his bat for very long. once the standards are thoughtfully made and maybe they are there now. i'm not the expert. once they are thoughtfully made, women will figure out a way to do it and that needs to be the last barrier. the top about surrounding issues is gone. my generation proves that many years ago. i've got to rangers in the idea women who went through the ranger course if it is amazing.

we have done amazing things. i think that's okay as should be on what the true barriers are left, which are many. >> thank you is that there really is firing story. you talk about decisions made on the basis of what is good for an organization. is retelling the story gemini can't think of anything dumber than a high-performing line of combat two days before iraq because of gender. i think your company is very lucky that didn't happen. at this point i'm sure there's plenty to discuss, but would anyone like to job then? we have microphones orbiting. is >> major had come up army national guard. i have a question that was

touched on. as i was talking here do you see it more as a generational gap that as we continue on does things will kind of not go away, the kind of the line. like they were worried about you are female. maybe it is more of a generation before. i think i graduated the same year as you. i saw different things impossibly low attendance coming out. is there research being done as far as the closer? it is the leadership's ability to change that and make a difference. >> that is a great question. anyone want to take a crack at that? you bet there is research to indicate a cultural gap. there is the same kind of vindication. the problem is that leadership is part of the generation in the

old culture we are talking about. it may take some time for cultural change. i certainly think the attitude among new recruits, there is indication around issues of gender and "don't ask don't tell" were very different. >> just to add quickly, the military historically is not greater quick culture change. it takes sometime to come along. while i do see huge difference is between the generation of my parent than myself in the men and women in the audience, i think that is not good enough for us to push in the right way and a thoughtful fashion is extremely important in and that is why these panels and discussions are imported. it will happen on its own, but not in enough time.

>> i've been in so many conversations with different levels of command is well for the younger generation will say with all due respect sir and then explain the fact they are already everywhere. my wife is fine as common header, and then repeated something tremendous happening to generational shifts. >> my name is jessica and some professor at the school of an or national service at american university here in d.c. and a big shout out to my georgetown colleague. i would like to speak to this point a little bit about general shifts in cultural shows. dr. mckenzie brought up what historically has been integrated into their operations. even pushing through some of their removals of gender-based combat exclusion, they have an extremely difficult time. women who operate on unmanned

aerial drones are allowed to deploy in theater but not within such limits. but even among most advanced countries in overcoming these hurdles, hurdles still remain. it is a little bit naïve to think these issues will go away immediately. in part because are very excited that came up as a point of conversation. my own research deals primarily with irregular armed groups rebel groups come in and read. what we have seen is a lot of altmann in the developed world is relaunching the literary form of all women to the diverse wants to the high level female participation in the insurgency and sri lanka appeared to be

really driven from our engagement in conflicts like iraq and afghanistan is internally driven through changes in american culture and perceptions of the role of women in the work hours et cetera is something i would like you to speak on. there does seem to be attention in the congregation of the panel whether it's about me and how i'm an power shortages and getting full staffing levels or abetted allergy and -- acknowledging that we are all people and we should all participate. so your view on whether this is an external word terminally driven problem would be helpful. >> anyone want to take a crack at a question arc >> it is a great question, but you are opening pandora's box here as well. we haven't talked at all about the u.n. security council resolution or two and 25 the u.s. national action plan for

peace and security, which you could say a more bright space argument that this is the right thing to do that we have to empower women, equality, and battery. at the same time those come from an in understanding the existing order is that working and we can improve the way we create peace, development by the hive representativeness of women. even there, it is a combination. operational x variants from the last decade is hugely important with a lot of lessons there. so the way i try to avoid that issue of deciding whether it is the right thing to do or the smart thing to do is to say that there is a difference between that sort of very difficult fundamental chicken and egg discussion versus how we solve this as an to a highly reluctant

organization. the rice-based arguments to mean simply do not work. they will acknowledge that it is important for gender equality and improved opportunities for women. we are in the business of war so we can't deal with that within the military is the response you get. but if you do explain with scenarios that indicate where it had an impact on operational effectiveness, you will have their gear for a little while. or at least gain access to the organization and explain yourself. i find that the argument always gets their attention when you focus on operational effectiveness. i would encourage you to do that not just because it is the real reason we are doing this but because it is the most effect in terms of organizational change which is what we are approaching. but you are also touching upon a

number of questions of how we go about and you ask good questions of the last panel about the engagement of cultural support teams that are necessary capabilities. most will agree with that. we were never going to fight the war but those capabilities are developing. so how do we do that? we can create female mos with those specific functions that fills the gaps of the existing organization. this is the panel on unit cohesion. we all agree unit cohesion is an important thing in your performance. so if you have ad hoc solutions, if you bring in a world made to special operators are not engagement to existing platoon that is always going to be a liability because they will not be as cohesive and train

together as they will be if aptitude has those functions. i would always say first of all get the women into the units if they do use them rather than an add-on to the units. apart from the fact having female mos et cetera, will always create the risk is is feeling different standards, for example. if you have a ranger platoon with physical standard and you add a few women because they need it. so i would avoid it. >> just a couple of moments left in the program. see it and it's entirety on c-span.org. going live now to the south lawn of the white house in just a

moment. live pictures now on the south lawn as president obama this morning is welcoming deputy prime minister as part of an official state visit. they too will be holding talks today in president obama will host a state dinner in honor of the japanese prime minister. .. [background sounds]

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>> present arms. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states, and mrs. michelle obama. [cheers and applause] ♪ ♪ ♪ [background sounds]

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[background sounds] >> mr. president, this concludes the honors.

>> good morning. >> good morning. [speaking japanese] [applause] [laughter] >> on behalf of the american people and michelle and myself it is a great honor for me to welcome prime minister abe and mrs. abe of japan, one of america's closest allies in the world. across japan over the coming days, our japanese friends are marking special holidays

honoring their history, celebrating their constitution, giving gratitude for nature's beauty, and expressing their hopes for their children. now with this visit it is a truly golden week. [speaking japanese] >> for michelle and myself this is an opportunity to return some of the hospitality that shinzo akie and the japanese people have shown us in the past. in kyoto michelle had the honor of playing drums. in tokyo i played soccer with a

robot. [speaking japanese] >> this visit is a celebration of the ties of friendship and family that binds our peoples. i first felt when i was six years old when my mother took me to japan. i felt it growing up in hawaii like commuters across the country homes of so many proud japanese americans. [speaking japanese]

>> today's also a chance for americans, especially our young people, to say thank you for all the things we love from japan like karate and karaoke -- and, of course, m.o. g.'s. [speaking japanese] >> and this visit also has historic significance. in 1960, president eisenhower welcomed prime minister abe's grandfather, here to the white house. they signed the security tree that endures to this day commuting america and japan to an indestructible partnership. [speaking japanese]

>> today we welcome primers on the as we broaden our alliance for our time. the united states has relieved schmidt renewed our leadership in the asia-pacific. prime minister abe is leading japan to a new role on the world stage. the foundation of both is a strong u.s.-japan alliance. [speaking japanese] >> hours and alliance focus on the future the security of our nation's in the world, trade

that is free and trade and equal opportunity and human rights of all peoples, around the world and in other countries as well. and girls because they truly deserve to shine. [speaking japanese] >> prime minister abe, mrs. abe, members of the japanese delegation from we are truly honored to have you here as great allies and as true friends. welcome to united states. [speaking japanese]

[applause] [speaking japanese] >> good morning. [speaking japanese] >> translator: mr. president mrs. obama, mr. vice president dr. biden, ladies and gentlemen,

i thank president obama's warm welcome. two years ago when i visited washington, d.c., it was in february during the cold season of the year. i am honored to be back in this season when we can enjoy the beautiful season south lawn of the white house. and i would like to express my appreciation for the cordial welcome from our american friends. [speaking japanese] >> translator: this official

visit to the united states is a special one for me. since i took office, a top priority of my foreign policy has been to revitalize the alliance between japan and the united states. and here at washington, d.c. i had a summit meeting with the president obama two years ago. and since then together with mr. president, we have been addressing issues such as the trans-pacific partnership and realignment of u.s. forces. [speaking japanese] >> translator: and now our bilateral relationship is more robust than ever.

our alliance is back on track and it is even stronger. this official visit is a culmination of what we've been doing for the past two years, and it is a great pleasure for me to realize this visit. [speaking japanese] >> translator: the development of japan-u.s. relationship is not something we could achieve without the history of long-standing bilateral cooperation over the years. there have been relationship of trust between the leaders the

relationship of cooperation between the two nations and governments, and friendship from people to people exchange with the two people. all these have played an important role as a key pillar for the relationship. [speaking japanese] >> translator: the world is facing new challenges more than ever. japan will be at the forefront with the united states and addressing regional and global challenges of developing our bilateral ties with united states into consistent manner. and i very much look forward to having a discussion with

president obama today on those challenges. [speaking japanese] >> translator: mr. president mrs. obama, thank you again for the warm and cordial welcome for your hospitality. >> thank you so much. [applause] >> honor guard. attention. right shoulder. march.

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>> the official arrival ceremony on this tuesday with the japanese prime minister shinzo abe. president obama will set with the prime minister today for talks and then later this morning prime minister of the will join the president for this news conference at noon eastern on the c-span networks. also later this evening president obama will host a state dinner in honor of the prime minister. we have a preview of preparations for the dinner in what is expected to take place. >> thank you. welcome to the white house. tomorrow the president and mrs. obama will welcome prime minister and mrs. abe of japan which will mark the official visit followed by a formal state dinner of the obama administration. addenda will take place in the east room and will be followed by a musical performance here in the state dining room. the entertainment is the cast

members, main cast members of the film adaptation of jersey boys including the tony award winner who originated the role on broadway, john lloyd young is also the president's counsel on arts and humanities. the decor the theme is a long-awaited spring here in d.c. you can see orchids and cherry blossoms and other flowers representing is a long-awaited season in the state dining room here there will be crystal that represents -- [inaudible] which will not take long at all this weekend, saturday night especially. but it is a welcoming, not just of our visitors but our visitors

to spring and how much japan has brought us and how much we look forward to spring and the cherry orchard, the cherry blossoms. with that -- >> deputy national security advisor. >> thanks everybody. i'll be briefed on some the objectives of the visit. some of you may have seen our preview of this the other day. first of all this is the first such a visit from japanese prime minister to the united states in nearly a decade with a full program including a state dinner. president obama's able to visit japan and be hosted at a state visit last year and meet with prime minister abe. we believe that the u.s.-japan alliance is the cornerstone of our engagement with the asia-pacific region. agenda the president has made a rebalance to the asia-pacific region, a focal point of his foreign policy. so mickey shorter u.s.-japan alliance is strong growing stronger has been a key foreign

policy priority i will be a focus of the visit. the visit takes place at the 70th anniversary of the conclusion of world war ii over the course of this year and i think it's a testament to how far our two countries have come, countered our ability to reconcile and also to develop an appreciation for our shared democratic values. all that i think will be on display over the course of the next couple of days. substantively the leaders will be focus on a number of important issues. on our defense and security cooperation to our alliance. right now there's a meeting taking place between our foreign and defense ministers that is focusing on how to revise and update our defense guidelines. we are welcoming japan's increase role in the alliance and really see this as a critical is not historic moment in terms of moving forward with the modernization of our security partnership. economically the u.s. and japan are enormous trading partners

and we are currently negotiating trans-pacific partnership trade agreement along with 10 other nations that has the ability to unlock even greater growth and job creation for both the u.s. and japan and other countries in the asia-pacific region. that will clearly be a focus but also think we want to be looking across our whole relationship, how we cooperate in the asia-pacific region one of the people to people ties in our countries and importantly first lady visited japan recently and had a good visit with mrs. abe where they discuss among other things our shared commitment to the education of women and girls at the things the u.s. and japan could do together to our own national commitments but also to support international girls education, our peace corps in the united states is partnering with the japanese counterpart finding way to foster growth. so it's going to be a good and substantive and important visit from the prime minister but of course, there are many other

important elements that we will be hearing from now that i think will resonate with the japanese american public in a really really testimony came which we valued his friendship and partnership. >> good morning ladies and gentlemen. our social secretary chairman spoke about a waiting spring. for the culinary side of our state and we are actually celebrating spring so for the first course we are doing a very classic american salad with a japanese twist, literally. this particular salad -- a japanese traditional way of wrapping just. the white house culinary team thought this would be a good nuance and is a combination of cuisine. so if you want to take a look

this is an absolute gorgeous play. the one thing about this plate is we actually went to the garden at 8:00 this morning grabbing all of the lettuces that was out there, so we were using about -- the lettuces that were planted by schoolchildren from around the country as we saw couple of weeks ago within the first lady. we are accepting this as well with some local vegetables and some of our kind of not so local vegetables because we want to highlight fruits and vegetables from california as well. we are also highlighting oysters and some of the cheeses from vermont. so there's a lot of wonderful things we want to celebrate which is spring. thank you. >> good morning, everyone. i wanted to present to you

today we have silken custard cake and it is on the new president and mrs. obama's dessert plate. it's a healthier version of tofu and soy milk cheesecake more american-style with the seasonal berries. and we also have petite pillows that are in little spoon zero with the platter here. i have handcrafted sugarplum teapot, and surrounded with little cherry blossoms pink blossoms to celebrate the cherry blossoms and the arrival of spring. we have also strawberries anti-squares and also sweet tea cups and tea and lemon tea cakes. so thank you very much. have a great day.

>> doesn't seem to i could come up after that chefs with their beautiful gifts for you. ourour beverage service for saving its traditional american white house has been the custom at the white house repeat of time now but we have an unusual very personal accent when the president was in japan, prime minister abe toasted him with -- conversations that followed in the prime minister's, the are excellent sake brewery there. the president fought as a personal gift he would bring sake into one of the finest sake breweries in that area and we served it as a toast for this evening come and that is a very personal individualized touch. the name comes from the fact that in sake bring you take the rice and you refine the whole of the rice down to the center to bring out the starches which are

the fermentable parts. and excellent sake would be 40%. this is down to 23% from a sickly 67% of the rice will give it the pure essence. we will be serving that thousand of those this evening. the winds wines that we have are very nice. the white wine is out of sonoma. the story the false that is a very nice japanese lady from tokyo as an exchange, fell in love, got married while she was doing her masters at stanford. they visited wineries a lot while he was working for a company and they came back wanting to purchase land in sonoma so they purchased land up in the sonoma area. over a period of years working with pottersville to be a winemaker and the wind we are serving this evening as her one. she is now the winemaker at a winery this is cool breeze

signifying the cold climate. i realized chardonnay. this is the pinot noir out of napa valley. nice succulent. we're following with a dessert course with the iron horse russian river, slightly sparkling wine which will help with the intensity of the desert, sparkling our way into the entertainment this evening. so thank you. >> good morning everyone. we are seeing here what will be unveiled for dinner tomorrow night. spells or use of the obama state china. it has 11 pieces. they were designed to draw a

modern aesthetic to a new china while continuing to draw on historic and traditional elements. so we have the service plate at the center centers a coat of arms of the president of the united states. that appears on the first place you will see. that is how the table is set with the guests arrive and it will be on the last course which is this dessert plate at the far end. so it starts and ends the dentist and with the presidential symbol. in between there's this new color which was created for this particular service and has been dubbed -- in honor of the waters off the president's home in hawaii. it's a modern and fresh color not previously seen on state china's but is was to create a modern service that is completely compatible and interchangeable and usable with all of the historic china services. so that appears on most of the

pieces. the one exception is the dinner plate here at the far right. this was an attempt -- is raised white on white decoration around the dinner plate is in fact based on this pattern which is in 1806 french china service that was service by james and dolley madison before he became president of united states. so it's a remarkably modern pattern for 200 some years ago but it is turned into this element which is also seen on the little individual terrain which is a form but never before in any white house china service with specially designed with all sorts of consultation between the first lady staff at the residence staff on what makes for good food service that's entered -- interesting entertaining. both for soup and deserves any of the dishes that chefs get

creative and decide they would like to serve with a little m.a.s.h., a little serving size. so thanks very much. start give us a moment. all of these will be available for q&a. >> attempt at stake in what the japanese prime minister happens this evening. we will have live coverage starting at 6:30 p.m. eastern on c-span3. also on the agenda is a speech before joint meeting of congress that happens tomorrow morning coverage begins at 11 a.m. eastern on c-span. the supreme court takes up debate on same-sex marriage debate. the issue is whether the 14th amendment gives same-sex couples the right to marry and whether the same and in the covers recognition of such marriages but all states but we will air those arguments today started at fort eastern on c-span3 that you can listen early activities from online at c-span.org. video senate will be gaveling in

and about 10 minutes at 10 eastern. more work were expected on iran nuclear negotiation oversight bill. and we get to the senate loretta lynch was sworn in as of the nation's 83rd attorney general yesterday. she is the first african-american woman to hold that post. here's what the certainly looked like him and we were sure as much of this as we can until the senator ellison again at 10 a.m. >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome attorney general designate ms. loretta lynch and vice president of the united states, joe biden. [applause] >> hey, everybody. [applause]

>> please, everybody, have a seat. general, the first time i came into this room i had just turned 30. i was a young united states senator, and it was in the nixon administration. i remember walking in this building and thinking as a young lawyer the majesty of this place and how much we all rely on it for all of our basic rights and protections. and your whole family is here today. i hope you will forgive come as we used as the innocent, a point of personal privilege, but i'm so happy to meet you dad. bad, stand up. i want everybody to see you. [applause]

chairman leahy come as you know, this is the man who never thought -- in the face of oppression and prejudice. and so many people, reverend so many people come not only in your home state of north carolina and throughout this country, oh you so much for not just your wisdom but the physical courage it took back in those days to speak out as you did. at baptist minister who always talk his children that anything is possible. think about that. a lot of us tell our children that, but in the face of jim crow in north carolina, raising a lovely, bright young woman as well as her brother, saying anything, anything is possible and the truth of the matter was

he not only path it he fought for it -- he not only taught it he fought for it but as i understand he made it clear they had to work for, too. the dad taking young loretta to courthouse tuesday important cases was a pretty i imagined in those days fairly innovative. why did he have his young daughter with him in the courthouse? and then the local i buried, drop her off to instill in her one of the few places a young black woman could be with some degree of security surrounded by all those works that is still just an incredible love of learning and language in you loretta. this is an incredible moment. a baptist minister who preached during the sit ins in greensboro finds himself 50 years later

with his daughter in this magnificent room, his daughter now leading the march toward a more perfect union, something he fought for his whole life. and still fight for. ladies and gentlemen, it's about time. it's about time this woman is being sworn in. [applause] it's about time. >> i'm tired of being tired. well, we got tired of his weight but you showed such grace and such humility during this whole process, general. you know, this is a woman who is incredibly qualified just like eric holder who i've known and been my close friend for years and years and years. i mean over 30 years.

and he's among a mighty one of the finest attorney general's we have had. he has been in this environment such political hostility to yesterday is ground on principle. he has never yielded and he has been right. [applause] now the reason eric has life been so nice to me, as valerie can tell you, he was on the two-person committee to decide who to choose as vice president. [laughter] so he owed me. [laughter] no, i'm joking. that is a joke. press, that is a joke. it's been a great honor of my life, but he's also one of the great friends of my life. about six and a half years madam attorney general eric has sat next to come we sat next to each other in cabinet meetings.

there's a protocol where we were seated you will sit on my left during those cabinet meetings and eric sat there and i don't know how many meetings with that in the situation room like the fbi director and others were here the oval office issue after issue, national security and counterterrorism, civil rights and voting rights, marriage equality and integration, violence against women as a criminal justice reform and funding to cops programs come and so much more. he served the department of the stage and are countries honored and i thank them for most of all i think sharon, his wife come and his family. he has a beautiful family brilliant young kids. [applause] we thank them for their service. i vasyl confidence loretta lynch will exceed the high standards set for her because she's companies that same cloth are both she and eric embody the

mantra one of the predecessors finance after whom this building is named and said the purpose of life is to contribute in some way to making things better. the purpose of life contribute in some way to making things better. five generations, your brother is also a baptist minister, of baptist preachers will teach you how to make things better. and so as i read, your dad always taught you to stand up for what's right, speak out for what's just, get up when you get knocked down, and move on. if there's anything you should know about loretta lynch following her father's example she excelled in everything everything she has done from the time she was a child. she never had been limited by the lower expectations of others, but has always exceeded the expectation she even set for

herself. top of her class in high school. got into a lot of universities but decided she wanted to go to harvard. harvard undergraduate law school, did well as an aspiring young lawyer. for 30 years she's been a first rate, fair-minded, independent lawyer and prosecutor as a u.s. attorney and in private practice. she has shown the resolve to prosecute and jail terrorists, mobsters and gang members. she has shown fidelity to the law and rooted out public corruption. she has shown determination to bring down financial fraudsters and child abusers here and she's shown a dogged pursuit to bust the brutal human trafficking rings that she has encountered. she's shown an unyielding commitment to the rule of law and basic human rights. she forged -- bow and violent

crime in the mean streets in new york to striving for accountability in the crucible of genocide in rwanda. and as a top federal prosecutor she's worked with and learned from law enforcement officers and agents. you have a great partner in this one, director comey. in her own words she said she is a better prosecutor because of them. so she is unimpeachable credibility to strengthen relations between law-enforcement and communities that serve and protect. folks often say that i trust those people patrick kirby said this many times and public life, who arrived -- >> we are going to have to leave the swearing in ceremony at this point for the u.s. senate. a quick reminder you can see this in its entirety at our website, c-span.org. senators to continue work on the

iran nuclear negotiations oversight bill. lawmakers will break between 12:30 p.m.-1:15 p.m. for party caucus lunches. the president pro tempore: the senate will come to order. the chaplain, dr. barry black, will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. o god our help in ages past and our hope in years to come, as baltimore, maryland, descends into chaos and the death toll in nepal rises, we come to you today in the assurance not of our feeble hold