diplomatic corps and we are all here from the perspective to launch this report from but from all of your perspectives to get an opportunity to hear directly from the general john allen the president's special envoy to the global coalition to counter isis. the general is one of the great patriots and public servants that we've had in this country and i had the privilege and i've known him for several years. he has been a man that would take on any difficult task for the united states and in he's been endlessly dedicated to the troops dedicated to the marines for dedicated to the civilians who worked in the most difficult places, and i'm honored that we have him here today.

before being the president's special envoy many of you know he took on the small challenge of trying to help lead the middle east peace process for two years working back and forth between the israelis and palestinians in helping with what was a pure like efforts to move forward towards the two state solution in he's been the commander of centcom and is somebody that applies a great deal of thought and reflection to help america needs to handle its most ethical challenges. and most importantly -- and i have seen in in this capacity wearing the uniform and out of the uniform, he understands the challenges we face are never strictly military, they are always political and always complex. we could have no better person to bring to this task to try to figure out what are all the

pieces of the puzzle countering the threat posed to the country that it is correctly decimating in the racing borders to the region in how we can get a solution that isn't going to rely just on a military force by us and by others because the only way forward is going to be something comprehensive and sustainable, something led by the countries most affected in the support of a wider coalition of partners. we don't have general allen for very long time today so i won't go into much detail. we will be hearing from him and had a chance to do a short discussion and have a distinguished panel will join us afterwards for some follow-up discussion. so without further ado welcome to the center for american progress and thank you for joining us. plus

>> good morning ladies and gentlemen, it's a pleasure to be here and i want to thank you for not just the introduction that you give me this morning that in your own. as many of you know, he's had substantial contributions across a whole friday of ways to the diplomatic and coalition efforts in afghanistan and i benefited directly from those and also your work in east asia. it should benefit for the work that you've done not just there and in the department of defense but more broadly in the community that takes an interest in the important and difficult conversations. thank you for that and i want to thank the center as well for its

contributions to this important contribution and so many others so many complicated and complex issues facing the country today and in particular i want to compliment you on the report that has come out recently and the recommendations we are digesting and i will tell you that we will find a ready ear in the community that i'm not forgetting for the recommendations you've made in this report and we are digesting it and i want to thank you for the efforts. as president obama said last september at the united nations general assembly, disassembled where the world is at a crossroads. we are living in a kind of human history when the older order is passing into the new order is coming into being. and how isis has effectively used 21st century tools, the

ease of world travel and global financial networks and the internet we see some vulnerabilities and gaps in this global order that is in fact emerging and that can be detrimental to this order. indeed, it is one of the great ironies they are so skilled at using modern technologies to to spread such an anti-modern and medieval theology. for someone who has spent four decades as a u.s. marine, i've come closer than many of to the chase of inhumanity. i have never before seen the kind of bummed they're ready that affects and celebrates every day. but in my service as the

president's special envoy to the global coalition to counter over the past ten months the global response to the calculated inhumanity has given me reason for optimism. i'm continually impressed by the diverse group of partners that have committed themselves and their states to counter and contribute to the campaign. by their willingness to make substantial contributions of national prestige and the blood and treasure of their population it is their genuine effort to mark the contribution insulting the complicated and complex problem. indeed it's been a privilege to organize their efforts, the efforts of the 16 nations and to organizations into the coalition campaign that matters profoundly to the security not just of this nation but if the nations of the

world. from the outset of this coalition the campaign to counter which i will henceforth refer to by its arabic acronym. we've understood success would require us to persist and adapt and reassess our activities in the light of victories and setbacks such as the one that was experienced in the body. it's also in. if for all of us to understand the direction of the campaign. having been a part of the previous coalitions in having commanded the coalition of the 50 nations in afghanistan.

it's in the long-term strategic objectives and as we mark one year on the perfect events in iraq spurred the united states to act and convene a global coalition we have an important opportunity to take stock of how far we have come and how much further we have to go. it's difficult to remember how peerless a moment it was last june as the fighters crossed the syrian border and began to pour down the river valley in the communities and massacre thousands of religious minorities. it was a moment where they were under siege and largely alone in the world. not only what they went during the early days but they demonstrated an ability to use

information operations as a force multiplier as they took to the social media to those that they've brutalized. they had a remarkable effect upon the world. immediately ultimately we will never know the complete impact these messages have on thousands of iraqis voters that fled to the rank off just because of the weight of the media campaign against them but to defend their homes and families. but we do know this the ability to find the information environment played a pivotal role in fact perhaps a defining role as they begin to emerge in this crisis and our ability to delegitimize the narrative and impact the very idea of the organization would play just as pivotal a role in their

goodbyes. nowhere has the message mattered more than in the weeks after the capture when they declared the existence. he proclaimed the noble ambitions but it was also during those difficult days last summer as this round of thousands and attended the approaches that they would actually shift the momentum. president obama as secretary kerry made some decisions that would begin to lay the groundwork for a coalition. first we surged intelligence assets over iraq from one

intelligence surveillance reconnaissance for a month to 60 per day gaining a more granular picture of the movement essential to the operations. second you stop rushed critical relationships between the central government and kurdish commanders. third we deployed as forces to assess the security formation and most critically for iraq's future we redoubled our efforts to support the political process following national elections. these were absolutely essential in the immediate term.

it was last summer that we began to understand that it wasn't simply in iraq you are were serious problem but emerging as a regional problem and a generational implications in the keen awareness of that reality and understanding of the thinkable implications if this emergency were to go unabated that our president supported by the secretary resolved to build the global coalition. it was as a special presidential envoy to the coalition. since i began serving in his role i had the opportunity to travel to 30 capitals many of them repeatedly during that time as we worked together with the leadership of the global community we've been able to establish a coalition of 60 nations and two partners and

unlike other coalition campaigns i've been a part of we've had to build this coalition. when i served as the commander of the forces in afghanistan for instance our authorities resided upon the un security council resolutions into the framework for the organization rested upon the north atlantic council of nato. the unprecedented nature and urgency of the effort required that we create a framework to sustain a long-term effort while simultaneously confronting the emergency that we faced so the global coalition to counter agreed unanimously of the ministerial level to the joint statement which outlined our objectives and commitments to work together over multiple lines of effort and while it is the coalition's actions you do

receive the most attention. it is the aggregate effort of the coalition's activities across multiple lines of effort that will determine the coalition success. that's why in every visit that i have to the capital every conversation i have with the prime minister or president or king described the campaign does organized around five multiple lines of effort, the first is the military components to deny safe haven to and security assistance to the partners. second is disrupting the flow of the fighters and access to the financial resources and their ability to access the international financial system. providing humanitarian assistance in the stabilization report and fifth is in the

counter messaging or defeating as an idea. let me provide an overview in the lines of effort into the ways in which the coalition is involving to confront. the first is provided on the security to the partners on the ground and while these are the purview of the central command and its partners it is a sensual that the activities over each of the lines of effort are synchronized and mutually supportive. as we evaluate the effort it is a setback from which we must learn and understand it if you haven't been following it the forces jumped off into the attack to recover so the

security forces are in right now to isolate and to take it back. we should also not forget they've also had setbacks in places like the province and its assault on the kurdistan regional government and they hope to achieve a media spectacle in the world to see as they reduced the city but for the support of the air power over the top of the determined fighters they were soundly defeated and that is an accurate term across the stretch of the border neighboring in the

cross-border two thirds has been wrested from the control in the last six weeks and where the prankster asked the fires permitted the security forces to push out of tikrit to recover the city and three months later hundreds of displaced families have now made a peaceful return to the city. the process gives us a reason to be cautiously optimistic about the efforts or stabilization and support to the liberty did communities as they seek to prevent reprisals. these are important to the partners on the ground and they've played a role in the capability as well.

15 partners are helping to build up the iraqi security force capabilities in the five and the five training camps and six partners are contributing to the coalition's advise and assist machine. eight nations participated in airstrikes over iraq in five overs. among the fighters the coalition has trained many are now helping to secure beijing and are in the attack in the effort to recover the body and since the fault of the decision to locate the troops at of the fifth printing center has produced an additional 1300 tribal fighters who are in fact engaged in the security forces in the attack on this moment. so make no mistake they must be

recruited and trained in the gauge to take back their country. building the capacity of the security force will require a commitment one i believe the coalition has made. others may not agree but it is my belief as greater numbers are trained and equipped and take to the field we will see there increasing effort. success will inspire success as we have seen in other places. at the same time we must appreciate the security gains can only be sustained if political reforms are made in parallel. we must continue to encourage the investor's pursuit of an inclusive path that he has set for his country and one begins to operationalize his approach of governance called functioning

federalism. this vision of governance emphasized in the current disguises the authority to the poppins is. and it is in that approach that we hope to test the plan that the president put in place to solidify. success will depend heavily on the willingness to recruit and train and equip to take back the communities. this will require that premise and others in his government to assume political risk with a large constituency that we have seen him assume that risk and that the decisions made that are beginning to payoff pay off and as we see them begin to organize and more tribal fighters and security forces be produced we will begin to see the reality of that support as well.

we must avoid oversimplification of the identities. we've taken note of the position of the leaders for example of the province provincial council to endorse the contributions of the popular mobilization force a woman's and endorsing their presence in the province and invoicing their willingness to fight alongside the iraqi security forces they recognize that there is a distinction must be made under the influence of iran and the large number that answer the grand ayatollah called to defend iraq last last december and they summer and they came to the country's rescue by the tens of thousands and we have to understand the differences between the two. i believe i am better qualified

than most to understand the district attempt to destabilize and will they can play. someone that is deeply committed to the campaign and iraq's success i understand that error in seeing the future through a narrow sectarian prism. enabling the iraqis to move beyond the division is part of why stabilization efforts in the liberated communities are so important as the campaign continues to unfold and why they support these activities is one of the central winds of effort. there are four opponent components that require the peace in christ. first there's the clearing

element when the iraqi army and the popular mobilization committee enforces and remove them from the population center or urban location. second, there is the security and policing element that deals with crime and provides general security to the liberated population so that i can return to normal. this whole force will likely be combination of the beliefs, local tribes and even some militia elements. behind the effort by the central government and provincial headquarters in capitals to extend governance to the populations that have recently been liberated and have suffered so much. in the stabilization effort itself well for a provision of the services include immediate humanitarian assistance to

address life-threatening issues as well as short-term restoration of services like healthcare and fresh water and electricity. on the elements the coalition is surging technical support and assistance to our iraqi allies. while the germans are helping organize these stabilization activities of others are providing significant support. the training and effect of police forces that are being reconstituted in several nations including the united states have made sizable contributions to the stabilization fund and this will allow them to make immediate investments to meet the urgent needs of those that suffered the dalia deprivations for so many months and to restore critical infrastructure

and electrical distribution. through the support of baghdad has provided they need so badly and creates the opportunity to strengthen between the capital and the people being liberated and this could be and i think ought to be considered as reconciliation from the ground up. these efforts will eventually be just as critical to the coalition's support fighters in a recent game. the coalition is enhancing the and are working so that we can create reliable partners alternately for the coalition outcomes. at the same time looking for ways to streamline the programs so that we can get more recruits into the pipeline and the kinsey

the number enrolled in the program is smaller than we had anticipated to ensure the lasting defeat it we must find ways to improve this aspect of the strategy and we are. and believe nothing can be done and we continue to work this very hard. >> each of us has a profound state and creating the conditions where people can begin to determine their own future the future that is cf. the brutality of the bush cartel aside regime as well as organized elements such as. one of the tools to coalition can use to reflect the management organization is the

ability to squeeze its access through financial resources. the counter finance activities led jointly by italy of the kingdom of saudi arabia constitute other one of the coalition's lines of effort. we are sharing information to block the information to the financial networks into systems and uncovering their plaintiff access. what happened two months ago is beginning to paint a picture for us in ways that we can exploit. the coalition also worked to defend the legal enterprise through the campaign. it's a way to bring the infrastructure back on line and we are going to continue in this effort and we must also recognize that they have other

financial capabilities and resources that are diverse. beyond the enterprise the portfolio includes a number of other measures that are being taken. massive extroversion of populations looting populations for technology, human trafficking and the sale of plundered antiquities. they also operate in territories where there's an extensive criminal infrastructure to support illicit financial activity. much of it dating back to the average also going routes that were used. we've we mildly recovered a great deal of the financial manager or the sco we not only recovered a great deal of information about the financial activities but we also got much greater clarity in the

organization activities and the organization and this is helping us with further planning. the coalition's counter messaging is a cross platforms and languages. here it's important, here it is important that he critical. they speak out and reflect the ideology and in the era of the world's discrediting it as muslim and the face discrediting is an arab face. just last week the emirates and the u.s. launched a center to help operate. ..

that.of recruitment, recruitment, the.of radicalization which is often frankly a cell phone or personal computer. over 30 coalition partners have enacted laws to create greater obstacles were those planning to become foreign fighters and those who

support them. twenty-six countries have made arrests breaking up networks but nevertheless stopping the flow of foreign fighters continues to be a seriousa serious challenge. as we assess our coalition strategy we must confront a knew reality. potential foreign fighters no longer need to leave their home countries or even their homes to bethe radicalized were recruited command ultimately tests to become lone wolf attackers. we must appreciate that they're is no one type of foreign fighter no single method of recruitment and no one source to support them financially. one critical issue is how we manage to reach and to rehabilitate and to reintegrate the thousands of young people who have become

known to us and who we will need to help returning to there societies to become productive members of there states once again, either as they have become radicalized or returned from being a foreign fighter. they're is no denying that many societies find the idea of rehabilitating foreign fighters objectionable and indeed, those who have broken the laws must be held accountable. but long-term detention simply cannot be the sole means of dealing with returning foreign fighters, and, and i believe that we must strive to be a coalition of compassion states especially when certain coalition partners have experienced success. the problem is one that we ought to actively study and embrace. earlier this year i had the opportunity to meet with key muslim leaders in social scientists and singapore who have been working successfully to the radicalized young men and in so doing have supported their successful return to society. the numbers are not high. for not as high as singapore

as they might be for other states, but success is notable. of the 57 releases they're has been one recidivist. belgium, austria germany other states in europe, other states within the coalition to include the kingdom of saudi arabia have developed a set of effective practices for the specific cultural and national context ultimately to assist in this process of the reclamation of foreign fighters back into society. we have to respond to uniquely local social conditions and realities. some of the forces which compel young men and increasingly and women to become foreign fighters are thoroughly global and modern in there nature. practiced at exploiting a sense of ruthlessness and separation that many young people feel in there communities whether and arab communities in the west

certain arab societies more southeast asia a feeling of disenfranchisement and otherness is present and a powerful force for many. a separation and what is defined as mainstream culture, separation between the opportunities and people see it on there smart phones and those they believe are available to them in our lives, a separation between young people and the true death and the richness of the faith of islam. frankly, we must save our children from this reality guard against the manipulation of separations and anxieties that they feel well at the same time working to address the root causes. truly this is not a small task. it is a matter of working together as a coalition and committee of nations to ensure that the promise of modernity is available and achievable to

all. in my discussion with muslim scholars of the faith of islam and imams and laws of the years i have been told that by embracing modernity and connecting with the world not through its rejection that a muslim can fully achieve the richness of his or her faith developing a sense of mutual respect strengthens our ability to act in shared purpose which is absolutely essential in the fight in which we are now engaged. when they seek to divide and conquer we must draw strength from the diversity the enormous and frankly favorable diversity of our coalition. when they succeed only when men and women feel little connection to government and society is necessary for us all the work togetherto work together to offer better models. when they define themselves by what they seek to destroy it is important for us to the fire ultimate efforts bubble we seek to build the other. will we seewe will we see groups and individuals seeking to affiliate and a

line in several parts of the world we see clearly how these challenges are not unique to one region. indeed the growth of a number of affiliated groups is a challenge to the counter coalition is beginning to confront. we must understand that not every group raises the black flag represents the same threat. many of these groups are simple criminal gangs were contained insurgency's. in trying to determine the potential threat we find it useful to ask a series of questions. first, what command and control does core what commanding control do they have? second, has the leadership decided to link itself publicly and coordinate their propaganda and messaging campaign? third, can this potential affiliate exchange resources, including funding and fighters?

and 4th and most importantly, can this group threatfrom the coalition homeland? if the answer is yes they're are ways to mitigate the threat on three lines of coalition effort in particular countering finances, the flow of foreign fighters and messaging and we can build them with those capabilities on current or local efforts that are being taken to counter affiliates locally around the world. we must not forget that the legitimacy is tied to a so-called caliphate described as a proto- state with specific geography which means our overarching objective must be not just countering more broadly around the world but bearing down hard in a rack in syria, squeezing and degrading and defeating their makes it much more difficult for an affiliation to standalone be on the boundaries of the iraq syria region.

the coalition we cannot eliminate every rivalry with the between nations or different faiths for those who hold power and historical grievances one against another, but and coordinating the global effort to counter in championing a spirit ofa spirit of mutual interest and mutual respect over our many differences we can and have changed assumptions about how nations can come together to fight one of the great challenges of our time over ten months we have unitedunited dozens of partners to confront this emergency while at the same time creating lasting structures and mechanisms of action that we will endure long after this present campaign is complete. having commanded a theater of war in a major coalition -- coalition effort in afghanistan i am beginning to see strategic momentum building. sustaining sustainingbuilding.

sustaining that takes daily attention across the coalition and within the lines of effort and with that are working groups. learning from setbacks and not letting them define our long-term objectives within our campaign a strategy. and this we will be a long campaign. aspects of it like defeating the ideology will likely take a generation, but we as an international community can and must rise to the challenge. i noi no that many of you in this room are experts on this issue. you seek to understand the complexity of the campaign and contributing your own ways command we value contributions and solicit them. i look forward to the conversation briefly but i also look forward to the continued work of this important center in helping us all to get to the place where we want to be which is ultimately the defeat of this odious movement. thank you. thank you, ladies and gentlemen. [applause]

[inaudible conversations] >> i want to thank gen. alan in all of you. gen. allen asked to be at the white house extraordinarily shortly. we're not going to have as much time as we had hoped but i thought i would give you a couple of double whammy's. >> go on the hour. >> thank you for that. you have been generous with your time. you gave us an extra narrowly frank appraisal of the challenge. i think a appraisal that could make -- could perhaps make us a little bit depressed but then a fairly hopeful picture. >> that was not my intent to leave you depressed. >> a hopeful picture of the coalition and the dedication and the commitment that you are seeing not just from a handful of friends and allies but from an

incredibly broad range of countries and partners. so let me talk to you about your deep experience working with coalitions. obviously coalitions are always complicated. in this case it seems to me perhaps the most complex environment to have a coalition join together. there are two areas i would like to highlight. today we are in the moments after the announcement. members of this coalition have deeply differing views about the level of threat the region, many of them seeing here on potentially is a greater threat. and they are acting in some cases independently of the coalition. striking in yemen. the same time within syria countering isis you have some members of the coalition providing help to reflect the army of conquest which may include al qaeda affiliates. can you share your views on

the potential perceptions of us might have of the coalition sometimes working at cross purposes on how these complexities plan and how you are managing that? >> it is an important question, and i think the 1st thing that comes to mind as i said, this is the 5th coalition in which i have beeni have been involved. one of the 1st things that is evident in any coalition is that while states of come together usually sharing a desire to achieve account purpose achieving common values, common interest seldom overstates in that process subordinate their personal or their national interest. national interest we will continue to be important to the individual members of the state coalition. we have

achieved, i think, in a, in a relatively short time a remarkable consensus within the coalition, ultimately for the defeat. that really was a very impressive effort, i think on the part last year of the presence leadership. having watched secretary kerry closely in this and in the real emergency of august and september bringing this coalition together they have come together to achieve an outcome with regard but in the course of that they also have continued to recognize recognize, as we should recognize, that they all have national interest of there own. for many of the members of the coalition iran has been, is command will remain one of the principal sources of threat to the national security. youyou see that clearly in the gulf and you see that in

that region. and i will not speculate on the outcomes of the announcement was made this morning with respect to whether it will fundamentally change iranian behavior, but that is, of course, an important question. will irani and behavior change is a direct result potentially of being more completely assimilated into the committee of nations as a result of this agreement? it remains to be determined, but it is clearly a.of interest and strong attention for our neighbors and allies in the region and we will become an important.overtime. but even though we are committed to the defeat, committed to the support of the iraq and are great iraqi ambassador here this morning not only are we committed ultimately to there political outcome in syria which sees in the end a transition to a government

that is represented or supported by the syrian people that does not include bishara al-assad, that sometimes creates tension. as some states view individual entities in the syrian no space differently than other members of the coalition. and i think that we have a strong common view that the political outcome is always seek. the modalities of that outcome may differ. the alignments that had been formed early in the civil war in syria were strong alignments the supported various groups to seek to have a liberate the syrian people or to take action against the central regime, and those alignments have been enduring, but i think we have worked hard to managers alignments so that it does not create two great attention or the potential for the dissolution of the coalition. as time goes on i have seen

greater congruence and our views in that regard, not less. >> just one piece. you mentioned you were just back. obviously the role and relationship with turkey has been complicated, vital. it has been seen as quite tense at times. it sound like you are quite optimistic. one of my questions, do you see for example the kurdish ipg being an effective force fighting within syria? again, one of the specific areas where they're are differences between coalition members on how to approach a particular on the ground partner.partner. how do you see that kind of an hour playing out? >> well, it has been pretty remarkable, the kurdish elements in syria eliminating a large segment of the border. they're is still a border in

the hands of this group which is problematic. but it is also important for us to take into account the very real concerns of the turks in this regard. we are old friends with the turks allies. we have been in very constructive conversations with them for some amount of time. my last opportunitymy last opportunity to visit agra was yet i believe a continued affirmation of our commitment together to achieve important goals and strategic ends in the region so i left with a continued sense of the importance of our relationship with turkey in a bilateral relationship. my sense of the importance of turkey's relationship to the coalition, but also came away again once again

convinced of turkey's importance to the solution to the difficulties both in the region and in syria in particular.particular. in that sense we are attentive to turkish concerns about the issues with which they deal with regard to the kurds. so we are attentive to there relationship with the pkk and how they view the pkk. we are attentive to there attention to what happened south of the border with the kurdish forces that were so successful. and in that regard we have been very clearly issue that we do not support the dissolution of syria. we support a syria that is territorially intact and a government that is the we will of the syrian people and we do not want to see a broken into sectarian or ethnic fragments. in that regard we do not support and i do not believe

in fact the current support in order syria a separate governmental entity. but we also have been very clear that the elements of the population that have found themselves liberated in the course of these military activities on the border and last several months we have been clear that we expect that populations that have been liberated we will return to there own system of administration. turkoman we will have master turkoman and herbs will administer and syriac will administer syriac. it is important that as a partner that is ultimately been enabled to defeat _-dash, not become an occupying force but he come an enabler ultimately to defeat, and those individual populations that have been limited to the liberated are able to return to the nature of the resolve of ministration we have seen before. we are attentive to how that has gone.

it has been undeniably successful enrolling them back and in the course of doing that for bonnie has been stabilized. they're was a large kurdish population, a large free syrian element which presages, perhaps, the ability for us to motivate free syrians to be a credible sunni arab partner in the future. we have also taken off the battlefield one of the principal crossing points and support points. and that now denied has increased pressure. forces have moved down which is created immediate pressure on the capitol which is an important outcome. we are beginning to see the capacity for us to regionally synchronize military activities that can create a more comprehensive pressure strategy and not

just in one place not just in romani, to create combos zero, for bonnie or the syrian border. it is a unified comprehensive, synchronized strategy for synchronization, and that is beginning to take shape. that is why i am optimistic. >> one more. >> one more. >> thank you. you mentioned commitment to the territorial integrity of syria. politics is always a major question. in this report we come out saying it is important to not give up on the iraqi state. we need to see as you just said able to maintain his territorial integrity which requires getting the sunnis. and you talked about that they're are sunni fighters that are actually being recruited and are actually joining the fight even to retake romani but they're is a sense and they're are people in this town that would say probably have seen this show before.

what is your thought on this concept of functional federalism and on the real willingness to the hard political decisions to be made that could sustain this? this is one of the areas of the great skepticism when you step outside and people just look at the situation. >> i can understand -- understand skepticism. we need to give this a chance. the prime minister has been in office says the 7th or 8th of september. he came into office at the moment _-dash was intent on destroying territorial integrity. and much of the iraqi territory was already under it's been. thousands of iraqi troops and thousands of iraqi civilians had already been other displaced are slaughtered. hehe came in under a very difficult moment. and in stark contrast to previous systems of government he sees the future as one which divests

authority from the center and orderin order to empower reliable governance in the provinces, and he has talked about this. he has been clear about his willingness to devolve power of course he has a skeptical powerbase that operates from a long history of concerns about what the other components within the iraqi society really intend to do over time. that skepticism is something that we have to recognize. it is a skepticism that by committing ourselves to the political process in supporting the prime minister's efforts and functioning federalism, and being quick in the process of civilization in the context of liberated populations, it creates the operationalization, the real physical operationalization

of functioning federalism in a manner that ultimately achieves the prime minister's publicly announced and the council of ministers publicly announced objectives with respect to the recovery of large segments of the sunni territories. at 1stat 1st i would say, look, let's think about what has happened politically since the overthrow of the king. we have not seen democracy in action, democracy as we would like to see it and democracy as we have known it, we have not seen it yet. so as the prime minister who is operating under some of the most difficult political, economic, economic very important, important understand as well and military challenges. sec's to. as he seeks to make progress within that pressure cooker of blood pressure and economic environment that leaves iraq to avoid in many respects of resources that it could apply otherwise and under pressure to defeat them to read unify the country and unite a rack. we must do what we can to

support him, recognize he is making progress and recognize that this we will be hard and take a long time and is why the coalition will make it together whether it is at 62 or at the small group level the ministerial level of the director level, the coalition has yet to walk away from a meeting without affirming the coalition's commitment ultimately to the prime minister and the territorial integrity and the unification and the unity ultimately. >> thank you so much. thank much. thank you for everything you are doing, your tireless dedication to this on behalf of the nation. i would like to ask everyone to thank the general and remain seated. we will slip right intoand our panel is the general the parts. thank you very much. [applause] [inaudible conversations]

>> i'm brian, seniorand brian, senior fellow at the center for american progress. i think all of you for coming. we want to thank gen.general alan for sharing his wisdom and thoughts on the status of the campaign. but we want to do is have a bit of a discussion reflecting on what the general said and then talk about aa report that the center released this morning that assesses the status of the campaign. my role today has to something moderate the discussion. i we will introduce the panel. we we will have a couple of remarks from my colleague, senior fellow at the center for american progress and then doctor stephen from harvard. finally, sarah morgan, washington director of the human rights watch and former colleague of ours here the center for american

progress. our goal and having this discussion is to be has wide-ranging as possible to stimulate our thinking. about halfway through i we will draw you guys in, anyone who has questions into the dialogue and discussion. first, without further ado harden. the floor isthe floor is yours. where are we more than a year into the campaign? what does the report say? >> thank you. before i get started i want to commend folks to work the panelists up without. written an interesting piece which i hope you will elaborate on about the inevitability of staying power potentially and what the implications are or are not for national security. human rights watch has done some of the most fascinating work but human rights abuses

inside of iraq in real-time which is not just important from a human rightsa human rights perspective but a political perspective because the nature abuses being carried out by doing a lot to further render the sectarian fabric of the country apart. staffing by dell report let's take a deep breath focus on recalibration and see if we can work to get the politics right. it has been a rough couple of months for the coalition no doubt about it. quite upbeat and optimistic, and we share his enthusiasm. but eventsbut events like the fall of romani really did job the policy establishment. they're is good reason to be concerned. the first there's been a lot of reaction to those events. a number of critics of said that the fall basically draws and a question the entire strategy of relying

on local partners to do this and that innocence the us needs to look at the plying some matches back into iraq to help stiffen the spine of the iraqis and to take this fight to them. one of our big takeaways is of all the time that we have spent the us has the most efficient and fear voting machine the 1st planet. tens of thousands of additional troops are not going to fix what are fundamentally political problems in a political crisis. they're are people on the other side to basically say look, iraq is now a stage where it in all likelihood is going to disintegrate. it will break up in the statements sunni shia, kurdish and we need to readjust us policy against that reality. and what we're saying is

none of us are yet convinced that if it were at a.where it makes sense to shore up the iraqi state iraq: together is a bolt work. having to work and fix the politics really does provide the best opportunity for some sort of policy that we will serve the national interest of the united states and stabilize the region. so where does that leave us? the discussions of tactics and how many additional troops to go in, lily pads, they might go in the long. we wanted to focus on the wider politics of iraq, syria, and the region. the 1st step at the regional level is to work more on the unity of effort

and wants the coalition. the gen. and his team have been doing a great deal of work to solidify this but they're are outstanding issues we must address. of the 11 nations flying combat operations only three are hitting targets. you have arab members who have struck operations are continue to carry they're operations and european allies were focused traditionally anorak and then east to be more to break the stovepipe and engage the ice is controlled territory as a single theater. efforts need to be coordinated regional level. the iraqi security force operation that we saw was yesterday needs to be coordinated better with assistance going in to save the syrian kurds 11 doing a great deal of the fighting in the north. if we can break the politics told by the short term may

opento discuss arrangements for managing threats to regional stability. one of the most interesting things is in a short-term we cannot let this curse is go waste. it is possible the coalition to provide architecture for regional security apparatus, framework, and not too soon to begin exploring possibilities. getting in the general said some important things but the dedication to functional follow federalism which really is the heart of the matter. something must be done that is going to open the door to the sunni arab population to make them feel as though they have a real stake in the future of the country. so far important pieces of legislation, the concept of national guard most of the stuff is still stuck in the political process and on its own is not going to be enough to convince sunni arabs to come back and the political fold.

we need to work more in supporting the prime minister in trying to build out and make tangible the concept of functioning federalism in a way that sunni arabs will come back in the fold and it should affect the way in which we conduct a campaign. in tikrit the us made a critical decision to withhold there support until such time as the iraqi security forces arewere leading the fight. it is that kind of moment and posture and policy that we need to constantly reinforce in order to make sure the central government is driving the show and that those populations have some confidence that they are representing the. the hardest part of the puzzle the coalition itself is divided. i think he is roughly walking a very delicate tightrope. the realthe real strategy up

until now has dependent or hinged on this program to train and equip 15,000 anti- ice is fighters. about60 almost a year in. there clearly is need for review. but in and of itself i am not sure we will be sufficient. one of the things we're arguing for is that once we can get this program online it is going to be necessary for the us government to not only defend the us forces we go back into syria but they need to convince them or defend them against the regime in damascus which is committed to destroying them and this is a step that we have yet to be like to make on the part of our partners and it is probably about time that we do so. finally, i think if we're willing to step in and a more direct way and defend these partners, it may open

up a window of opportunity to sort of reengage the diplomatic process in the sense that i do not think it is going to happen anytime soon, but at the moment diplomacy is largely stalled and we will we need to do when they're are moments where we are going to engage with the credible threat of use of force we see the diplomacy process reignite. we're hoping for is not an end but creating a framework that can lead to de-escalation overtime. all of this is a tall order but the administration should work hard to align military efforts in support of the political strategy rather than focusing on tens of thousands of additional troops. we think that it is probably important to appoint one person, one commander, one envoy who we will be in charge of the effort. gen.

allen has the management of the coalition peace. different commanders are in charge of the effort inside and aa separate set are in charge of the train and equip effort. being able to coordinate the diplomatic and military assistance aspects in a coordinated fashion were thrilled when the control we will be essential to success. the president has warned that it will take years for this battle to be one in the region we will have to arm. but without proper recalibration of all we're trying to do i suspect that the fight will prove more longer drawn out they're needs to be. >> thanks. i want us to turn to you 1st. the strategy is fundamentally okay. we just need to recalibrate it. we heard earlier. who would like you to provoke us with your thinking and assessment, you agree or disagree and how you see the snapshot right now where we are. >> a couple things. i think the strategy you heard was very familiar. a coalition.

we have a coalition that we will wage this particular conflict by military training of local troops call with some elements of air power and then it we will do really elaborate social and particle engineering and societies would understand. we have seen this movie a couple times in a couple different places command it is yet to work out particularly well. also it will take years. i have heard that message. i would love to believe that this effort will succeed in ways that previous efforts of not but i did not here anything that suggested it was being conducted in any particularly different way. i think wei think we have actually fought about this problem in somewhat of a wrong way, and it has made us exaggerate the danger. if you will forgive me i want to and does a little bit on how we ought to think

about it. a revolutionary organization creating a revolutionary state. no matter what he calls it. we have seen that happen in history going back to the french revolution, the bolsheviks, the khmer rouge, revolutionary iran. the good news is that the history of those experiences actually suggests that this was a problem but not a mortal threata moral threat is revolutions are only as serious threat when they happen in a major power. the cambodian revolution was a terrible event but it did not launch some kind of revolutionary movement that spread around the rest of the world. the bolshevik revolution was serious is a happen in a great power. the french revolution was serious. but if you look at isis capabilities it is not likely to spread by conquest because it is not powerful enough and it is not likely to spread by contagion because it is not going to

be rich enough to support lots of like-minded organizations elsewhere and the messages actually, although it will attract a few foreign fighters, some degree of long walks but not going to be seductive enough for powerful enough to start toppling governments around the region. just in terms of capabilities we here a lot about the amount of territory the control. control. most of this territory is empty desert, not strategically valuable. you calculate out what the total gmp of the area isis controls is, it is between four and $8 billion. that puts it on par with barbados, guiana, eritrea. that is rich for a terrorist organization. very poor for state. date. they appear to have a 500 million in revenue per year for much smaller than the budget of harvard university. no matter what harvard might think of itself, it's not about to take over the world either. so it is not going to spread

by conquest because it does not have the capability. capability. i also don't think it will spread via contagion. the message is not very attractive, even the most of the world's muslims. they will not be able to support like-minded groups with resources and the way the soviet union could to the commentary and others. he acts of violence they have already conducted are turning off of the populations and other states have lots of ways to try and immunized or insulate themselves against that particular danger. in the unlikely event that one or two places close might emerge in some other failed state said olivia, i do not believe they will

then take orders from alba gotti and follow his dictates because they we will have there own interest to pursue. the history of other revolutions suggests that they're are deep divisions, within the division between jacobins and surroundings and the french revolution or the sino-soviet split or the battle between stalin and trotsky or any other set of conflicts, and we already see isis at odds with a number of other extremist organizations as well. again, not likely to be the kernel of an emerging revolutionary monolith that we really must worry greatly about. by theby the way to one of the reasons we have trouble coordinating efforts is precisely because other countries recognize that the threat is not that great and they're are other concerns that they have that lead them not to coordinate activities against isis whether it is turkey worrying as much of a kurdish independence as they worry about isis saudi arabia worrying as much about iran as they worry about isis.

what i am suggesting is, this is a problem, but not the kind of global revolutionary danger that it is sometimes depicted as. finally, the bad news is that getting rid of it may not be easy either. counter revolutions turn out to be hard to run. the more the united states does the more kinetic our activities the more we simply reinforce the message of crusader interference making themselves more popular the more we appear to be backing the sectarian tendencies within the baghdad government. i conclude from that therefore that the american role -- the american goal should be patient containment, and the us role should be as minimal as possible because the larger the american role the more popular everypopularly likely to make this movement, and the larger the american role for less than local actors are actually likely to do because most of them are extremely good at getting uncle sam to do the fighting for the.

so we can provide weaponry, provide intelligence provide perhaps some modest degree of military training, buttraining of this is ultimately a campaign that the locals have to fight and when. the good news is it is not going to be that hard. >> great. thank you. >> our report says to beat the strategy and recalibrated as deep ashas to be saying we can contain it. patient containment is the order of the day. what iswhat is your perspective? where are we and how do you see things? >> probably somewhere in the middle. and i want to thank you for hosting us and doing this report. it has been a while since we are taking a look at where we are about a year off from the campaign. they're are gaps so i'm glad to here that the general is open to tweaking things a bit. you know, we have been looking closely at the campaign. i think what we find is well isis is an incredibly brutal and terrific group that is

bringing in knew recruits and using social media in ways that have never been used and basically fording the standards that did not exist you know, what we're looking at is the missing piece in the campaign is very much unaware that governments both in the case of iraq and syria. i want to talk a little bit about iraq and syria in terms of the larger strategy. last fall we put out a report on the town of amalie with some of you may have seen. what we saw there was that in the aftermath of us coalition strike shia militias who helped to liberate the town ended up ransacking the sunni villages around with incredible distraction none of the homes or residents over targeted were military targets. it basically was revenge attacks for historic

grievances and ongoing polarization of sectarianism. there has been very, very little accountability for those types of action. we are action. we're in the process of working on a report on tikrit. well that operation may be seen as a success in terms of liberation follow we have documented as the burning and destruction of over a thousand homes in residential areas in tikrit and the surrounding villages. while you may have the shia militias doing a decent job of clearing or what you have in the aftermath is a problem of clearing and holding in that it is not tied to a larger strategy and the government has not been sufficiently present capacity wise an insult is willing wise. and so we have

documented is this ongoing abuse and destruction that furthers a lot of the grievances and the polarizations that already existed, the alienation of the sunni community is one of the real reasons we have seen a rise job particularly in iraq. while the prime minister has been clear about his commitment to inclusivity and building a knew government we have seen backsliding. we have seen in part because they're are a lot of challenges in baghdad in terms of working with ministers the movie have seen a real challenge and moving forward to build in iraq for everybody. i think the other piece here is that part of dealing with the militias is ending the cycle of impunity. and i should say it is not just the militias but the iraqi security forces have a long history of abuse. and so while we have heard time and time again during travels all we will deal with these other issues as

soon as we destroy and defeat for the feet and destroy, here is a parallel process, political piece is so absolutely essential to defeating isis and bringing the sunnis into the government. the justice ministry, you know, has been long known for holding detainees were a long time and in many cases torturing them not adjudicating fair trialsfor trials and balanced processes. you have an imbalance on the political military side. while threats are incredibly real troubling to your. perhaps more so in the immediate term nonetheless the us has engaged in a campaign and is providing significant support. and so while we have heard a change in statement and some change in language about the need to address undisciplined dacs and for

them not to be revenge the question for us is on implementation. when i was out six or eight months ago i spent some time with this paragraph and i was incredibly surprised to here how adamant they worry about what they have been seeing, the concerns they had about the abuse by the militias and how they're was no accountability and complete impunity. for the government to take clear steps to try to bring some of those individuals into jail, to reign in the militias would send a clear and important message that we will be a good parallel to training the sunnis and bringing them into the military. it is not just of bringing you into the fold but holding the bad actors to account.account. that is they are right side of it. enabling isis to have what some have said to me recently is a growing political constituency.

there is not a natural constituency. it is a constituency that grows after incredible alienation in isolation from a central government where they are stuck between a rock and a hard place. what i heard time and time again was my don't like isis, but the government is making me terrified as well. when you are stuck in that place you have to choose the best of two very bad options. on the serious side i think we look consistently at the horrors. what is missing is what the government is doing.doing. when you look at our syria policy, it is short. on detailed. and you know, we see a bombing campaign that is going solely after isis. if you really think about it, isis is the symptom, not the root of the problem. we are training the armed opposition.opposition. again, 60 people that can only go after isis and have to sign a pledge when they we will be attacked regularly and consistently

from the air and likely from the ground and trying to get something politically going. and so i think the inattention in the case of syria to what the asad government is doing outside of rhetoric is a gift to isis and to the other incredibly abusive groups trying to manipulate the situation. not only does it in a boy growth of anti- american sentiment, but it also enables asad to continue his attacks. if you look a civilian populations, attacks on civilian populations are far more deadly and far more consistently attacked indiscriminately by barrel bombs. again, this is not to undermine what is being done, but the fact that aside has been pushed to the side while the us goes after isis is not going to get us where we need to go. if this is a long-term strategy and we are looking

at displacement of unprecedented levels sometimes because of isis but more often than not because of the syrian government we're not actually addressing the root of the problem. it reminds me when the obama administration returned to afghanistan and pakistan and said, well, the core is in pakistan, so we we will go to afghanistan. i thought afghanistan. i thought, i get it. it is along border and it's easy to get through, but if the core is in pakistan should we be shifting focus to pakistan? and so it is kind of like their going in the back door without addressing the problem. andand we have seen time and time again conversation about syria. we recently some briefings on barrel bombs, and they're we will be an attempt to revisit with the international community can do which we certainly seen as a positive step. i would just say in closing

that the silence of the administration on potential like steps is clearly because they think it requires a broad military effort. maybemaybe that is not the only way forward. i think while they're is clear indication they are not interested in pursuing a military strategy, the conversation is, well, what else is to happen. and so i would say that while they are looking to tweak and rejigger the anti- ice a strategy looking at what the role of the government both in the case of iraq where they're may be more ability and willingness to work with the government to address the historic grievances and alienation and abuse but also looking at how and where you bring in the syrian government part is usually important because otherwise your just putting a band-aid over this and we we will be replaying this movie again and again and again and we we will be here five years from now saying virtually the same

thing while millions of people are dying and foreign fighters increased and continue to move through pipelines globally and while the us spends a lot of money but is not actually addressing the root of the problem. >> great. thank you. all three of you have set the table for an excellent discussion. they are running a little behind on schedule. i think we plan to closes by 1130, but we will run a few more minutes and ask a couple of questions and take some from the audience. the one question i want to ask that would be remiss in not asking is given the news of this morning that we were talking about over coffee and default you could respond the news of the nuclear deal with the administration rightly says is about the nuclear program and the most effective way to prevent iran from getting a nuclear weapon to all what is your analysis on our topic,topic, the impact of the deal potentially other regional dynamics and how it

could -- and i no it is speculative analysis, how it could impact the implementation of anti- iso- coalition in a positive -- >> unlikely. ii don't know if you can here me or not but unlikely to have a substantial effect on what is going on. the administration is going to focus as narrowly as possible ii getting a deal of truth, and i don't think that you will see this deal then suddenly alter america's approach toward dealing with the problem. i also do not think you will certainly see the iranian government get up and say now that we have a nuclear deal we no longer have any equities of was happening in baghdad no longer have any interest of what is happening in the country right next to our border. we will completely change our relationship has block asad. they have there own set of regional interest, and i think over time those may be

modified in moderated, it just. that is clearly with the administration is betting over the long-term butlong-term, but i do not think you will see a substantial shift in either american policy or iranian policy flowing out of the nuclear agreement, certainly not in the next 12 months or so. >> i think that is probably likely, but it may be a mistake. i think we are probably at a moment now where the deal -- we are where we are with the deal. it is no secret that iran has continued to engage in bad behavior. therebehavior. they're is a question that many of our regional allies are looking at, can you actually do a deala deal with the iranians on the nuclear front, compartmentalize that and then be tougher with us on iranian irregular warfare activity throughout the region? i think that this is probably the ideal moment for the administration to

begin to quietly reinforce and then show that we are going to be a little bit more robust and healthy have allowed or managed iranian activities to spread in the region. i think one of the things we can probably do on this, a lot of attention to the a lot of money that iran will bring back in to its economy as the sanctions come off. working withoff. working with folks in the region to make sure that money does not end up leading to additional destabilization in the region we will be important. your.about contagion i do not think it is aa question of contagion in the traditional sense of there worried about you and taking over and running libya. it is more a question of the presence in syria and iraq deeply destabilizing for those countries and the more broadly in the region. less a question about whether they will take over and capture and run jordan and whether or not they we

will continue to destabilize the region. in a way in which we fight and helped that most of all is going on was contained in the last year's spread into iraq. is it?'s is it question last of caliphate expansion and more destabilization. >> two things. most of these places were already quite unstable. they did notthey did not need iso. i don't think they're we will be contributing substantially. if you look, the number of people killed in related events outside syria and iraq, the area of control was somewhere between 20300 people. tragic, unfortunate, but low-level not the kind of thing that is ultimately going to alter the political fate of those particular societies in my judgment. on the 2nd topic the role

just notice how complicated this is. we're on the same side. they don't like them anymore than we do. the saudi's and iranians do not agree on anything except iso. they are both opposed which kids at the contradiction that is in the report and a few of the things that sarah said. we don't like him, but he is there enemy and we cannot decide if you want to get rid of them moremore than we want to give her devices. if isis is the real problem and we don't want to be supporting forces that are weakening other enemies. it illustrates how tricky it is going to be to try and manage the various strategic objectives that are trying to accomplish. >> very briefly.briefly. we take no position on the agreement as an organization

i do think what it may do. the pres. saying this is based on verification of trust. whether and how cost is able to be built is an important next step and the next issue you will get this out of the way.way. what are the other issues? the regional. you have the domestic role of the domestic issues the playable. they're is a real expectation for many average citizens that now he we will be able to look at the commitments he made that he became president on domestic issues, juvenile death sentence would be a 1st. they're is an expectation that the administration has done this out of the way and we will come full circle. it seems to me incumbent

this we will have to be part of the conversation, but it won't be difficult conversations because i see them flexing they're muscle because they know we have to hold onto this because we just lost that. >> you mentioned domestic politics. you are going up to the hell later this afternoon to testify on a different topic. how do you see the lack of action in terms of congress just the state and the stalemate. the evaluation on what that means. campaigns coming up on the 15th, anniversary of 911 next year. how do you see the politics at home? >> this may be overly cynical, but i think it is a reflection of the fact that the body politic to include people on the health ultimately do not regard isis is that serious problem. definitely a problem at something that is worth effort but not where they are getting phone calls of the day saying the united

states need to do something. we have seen for understandable reasons a sharp decline in public enthusiasm for american intervention reflective and the fact that people onthe old rather play politics with an organization that actually get through. has forced the administration to improvise they're way toward action was then assigned that is where they wanted to go. they're may be overly cynical, one can rarely be too cynical. >> i think to me it is more an indication or illustration of the dysfunction of congress than anything else. there are members of congress were very focused on making this happen and have tried, but a key figures as a political tool to stop or start conversations and so you do not get anywhere. >> will open it up if anyone has questions. back here. yes. >> please tell us who you

are. >> john richardson. general allen opened his remarks talking about the federal role that information operations played in the rise and hopefully other form. can you talk a little bit about what is needed and what is happening in our own? >> this is one of the toughest to crack. the state department has been engaged in an effort for quite some time to try to get the campaign up and running, to go toe to toe ideologically delta's credit in regions where it has traction. it is difficult for the united states to play a leadership role because we do not have a great deal of credibility with that particular audience. this is something that needs to be led by the region. the good news here is what we are beginning to see

putting that into place where they can take a larger leadership role and the counter information campaign to me, is probably not going to solve this anytime soon but it is showing progress in the right direction. >> to it once. >> to it once and then we will wrap. >> thank you very much. thank you very much. alexander kravitz. one question. general allen talked about hundreds of displaced families returning. you spoke about thousands of homes being burned. do you have more specific figures every population? think that is a barometer

for success. gen. allen talked about giving a chance to functioning federalism. other policies. normally you would think that we were going. a multidimensional effort. going with questions of usaid supporting a government. but todaythey are essentially closing down and i wonder if you could comment because i think that has not really,. >> take one more question. >> the 1st question is

with regard to possible kickstarting will role do you see making such an effort to make? my 2nd question has to do with lebanon. a neighbor of cyprus. what is so dangerous. >> on the numbers we don't have exact numbers. it is number of things we watch closely. many of radio back because they were not sure who is running, who the authorities were and how they would be treated. but alsobut also because they were not sure what they would be going on to.

slowly reducing populations come back. you can't give you do that hopefully we will have this information. they continue to watch to see not just to goes back to what there going back to and how they regain they're livelihood and engagement the authorities and how they work with the central government to rebuild what has been destroyed. i we will be important to watch. >> great question. right now. and this un trust fund. i understand the concept. the question is is whether or not that can be responsible enough to support the kind of political initiatives that we will be necessary to bring people back.

not clear if they have been mobilized. whether or not they're have been voted for. the business is the us government but others that can do more to mobilize stabilization but get on the ground to get it working and they're are not many shops and offices that can operate in these environments. they provide so much money and no one comes close. if nothing else we have that there's a huge block i'm

getting into guild and the access. the un has tried repeatedly to move forward areas that are hard to get to. you have the potential for the syrian government to besiege communities. >> the country in the region

is bearing. the strain is no secret was needed is perhaps more support directly socioeconomic. again, i don't know. whole lot of lovely countries with the real state and regional stability is incumbent.

in the war. insisting at the beginning that he had to go in for closing some kind of deal. possible open thewe will open the door to a diplomatic process and that that might help facilitate trying to reach a deal. we may see a slight difference in the dynamics

continually buffeted by the turmoil happening in the region. i don't think this provide much of an opportunity the composition would have no resonanceresidents of the christian population, no residents with the shia population. >> join me in thanking our panelists for discussion. >> nasa unveils knew close-up photos.

the knew horizons spacecraft is taken over nine and a halfnine and a half years. now sending back the 1st ever closer pictures. >> good morning and welcome to the johns hopkins applied physics laboratory join me on stage. mission operations manager johns hopkins applied physics laboratory. >> ladies and gentlemen

pluto is never seen before. three, two, one. in our marks. >> it has been an incredible wage. manywage. many of you the last few days of participating. what it all comes down to an enormous group of people the big team at the university applied physics lab the university of colorado. hundreds of scientists, engineers, technicians the people selling blankets to prepare this wonderful

intrepid explorer. so glad you are hear to participate. the rewards of the team will get, especially since to do -- pluto did not turn out to be a featureless planet with nitrogen foggy atmosphere scratching our heads. for his 1st impression i would like to turn it over.

>> i want to thank him for his remarks something nasa for making this possible. >> fifty years ago today the united states was embarking at the beginning of an era of exploration of the solar system that we will live forever history. fifty years ago today the 1st spacecraft flew by mars. mariner for periods fitting. a big team of people work 15 years to do this. they worked on it again for time. they broke records for low-cost our planned exploration. they did some amazing feats and we saw one just last weekend in terms of the

mission operations rescue of this flyby that produces images just like the one you saw and many more that we will be raining for the ground beginning tomorrow. stay tuned. stay tuned because our spacecraft is not in communication with the earth. weearth. the program it to be spending his time taking important data sets that they can only take today. over the next 12 or 13 hours the spacecraft we will continue to take data and then it will transmit a message back to the earth for about 20 minutes and 9:00 p.m. eastern which we will find out how is doing the whether is survived the passage pluto system and hopefully it did comment that arecommand there counting on that, but they're is drama because this is true exploration. new horizons is flying into the amount. tomorrow morning we should see the beginning of a 16 month data were fall. you we

will be seeing more and more about pluto beginning tomorrow. if we could put that image up which is not the best image that has a resolution of about 4 kilometers per pixel which is approximately a thousand times better than we could do deal with the biggest and baddest gun tells killed,telescope the hubble space telescope 3 billion miles away in her they took that image: delegate to the ground. the bits flew with this beer was before and a half hours received nasa's deep space network transmitted here. the images opened. how about a round of round of applause for our beautiful planet. [applause] now ii would like to invite

mission operations manager up to the stage. dr. bowman has been leading this project mission operations from the time we wrote the proposal to compete and win this project all the way through development through through launch, and through an epic 3 billion-mile journey across the solar system. [applause] >> what an absolute honor it is to be here, to be standing here and waiting for those approach images to come down. i cannot say enough about how thankful i am that nasa allowed us to build and operate the spacecraft year. we have a large team command i just happens to be the mission operations manager. in no way am i taking thei

taking the credit for this incredible journey. it is definitely a team effort. we depend upon each other to each do our part and to be the experts in our field. when i stand back this morning and ii just think i have to pinch myself. look we will be accomplished it is truly amazing that humankind can go out and explore these worlds and to see pluto be revealed just before our eyes. it is just fantastic. and i cannot wait until we get these images down starting early tomorrow morning and of course the signal tonight that tells us the spacecraft is healthy and has recorded all the fantastic data. thank you again. thank you very much. [applause]

>> it has been a great morning.a great morning. the story is not over and you will here more about it. beforebefore we open it up for questions i want to toss this down. we have video of something that happened this morning with the science to believe. >> sure. >> over at the building year politicized heit was working. a science team assembled at 545 this morning. it will give you a peek in. [applause] >> while.

[applause] it is going viral around the world. there happy to be hear and answer your questions as representatives of his pitching the nasa. >> excellent. congratulations. will open up for questions. the numbers are astounding. the world is totally excited the story is not over yet. raise your hands.

we will try to get as many questions in as possible. raise them high. let me start out with joe. give your name and affiliation. >> tell us about pluto. are they're mountains? craters? tell us what you see. >> q that image up. okay. oriented. the dark region as near as is a quitter. the planet is 1500 miles across. alleges an atmosphere. other tenuous atmosphere's.

make it a larger fraction and you can see it. you can see regions of various kinds of brightness. very dark regions. brought intermediate zone the history of impacts, the history of surface activity in terms of features that we might be able to identify a tectonic and we will we also no is this is clearly a world where both geology and atmosphere geology playable be as pluto has try and atmospheric cycles. as those on the surface. they have been observed around frankly you want to

seal supporting data. determine what is high and what is low. see color data you want to see the composition spectroscopy so that we can determine what the areas are made from. see the thermal map so we can understand the brightest they're is the coldest areas or is it some other story? we also want to see higher revolution to the resolution images. ten times.. ten times. eventually we we will have imagery that is better still we just could not be happier about the performance.

>> other questions they're is also, information. i'm wondering if you can tell me a little bit about the color data and if you see any evidence for atmospheric haze is a clouds >> absolutely. put up the color image. we no the pluto has color variations across the surface. only stretch those which is something our team is working on it we will have a better handle on how strong is variations are and expect to show you some later. i have lookedi have looked

at the image briefly when we were 1st over in the science work area. i was looking for evidence of plumes, atmospheric atmosphericplumes, atmospheric haze. that does not mean they are out they're. a proper analysis of it will require time and maybe higher revolution is a high-resolution imagery. >> high. >> miriam kramer. first of all, this is exciting. i'm wondering specifically how your feeling right now knowing that your craft is out they're flying by the pluto system. >> that's a really good question. i have not had much sleep. [laughter] and we always talk about the spacecraft as being a child my baby, teenager.

we lost signal as plan last night at 1117 and it was absolutely nothing anywhere i operations team to do but to trust that we have prepared it will to set off on itshis journey on its own and do what he needed to do. yet a lot of us even though we knew it would not be talking to us but we wanted to be with it. i ami am feeling a little nervous, just like you do when you set your child off but i have absolute confidence that it we will do what it needs to do to collect that science and turn around and send us that 1st of data and tell us that it is okay. ..