we're going to education, and just to put a come in the world we are number 30, 30 in the world and education. we are number one on cost per pupil but number 30 in the world. not going to happen anymore. common core is going to be out of here. yeah, go ahead. [inaudible]

>> i agree. [inaudible] >> i started a nonprofit focus on polluters in education. for four years i've been giving free books away. i realize we need a different kind of school and they came here to ask your help in raising funds to open what i call the first equal opportunity school -- >> give it to him. ill give it to, okay? thank you. thank you. very interesting. go ahead. [inaudible] >> its -- yeah. it's going up so fast. go ahead.

>> and went up a lot. >> that's going to go up another 2 trillion very soon because of the new budget they just approved. go ahead. it happened because we have incompetent politicians. it happened because with crooked politicians. it happened because we have politicians that are getting massive campaign contributions and they are protecting companies and countries, and with me none of that is going to happen. don't worry, we are going to get it done. [inaudible] >> i told you about the drug companies. in the military yet the same thing. in education unit the same thing. you have it the same thing everywhere, no competition. it's going to go down tremendously. it's going to go down. yes? >> what is your exact land to stop isis?

spin gentle i do have a people ask that question. in one way you hate to talk about it because you just want to surprise. i always say unpredictable. and obama announced we are leaving iraq on a certain date, the enemy said who would tell us about? they pulled back. they do want to die as much as people say they don't care. they do care. they pulled back and right after that date they went in and did whatever they want to do. it's gone. frankly it's all controlled by iran now. there's a certain thing, remember the 50 soldiers that we were sending over about three months ago? we are sending 50 soldiers over to iraq and syria. why are we telling people this? why are we telling people this? why don't we send them? now these 50 young, beautiful people have targets on the back. everyone is looking for them. if he wouldn't say that he would

know. he wants publicity. it's not even a good thing to say because 50 some so small. it's almost like what are you doing with 50 people? when they say what you going to do with isis? i have absolute plans. i told you about the oil. i hate to talk about it. i just want to do it. i want to do it. of what to do it and have some definite ideas. we have to do the banking circuits. they are bekking circuits are sophisticated what money is pouring in but you don't like to tell. i have a real good chance of winning come. to get out and vote tomorrow. but if i win i'm not going to be talking. i always say i use general george patton and general macarthur, great semi-modern day generals. they didn't talk. they didn't doctor can you imagine general george patton being asked sitting on a television talking about what he's going to do? he would smack the hell, he likes of smacking people.

smack in the anchor in the face for asking him the -- this is a different kind of a world. i don't want to be talking to much about things like that. all i can say, darling, it trust me, we will win. we will win so fast, okay? and we will hit them very, very hard. yes, sir, go ahead. >> i was just curious as to what your thoughts may have been on term limits for the congressman and their lifelong payment? i don't of any job in the world that when you stop doing you continue getting paid for the rest of your life. >> am absolutely okay with term limits. to meet its of the most important thing, i'll be honest with you because in theory a term limit are the voters. if somebody doesn't do the job he vote them out. i'm absolutely okay with term limits. they are protective of themselves. they don't have to take obamacare. little things like that. how good is obamacare, we will

repeal it and replace it. how good is obamacare when they don't have to take it? we have to take it. they don't have to take a. that tells you everything right there. it's disgusting. i'm okay with getting rid of the term, okay? maybe one more and we will go out. who's got a good, interesting question? is a rough looking guy. that guy. go ahead, darling. go ahead. go ahead. >> i'm an old flight attendant with united airlines speed young flight attendant. >> very old. and i flew flight 175 september 10, and in watching the news, the first tower was hit, and then i saw my airplane with my friends on flight 175.

and they were young, good kids, good kids. two of them just, and and her boyfriend had just gotten engaged a week before on a layover. speed you on that flight previously? >> like 24 hours. they were my friends are good good kids, young, like 24 years old. i could've been there mom. but a lot of survival guilt. and when i got back on the airplane to work a trip, i was so angry. i wasn't afraid at all. i was almost looking for these guys. i don't know what i would have done but i was looking for them. that i was so angry and i was so sad, and the two together, it was tough to function. and i -- >> angry is okay, you know?

because being angry is okay. we are going to make you happy again but being angry is okay. go ahead. >> but the two together, it, i do walk away from the job and i loved my job. i mean kind of the world has changed -- >> i don't blame you, frankly. i don't blame you spirit is was in the '70s when i started. >> i understand. >> september 12 -- >> the world is a different place. and we have allowed it. we have allowed it to become a different place. it's not that it should be different. we have allowed it through weakness to be a different place. and you know, it's an interesting word that she uses because she talks about anger at a light that you talked about that word because i'm going to discuss it. are you finished? >> i was just going to say i do walk away from my job, and a lot of like ptsd, why didn't? they are so young. why not be? but this little girl asked about

isis, but i asked governor christie and governor bush what they would do to protect my family, my friends, all of the people in this room, you know, our country, how to protect us. i mean, i expect north korea to go knocking on the door at the white house and the white house and the white house and say, you know you gave iran 150 billion. what are you going to give me speak what i understand. thank you very much. i understand what you're going through. so recently before the previous debate comes to what i missed a very happy with because i raised $6 million for the veterans so i'm very happy with that. i don't know good or bad for me but i raised $6 million or the vets. recently i was asked about are we angry? we have a whole movement going on anywhere on the cover of "time" magazine did i say we, all of us, we are on the cover of "time "time" magazine, last n an amazing story but it's a movement.

recently as you know governor nikki haley made a speech and she talked about the anger, like it was a bad thing. by the end of the day she was talking about it like it was okay because she was being hit from so many, because people are so angry. we are angry at the stability of our government. the fact that we allow things like isis to happen shouldn't happen. the weakness of our leaders, the total weakness. so during the debate they asked me, the previous debate the asked me about anger. and i said, and it was as per what she was saying. and they thought i was going to say no, i'm not angry, i'm really not angry. i thought to myself, you have to think pretty quickly on these things but i thought to myself, yeah, i am angry at a lot of people are angry. we are not angry people. but we are angry at the level of incompetence and a level of stupidity that we see in our government, and until we corrected we're going to continue to be angry.

and i'm damn angry and so the people that show up by the thousands to these events. so there's nothing wrong with being angry and we would get that straightened out. and it's very interesting, that afternoon nikki haley said no, ma donald trump is my friend, a whole different change. the truth is, i'm not knocking her, i'm guessing certainly the tone changed. we are angry and were not angry people. when we see the kind of stupidity that we see. when we see sergeant brokaw, a traitor, six people get killed, and they get $5 back on the battlefields or soon will be. that's not what we want. when we give iran $150 billion, we get nothing and they go and take our sales. frank needham and have been passed and still have them. then you take the money and don't buy from us. we are angry. hopefully will not be angry for long because we are not angry. we are not angry people up when we see the stupidity and

incompetence, we are angry and there's nothing wrong about being angry. i hope you are angry enough to go out and vote tomorrow, folks, okay? thank you. thank you, everybody. thank you. thank you, everybody. [applause] >> good, good. why don't you make a presentation? nice to see you. [inaudible] >> on behalf of donald trump foundation we are very honored that instead going into in the political thing, since the '80s in the '70s, he's been taking care of veterans since then. you still taking care veterans and to donate $100,000 to homeless veterans shelter in manchester. >> thank you, greg. congratulations. [applause]

good, i'll sign that right after. spewed this will make a big difference to help the homeless. >> thank you, everybody. i appreciate it very much. thank you. [applause] >> they want to get a picture for the post. the are a lot of members from the post. spent all sign that right after. >> okay, thanks. ♪ ♪ [inaudible conversations]

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[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> during campaign 2016, c-span takes you on the road to the white house as with all the candidates on c-span, c-span radio and c-span.org.

the reality is the best presidents, the greatest presidents, have been willing to recognize they were not the smartest person in the room. and to surround themselves with people they thought were smarter than themselves. >> sunday night former secretary of defense and former director of the cia robert gates discusses his book a passion for leadership. he has served under several presidents, most recently president george w. bush and barack obama. >> at the end of the cold war when i was director of central intelligence, i came to believe very strongly that the american people have given set a pass on

a lot of things because of this existential conflict with the soviet union. and i believe that after the end of the cold war we were going to have to be more open about what we did and why we did it come and even to an extent how we did it to help the american people that understand what intelligence was important to the government and to presidents, and why presidents valued. >> sunday night eight eastern on c-span's q&a. >> next maryland governor larry hogan delivers his state of the state address to lawmakers at the statehouse. he spoke about efforts to revitalize the baltimore after the riots and talked about business expansion in his state. this is 25 minutes. [applause] thank you all very much. >> hit the red button.

>> thank you all very much. speaker busch, president miller, members of the general assembly, distinguished guests, fellow marylanders. a year ago i stood before you, confident in our collective ability to usher in a new era of cooperation and prosperity for maryland, while mindful of the challenges facing us and the uncertainties that we shared. in spite of political mindsets that might drive us apart, could we find middle ground? could the growing discord between our citizens and their government be repaired? would we as elected leaders choose serving the people over serving government? yet none of us could have foreseen just how much we would be asked to overcome. the riots and lawlessness that threatened to tear baltimore

city apart. for me personally, a life-altering diagnosis requiring me to publicly wage what is normally a very private battle. and last week a historic winter storm that left a season's worth of snowfall in just two days. together, we have been tested. but in the face of adversity, we were not democrats or republicans looking backward. we were marylanders with our eyes fixed forward, working together for a better tomorrow. [applause] by working together we have put maryland on a new path, and we are changing maryland for the better. i want to extend my sincere thanks to your presiding officers, who have risen up to

help us meet the challenges of the past year. speaker busch, our state's longest serving speaker, is a man who strongly believes in sound policy to achieve good government. [applause] president miller, the longest serving presiding officer in the nation, has spent a lifetime tirelessly working on behalf of all marylanders. [applause] though there are sometimes points of disagreement, at the heart of each of us is a man fiercely proud of this state that we all love. time and time again over the past year, we have chosen compromise over conflict, and for that i say thank you.

[applause] thanks to every person in this chamber who knows the great potential and promise of this state. together we have spent the past year working toward that potential, and because of that i am pleased to report that the state of our state is now strong, and getting stronger every day. [applause] last year i challenged each of us to put aside partisanship and to work together on behalf of all marylanders, and together we answered that call. [applause] because of it, we have made incredible progress, and we have the will and the support of the people solidly behind us.

our first and most important task was to correct our state's fiscal course, and to get our economy back on track. for the first time in nine years, working together we adopted a budget that did not include a single tax hike. [applause] not only did we not raise taxes, together we actually cut them. [applause] in an unprecedented show of bipartisan cooperation, every single legislator in both houses

who had previously voted for the rain tax mandate, changed their position and voted with us to repeal it, and the people of maryland thank you. [applause] in this year ahead, let's continue to make progress, and continue to move our state forward. marylanders are demanding relief from years of crippling tax and fee hikes. we are already delivering $600 million back into the pockets of maryland's taxpayers. this year, let's work together to help even more struggling marylanders throughout our state. let's find those areas where modest and reasonable tax cuts will have the biggest positive impact on our economy, and which will improve the lives of those who need it most: working families, retirees, and small business owners.

[applause] last year, we introduced tax relief on retirement income for veterans, and with the support of this assembly, we passed it. this year, we ask all of you to work with us again, to extend this exact same tax relief to all maryland's retirees. [applause] for working families, let's deliver on a popular bipartisan issue and accelerate the earned income tax credit. [applause] most of the tax increases in recent years are regressive taxes that hit working families and retirees on fixed incomes the hardest. they deserve and desperately need our help. let's work together and finally give them that much-needed tax

relief. [applause] we have already reduced or eliminated 100 fees all across state government, saving taxpayers $51 million. now, we ask you to join our efforts by reducing or eliminating another dozen fees that are set in statute, to save hardworking marylanders another $71 million. essential taxes and fees serve a purpose, but they have simply gone too far in recent years overburdening our hardworking citizens and dampening our prospects for real economic growth. thanks to your help, maryland is now open for business. [applause] businesses are returning to and expanding in our state once again. over the past 12 months,

maryland businesses had their best year in eight years, with some of our most important brands and employers, like under armour, mccormick, northrup grumman, fedex, and amazon, increasing their investment and growing jobs in our state. let's build on that progress, and continue to make maryland a more competitive, and a more business-friendly state. [applause] let's begin by reducing taxes and making it easier for the smallest of maryland businesses who have been struggling the most. and let's renew maryland's proud history in manufacturing and address chronic unemployment in the hardest-hit parts of our state by instituting the manufacturing jobs initiative, enabling us to eliminate the corporate tax and to waive all state taxes on certain companies who commit to bringing jobs where unemployment is highest, places like western maryland,

the lower eastern shore, and baltimore city. [applause] this is an innovative, bipartisan concept with a proven track record of success for attracting more businesses and more jobs to the places that desperately need them, and it will benefit the everyday lives of maryland's working families. let's also continue to eliminate needless, burdensome regulations. our regulatory reform commission has already been hard at work, conducting a top-to-bottom review of every single regulation in the state. let's reach across the aisle, and continue to do everything we can to help our state compete in the region and throughout the nation. maryland's business community can and will be strong again. [applause] together, let's usher in a new

era of ingenuity and entrepreneurial spirit in maryland. we have had several consecutive, robust quarters and an improving state economy over the past year. in just 12 months, we have added more than 55,000 new jobs, the largest gain in the mid-atlantic region, and we're adding jobs at one of the fastest rates in the entire country. [applause] by improving our economy, creating jobs, standing up to special interest groups, holding the line on new spending, and belt-tightening all across state government, we have made tremendous progress toward solving our state's fiscal problems. we have seen a jump in tax revenues, not because we raised taxes, but because we are growing our economy. revenues are now $150 million higher, and we have already eliminated nearly 90% of the

$5.1 billion structural deficit that we were faced with at this time last year. [applause] fiscal discipline, combined with our improving business climate, means that this year we will achieve $1.1 billion in the rainy day fund and maintain a $450 million cash balance. this is incredible progress, and all of us can be proud of these results. [applause] it's easy to see why so many marylanders are so optimistic about the direction of our

state. but as we look ahead, now is certainly not the time to abandon the fiscally responsible principles, which together we have instituted. in addition to reining in spending, taxes, tolls and fees, let's rein in how much the state borrows. let's work together to reduce mandated spending increases in years when revenues don't keep pace. [applause] this will ensure that future budgets continue to prioritize key expenditures, like education and health care, while also making sure that we have the flexibility to trim excessive cost increases in tough times. thanks to your collaboration, we have begun to clean up the problems of yesterday. now, let's come together once again to take care of today's challenges, and to provide for a brighter tomorrow.

in this new era of prosperity in maryland, our economy can and will be strong. let's continue to work together to make it even stronger. [applause] at the heart of our state is an incredibly hardworking, resolute, and resilient people. our most sacred duty as elected leaders is to work tirelessly to improve the quality of life for those we serve. this past year, we set aside our differences and delivered real results. on education, we increased spending to historic, record-high levels, adding a total increased investment of $830 million more in k-12 education. last year, i became the first maryland governor ever to add any money into gcei in his first year.

[applause] this year, we will break our historic record-high investment in public education from last year, and thanks to your help, i have become the first governor in maryland history to ever fully fund gcei in his second year. [applause] most importantly, per-pupil spending is increased in every single jurisdiction across the state. these investments are important, but as we look to the year ahead, it's clear that more money alone will not close the performance gap we see impacting maryland's children. we owe it to them to think more creatively and to find new solutions. we need to encourage innovative ideas that give parents better alternatives to prepare children for higher education and for the jobs of the future.

let's set aside political gamesmanship, and work together for the sake of our children. and as we strive to ensure a brighter future for our children, let us safeguard the natural beauty of our great state for the next generation. let 2016 be a year in which we continue to work together to protect our environment. the chesapeake bay is our greatest and most important natural asset, and a national treasure. good people in this general assembly, from both chambers and from both sides of the aisle, had worked for years to try and come up with solutions to the serious problem of phosphorous in the bay. last year, we tackled the problem head-on. we brought all the stakeholders together, farmers, community leaders, the poultry industry, and environmental groups, and we hammered out a compromise phosphorus management solution that everyone could live with. it has been called the greatest

environmental achievement to clean up the bay in a generation, and it would not have happened without your help and cooperation. [applause] this year, we are investing $53 million for the chesapeake and atlantic coastal bays trust fund the highest level of funding ever since it was established. this marks the first time in state history that funding dedicated specifically for restoration of the chesapeake bay is not being diverted to the general fund. [applause] maryland should be leading the charge in protecting our environment. maryland's environment can and should be cleaner and healthier. let's continue to work together to make that happen. and let's also come together in

a spirit of bipartisanship, to protect that most fundamental right of every american citizen, the right to free and fair elections. in maryland, we have the unfortunate distinction of being the most gerrymandered state in the entire nation. we created the redistricting reform commission to fight for the nonpartisan drawing of district lines, something nearly all marylanders are strongly in favor of. we ask you today to join with us in that fight. [applause] help us defend that very foundation of american democracy, and set an example for the entire nation by finally making maryland elections fair elections.

in the past year, we have taken important steps to address another problem that has impaired the quality of life of marylanders all across our state, heroin and opioid addiction. please join me in thanking lt. governor rutherford and the members of the maryland heroin and opioid emergency task force for their countless months of hard work. [applause] thanks to their efforts, we remain relentlessly focused on finding the best ideas and working toward solutions. we also look forward to working closely with the general assembly on the recommendations from the justice reinvestment coordinating council. these reforms can help us break the cycle of incarceration, and

create an environment of economic opportunity for every marylander. we cannot afford to leave anyone behind. [applause] instead, we must commit to recognizing the fundamental human potential of all of our citizens. as we partner this year to improve the lives of all marylanders, transportation must also be a top priority. we are investing an unprecedented $2 billion into shovel ready infrastructure projects to fix every single structurally deficient bridge in the state, and to move us forward on the top-priority road projects in every single jurisdiction in the state. [applause] we are moving forward with a

more cost-effective version of the purple line, as well as a transformation of the transit system in baltimore long-term investments that will be important economic drivers for maryland. moving forward, it should also be a priority to get funding for local roads back to their previous levels. this year, we have allocated an additional $231 million in highway user revenues to local governments. [applause] our transportation infrastructure can and should be stronger. working together, let's make this goal a reality. finally, our efforts on behalf of the people of this great state must address the challenges facing the city that is at the very heart of

maryland. the entire country was witness to the events that shook baltimore last april. but when those dark days ended, and peace was restored, we knew that the work of healing and revitalizing baltimore was just beginning. over the past few months, we launched school-to-career opportunities for baltimore youth, improved educational options for college-bound students, invested an additional $135 million to improve the city's transit system, finally closed down the notorious baltimore city jail, began the process of stopping urban blight with a plan to demolish abandoned, decaying buildings throughout the city. and we have been fostering improved economic development strategies, more redevelopment opportunities, and a pro-job [applause]

economic climate. we understand that some of you in this chamber also have ideas to help us change baltimore for the better. while we do not have an unlimited amount of taxpayer money, we will always have an unlimited capacity to listen to worthwhile ideas and creative solutions that know no party bounds. as we continue to tackle these problems, government will play an important role. but often the best answers come from those private citizens who take pride in their community. the renewal of baltimore city, and the continued growth of our entire state, will require an environment of trust and cooperation, one in which the best ideas rise to the top based upon their merit, regardless of which side of the philosophical debate they come from. as you may know by now, i'm a man who speaks candidly.

it's the only way i know how. last year when i stood before you, i was very direct about the challenges that were facing us. it's because i care so much about this state, its people, and our future, just like each and every person in this chamber does. this past year has been one of many milestones. for me, none more extraordinary than when i had the honor of being blessed by pope francis on behalf of cancer patients around the world. [applause] he is a holy man, who sets an example of truly selfless

service to others. pope francis challenged us to act without prejudice, without superiority, and without condescension, traits that can sometimes drag down even the most well-intentioned of us. but that has not been our path. this past year, we ushered in a new era of bipartisanship in maryland. one filled with hope and optimism. we did not let the bitter and rancorous politics that divide our nation divide our state, and we put the people we serve first. now, our path is set and our eyes are clear. let us continue to blaze that new path for maryland, with the full knowledge that the people of our great state stand strongly behind us. let's work together and come up with real, bipartisan, common-sense solutions. and let's continue to embrace that middle temperament, which truly defines this great state

of ours. there is so much more that unites us, than that which divides us. there is so much we can find agreement on. in the days ahead, i extend my hand to you, in cooperation and in devotion to our duty, and i ask each of you, and all marylanders, to seek that middle ground where we can all stand together. because together, we are stronger. together, we can continue on this bold new path. and together, we can and we will change maryland for the better. [applause]

thank you. thank you all so much. thank you, god bless you, and may god bless the great state of maryland. [applause] >> next, utah governor gary herbert delivers his annual state of the state address at the state capitol in salt lake city. it's 25 minutes.

[inaudible conversations] >> all rise. the honorable gary herbert, governor of the great state of utah, and first lady jeanette herbert, followed by spencer cox, lieutenant governor and his wife, abby. [applause]

[inaudible conversations] it's always an honor to be with you year of this special occasion. president niederhauser, speaker hughes, members of the

legislature, justices of the utah supreme court, lieutenant governor and mrs. cox and utah's first lady, my wife, jeanette. my fellow utahns. the utah we know and love today stands on higher ground because of the many sacrifices of hardworking utahns who have gone before us. let me begin this evening by acknowledging two of these giants who left us this past year, former governors, norm bangerter and olene walker. among governor bangerter's many achievements, he deserves great credit for increasing education funding and improving government efficiency during a time of economic uncertainty. governor bangerter was a down-to-earth leader who liked to say that he was just an old farmer and carpenter from granger who happened to be governor. we all saw so much more in norm bangerter. he was a true leader who had the courage to stand up for what he

believed. he knew how to partner with the legislature to solve the critical issues of the day. in short, norm offered utah what we need in this state, and that is the steady hand of leadership. governor walker was also a leader, and a trailblazer, the first woman to hold utah's highest office. just as important, she was a tireless advocate for education who established early reading initiatives in our utah schools. as a state legislator, she had the foresight to create utah's rainy day fund to help us prepare our state for the unforeseen events of the future. that rainy day fund now has $528 million in it, the largest amount in our state's history, and for establishing and prudently increasing the rainy day fund, both governor walker and everyone here in this body deserves a round of applause.

[applause] this week we witnessed a remarkable outpouring of love and support for hometown hero officer doug barney, who gave the ultimate sacrifice while in the line of duty. he was a husband, a father of three beautiful children, a dependable friend and brother, and an honorable public servant. in honor of him and others who have gone before, let us today commit ourselves as a state to show greater respect and appreciation for the men and women who willingly put themselves in harm's way to serve, protect, and defend utahns every single day. [applause]

the question before us tonight is simple, what is the state of our state? and just as important, what are we going to do to make it even better? six years ago, our state found itself in the most severe recession since the great depression. the unemployment rate at the time was 8%. each of us had family members and friends who struggled just to get by. our economy had been weakened, but we did not give up hope. together, we set a goal to not only recover from the great recession but to become the top-performing economy in america. six years later, our state economy has added 219,000 new jobs, with an unemployment rate dropping from 8% down to 3.5% today.

in fact, in 9 of the last 12 months, utah had the highest job growth creation of any state in the nation. [applause] our economy is now the third most diverse. income inequality is low. our wage growth is up. and just this fall, the state of utah was recognized as the most fundamentally sound economy in america. [applause] since i stood here one year ago, businesses across our state have now added approximately 40,000 new jobs. think about that for just a minute. some of you within the sound of my voice know the pain that comes from losing a job. 40,000 new jobs means new opportunities for 40,000 utahns.

this isn't just a statistic. we're talking about real people here, our neighbors, our friends, our family members. so what is the state of our state? the state of our state is strong, and i think most of us would say the state of our state is outstanding. [applause] that being said, i believe that we can do even better. a high quality of life should mean parents don't have to watch their children leave and go to another town or another state because there are no jobs available where they live. jeanette and i enjoy the singular blessing of having our six children and now 16 grandchildren all living here in utah within just 30 minutes of our home. your children may not choose to stay here, but we need an economy strong enough that they always have the choice. unfortunately, this is not the

case in some of the rural areas of our state. as we begin this session, i ask you in the legislature to focus on these communities with renewed determination and resolve. thanks to the leadership of senator ralph okerlund, we now have new tools available to help in this battle. soon there will be a new industrial development in iron county, roads and power to a potash mine in beaver county, and other critical infrastructure projects that will enable businesses to expand in rural utah like never before. while developing this kind of basic infrastructure is the proper role of government, make no mistake, ultimately it is our small businesses and large businesses and the tens of thousands of hardworking, productive utah workers who create utah's economic success, and not the government. [applause]

if we expect to make even more progress in rural utah, it will take more entrepreneurs like roland christensen, born and raised in fayette, utah, population 245. in his lifetime, roland has developed 38 different patents and started four successful businesses. he has employed hundreds of people. and the place he chose to build those businesses is in his hometown in sanpete county. .. [applause]

>> even in those years with states with abundant prosperity we can still do better. recently i had the opportunity to meet with a young single mother from ogden. as a child and now adult she experienced constant economic struggles, joblessness, homelessness and feeling life isn't or what it could be. she said something that left indelible impression on me. she said, governor, a lot of brilliant mind are lost to poverty. in typically utah fashion, she sided she was going to do something about her situation. she enrolled in a paralegal program provided by webber state university. she attended planning and budget classes. not only because she lives in utah, not only will she have a good education there will job

opportunities once she graduates. as melody demonstrated and i believe, education, not entitlement that creates the opportunity for self-reliance. [applause] if you remember nothing else from my message this evening, remember this, education is the most important investment we can make in utah's future. [applause] one of the defining moments in my time as governor came last year when we made one the largest increase insistedcation funding ever in utah's history. $512 million in all. as i go around the state i'm often thanked by teachers, principles and parents and others for this extraordinary

investment in utah's future. members of the legislature, i recognize that you often don't get all the credit you deserve on this issue. i believe that needs to change. so tonight i want to be absolutely clear. on behalf of all three million utah wants across the state, i'm here to deliver a message long overdue. thank you for members of the legislature for investing in our future. [applause] the finite resources and hundreds of competing demands in last year's session you made the tough decision that pit utah's children first. together we have invested over $1.3 billion of new money in education over the past four years which is more money by the way, committed to education than any other time in utah's history

our sustained long-term investment in education is already producing positive results. for example, when i first came into office one in every four utah high school students did not graduate. that was unacceptable to you and to me. step by step that number has improved. i am pleased to report that utah's graduation rate has grownly nearly 10% and is now at 84%. [applause] that means 3400 additional students now graduate each and every year from utah schools with increased opportunities like never before. 84% is a good number compared to other states but i know that we can and that we must in fact do better. tonight i am challenging teachers, parent, principals, school board members and most

importantly our students to raise our graduation rate in this state to 90% in the next four years. [applause] we can do it. i pledge to you tonight we will bring to bear the necessary resources, determination, and innovation to achieve this goal. members of the legislature, now is not the time to take our foot off the gas pedal. let us recommit tonight we will work together to invest in our children and in our future. [applause] as one of the fastest growing states in america, just a few months ago our state welcomed its three millionth resident. with our growing population we must do all we can to preserve our enviable quality of life despite some of the challenges

that we uniquely face. one example of the meaningful progress we have made to improve air quality, together we have reduced total emissions by approximately 35% over the past 10 years but the data means very little when the inversion sets in and those emissions hang in the valleys are. there is important work yet to be done. one thing is for certain, environmental challenges won't be solved with hyperbole or misinformation. we must invest our limited resources in programs and technology that will actually work, not just rhetoric that ignores common sense. and that's why i am continuing to push for our refineries to produce much cleaner tier 3 fuel as soon as possible. this is one of the most effective steps we can do to improve air quality. i am proud to announce that one of our refineries, test sore -- tesoro already agreed to make this transition.

i met with every refine any in the state. i expect others will work with us to bring tier 3 fuels to utah. we enjoy a wet winter but we know from had may not always be that way. my budget calls for funds to help long-term solution for the water supply to accommodate future needs. we must make an individual and collective commitment to be good stewards of our land, of our air and of our water. there's no state in america with as much natural beauty as our state and our combined efforts will insure that utah's natural wonders can be enjoyed by t@generations to come. [applause] health care is another important issue. some continue to struggle with inadequate health care coverage because of the fundamentally flawed affordable care act

coupled with the u.s. supreme court decision. here in the state of utah we have worked together to try to find a solution. unfortunately we have not yet succeeded in that effort. too often many of the problems created by the federal government are simply dumped at feet of the states. we can speak out in defiance, we can choose to ignore them or roll up our sleeves to actually do something. my friends in the legislature it's time to find a solution. this problem is not going to go away. this is too important of an issue to ignore. too many utahance work hard with no health care coverage. i will continue to providing constructive, practical solutions to every challenge, every problem we face regardless who created them. i know you want to do the same thing. no matter what issues we the people face the states can and

do find the best solutions. it as the states, not the federal government that finds the best solutions. [applause] on this issue of health care, let this be the session where utah leads the way to find the right utah state solution. [applause] we have seen kind of innovation and success in other areas of state government. for example, if we had simply added new employees over the last five years at the same rate as our growing population, we would have more than 2200 additional full-time state employees today. instead we have reduced the number of state employees by 11%, saving utah taxpayers over $117 million in 2015 alone.

what does that improved efficiency mean in practical terms for every day utah citizens? i'll tell you. it means that our tax burden is one of the lowest in the nation. it means improved efficiency also means that you can now carry around your fishing or hunting license on your smartphone. it means that we can process fingerprints faster than ever before to get criminals off the streets and behind bars. and we have accomplished what many people would think is the impossible, we've actually reduced the average wait time down to four minutes at the dmv. [applause] four years ago my administration conducted exhaustive regulation and review process that modified and eliminated 368 regulations n addition i just completed a

review of every executive order issued by utah governors since statehood. tonight i'm pleased to announce i will repeal 52 of these executive orders that are no longer necessary. in washington, d.c. we have a president who thinks it is okay to bypass congress and create executive orders. that is not the way we do it in utah. [applause] as governor, i will not issue executive orders to bypass you the legislature or the will of the people. here in utah we believe in the rule of law and the three branches of government. [applause] to my friends in the legislature, i need your help. if we truly believe in limited government, now is the time to

show it. i see that a large number of bills have been filed already and have been opened for this session. some say maybe a record number. most of those bills add a few lines to the state code to fix various issues but i'm calling on you to do something entirely different. i've instructed my cabinet to work with you, to find areas of relevant state code that can not only be updated and improved but where possible deleted all together. [applause] let this be a session where we cut unnecessary red stay in government. let's shrink the size of the state code. please know you have a willing partner in my administration who will accomplish that laudable and much overdue goal. we can not wait for the next tesla to come along that

includes many last are onerous and unnecessary. we must streamline government to allow the 21st century economy to grow uninhibited by outdated laws, rules and regulations. [applause] while our economy may be tremendously strong today there are in fact challenges on the horizon. the federal government still controls and misimagines too much of our backyard and we live with the daily threat of presidential monument declaration. i'm encouraged by the work of representative kevin stratton and others on this issue. and am enthusiastic supporter of public lands initiative by congressman rob bishop, congressman jason chaffetz and senator mike lee. i believe these are critical steps to help resolve this longstanding conflict and improve our self-reliance. of course self-reliance is not just an issue for our public lands.

it should permeate everything we do in state government especially in our annual budget process. while $528 million rain any fund is extraordinary, there are other things we must do in order to preserve our state's unprecedented fiscal stability. first and foe most, my proposed budget calls for no new debt and no tax increases. in addition it pays off $350 million in existing debt. bringing the total debt paid off by the state over the last five years to over $1.04. we know being prepared for the future means being fiscally prudent. that's why when measured on per capita basis it is good news to know that utah spends the fewest federal dollars of all the 50 states. these are just some of the reasons why just this past month we're rated one of only nine states in america with a aaa bond rating.

[applause] think about that for a moment. 41 other states have a tarnished bond rating. the united states of america recently had its own rating downgraded but not here in utah. and don't think for a minute this recognition does not matter. it saves the taxpayer money. aaa is the best you can get and here in utah we won't settle for anything less. [applause] for all the challenges you utah faces, it is important to remember that there are 49 or the states out there that would love to trade places with us. political gridlock is everywhere in this country. but here in utah we know how to come together and in spite of our differences and get things done. i believe there has never been a

better time to live, to work and to raise a family in this state. so to answer the question i posed earlier, the state of our state is strong. it's outstanding. but it's much more than that. the events of last week's tragedy with officer barney impacted all of us profoundly but equally impactful was tremendous outpouring of public spirit we all witnessed. we will never forget the 50-mile-long motorcade. the streets lined with children holding flags and neighbors and friends on overpasses saluting one of their own. i've never been more proud to call you utah home. yes -- [applause]

yes, the state of our state has never been stronger. as i watch utahans mourn together, i realized something more important. i realize the state of our state is strong because the state of our people has never been stronger. as utah ons you're united you are compassionate, you are inspiring, you are extraordinary. i am proud to be part of that great state. i'm proud to be a utahan. may god bless this country in difficult time. may god continue to state of

utah and its wonderful people. thank you for your service and thank you very much. [applause] >> stepty defense secretary bob work and joint chiefs of chaff stair brief reporters on president's 2017 budget request. see the briefing live at 1:00 p.m. eastern on c-span3. now nebraska governor pete ricketts delivers the annual state of the state address at the state's capitol building in lincoln. his speech is 30 minutes. [applause]

>> thank you. president foley, speaker hadley, members of the legislature, tribal chairman, the distinguished guests, friends, fellow nebraskans, and of course our first lady, my lovely wife suzanne, it is great to be a part of the second session of the 104th nebraska legislature. now, before we get started here today i want to take a moment and thank my staff who works so hard to juggle my schedule and make things work so i could be here today. [laughter] folks, we live in the best place in the world and i know you have heard me say that a lot and i will continue to say it because it continues to be true. and the reason we live in the best place in the world is because of our people.

nebraskans give to their communities. we share a common set of principles. we treat each other with dignity and respect. and we care about each other. i'm proud of the fact that nebraska is one of the top states in the nation for volunteerism. the kids of cub scout pack 190 picked up trash on highway 7 last year. when floods slammed into dewitt, i saw first-hand the community pull together. neighbors helping neighbors. i met volunteers like john long from omaha who are helping clean houses whose basements have been filled to the ceilings with mud and water. i want to thank john. john is here today, for joining us and for setting such a great example for volunteer work. john, can we recognize him? [applause]

of course there is no better example of service than the heros of our nebraska national guard. they help their neighbors here at home and defend our freedoms overseas. last year i met lieutenant eric ott and the members of the 192nd law and order detachment as they were being deployed. they were among the 150 nebraska national guard soldiers who were deployed last year. and i'm pleased to say that lieutenant ott and all of his soldiers returned safely home last month. [applause] we are so grateful for the nebraskans who put themselves in

harm's way to defend our freedoms. 61 nebraskans have been killed in action since 2003, 12 from the national guard. we also lost a nebraska hero in the act of performing a humanitarian mission. on may 12th of last year marine corps helicopter pilot naven, dustin leovich was on mission in nepal where he rescued three people after earthquake struck. he was flying back to save more when his helicopter crashed into a mountain. he left behind a wife, a daughter, and a son on the way. and we salute his service. [applause]

and even when one much our best and brightest leaves nebraska, the nebraska spirit continues to defined them. joe lemm played high school football in beamer. after graduation he joined the air force. after the service he became a new york city cop. when terrorists knocked down the twin towers lemm worked for weeks, even off-duty with his fellow officers, digging through the rubble, looking for survivors. being one of new york's finest was not enough service for joe. he joined the air national guard. last month on his third combat deployment, this time in afghanistan, he was killed near bagram air force base by a suicide bomber. joe's mom shirley is here with us today. joe, and she shared with me a

letter from one of his friends. joe knew why he was there in afghanistan. it was to help little afghan girls to be able to get an education. little girls like his daughter, so they could change the outcomes of their lives. shirley lemm is with us today. we offer our condolences and salute joe's work and your sacrifice. [applause] over there. [applause] where do we get such people?

thank god for dusty and joe and our nebraska national guard and for all of our men and women who serve this country at home, and abroad. we lost another hero this spring in omaha. police officer kerry rosko who was shot and killed while trying to apprehend a fugitive. she left behind a husband, a new baby and two children. law enforcement officers have been getting a lot of broad brush criticism lately and it is just not right. they put on their blues every day to protect us. carrie spent her time serving the families of omaha as a volunteer coach and a mentor in addition to being a police

officer. the community that she patrolled was an extension of our family and she paid the ultimate sacrifice to protect them. the coaching program that she was involved with has actually doubled number of coaches since she left because of her example. here in the heartland we appreciate officer orosco and all of our heroic police officers who protect us. [applause] officer orosco husband hector and her mom ellen are here with us today and we recognize you for the sacrifices you have made. please stand up. [applause]

on a lighter note, did you all see the video of deputy sergeant todd polk of the madison county sheriff's office? he sped past an out of control truck, lept out of his vehicle, jumped on to a moving semi and safely brought it to a stop. now for most of us, that looked like a scene out of an action movie but that was real life todd polk and have no fear. sergeant volk is here. he has joined us today up in the gallery. can we please recognize him for his service? [applause]

whether it's cleaning up our highways, patrolling our streets, or serving overseas, our people are every day heroes. and that's why this is the best place in the world to be. nebraska is what america is supposed to be. [applause] and when it comes to public service, being a state senator is also a high and noble calling. i'm grateful for the sacrifices you and your families make to be able to serve our fellow nebraskans. as i begin my second term as governor, and my second state of

the state address, it feels like a family reunion and i'm not kidding. as many of you know i come from a big family and as kids i fought with my brothers and sister. even as adults we continue to disagree on important topics but i love them and i love working with them and i love the work that we do here in our capitol. and i love working with all of you. sure, we've had our moments but we've accomplished great things together. in the last session we cut the growth of government nearly in half from six 1/2% in the last budget to 6 1/2% in this current budget. i want to -- [applause] i want to thank chairman mellow and all members of the appropriations committee for

their hard work to make that possible. [applause] we also enacted a nurse practitioner bill to increase access to health care particularly in our rural areas. together we addressed the cliff effect for child care with cook's build. kathy campbell and i reached and agreement to increase aid for dependent children in a responsible way. these are just -- [applause] these are just a few of the many bills which we found common ground. sometimes there was a natural tension but's an honor to be part of the work we do here in our state capitol. [applause]

thank you for your dedication and for the long hours you put in and service you provide to the people of this state. [applause] and because of our accomplishments together and the strength and character of our people i am proud to report today that the state of the state is strong. [applause] "forbes" magazine ranks nebraska as the third most business-friendly state. health.com ranks nebraska in the top 10 for, as top healthiest states. liveability.com says lincoln and omaha are among the most liveable cities in america. meanwhile nebraska's government enjoy as aaa credit rating from s&p.

we are in a strong position. but we also have our challenges. but these challenges pose an opportunity for us to work together to respond and grow nebraska. agriculture is our number one industry here in nebraska, representing nearly 25% of our state's economy. but our farm economy is facing challenges. commodity prices have been flat or down. corn is trading about 3.50 a bushel, significantly down from the $8 a bushel it was in 2012. cattle prices are down over 17% from last year. and while farm incomes are subject to variations and fluctuations this year, property taxes go up and up. last year, i told you about roger brunet who is a farmer

from wayne county. his assessments on three parcels of land increased from 36% to nearly 50% in just one year. we checked in again with roger about this year's property taxes and they went up again, nearly $2700. that after the property tax credit we passed last year. while commodity prices have stayed flat or gone down, his property tax bill went up nearly 10%. folks, these increases put tremendous pressure on our farmers and ranchers, and in turn, the largest part of our state's economy. now last year we successfully worked together to provide $408 million in direct dollar for dollar property tax relief

through the nebraska, to nebraskans through the property tax credit relief fund. this year, we must make structural changes to property taxes. working with chairwoman kate sullivan, and chairman mike lorr and their committees, we crafted a proposal for property tax relief. you will see in this bill we proposed to tighten spending and levee limits and we limit statewide aggregate growth and agricultural property valuations to 3%. senators, i look forward to working with you to bring about tax relief to our taxpayers. we must prioritize property tax relief. it is my number one priority this session. [applause]

now, we talked about growing the nebraska and indeed we grew our population faster than any of the surrounding states except for colorado. we added on 13,000 people but our economic growth rate is sluggish. we are 28th in the nation in employment growth an our rankings for gdp and personal income growth are also in the middle of the pack. and folks, there is nothing competitive about being in the middle of the pack. we need to grow nebraska's economy, create more and better-paying jobs, keep our kids and grandkids here. attract people from around the country to come and make nebraska their home. our three largest industries,

are agriculture, manufacturing and tourism. and all depend on a strong transportation infrastructure to expand. we con spur our economic growth by insuring we have 21st century roads and bridges, to help grow our industries. once again working together we working with you to address this critical need. chairman smith and director of roads kyle steinweis have traveled the state working on ideas how we can accelerate infrastructure investment. last week we announced a proposal for a transportation infrastructure bank to speed up expressway construction, improve our county bridges, and assist companies with economic

development. also included are tools to help increase our efficiency for our construction process. folks, our businesses transport goods and services. our farmers and ranchers feed our world on our roads and bridges. we get to work each day on our highways. we drive our children to school across our county bridges. let's help our local leaders keep and attract business. let's pass the transportation infrastructure bank. [applause] as i said, s&p gives us a aaa rating and we are in very strong financial position. however we can not rest on our laurels. the forecasting board has

revised revenue forecast downward by $154 million. we have to work together to manage taxpayer dollars wisely. the budget i'm proposing manages the short fall by tightening our belts in state agencies, returning reappropriated funds to the state's general fund and transferring money from the banking insurance cash funds into the general fund. as a result, no money will be taken from the cash reserve and none is needed to fund ongoing operations. we must also make government work for the people. we all know that in 2014, before i took office, the omaha world herald broke a story about dozens of convicted criminals, many of them violent, who have been released from prison early because of errors in sentencing calculations at the department of corrections.

i know that everybody in this chamber cares deeply about this topic. the legislature worked diligently when these issues came to light. i also appreciate how much you take seriously the safety of nebraskans. over the last year the three branches of government have worked together on issues such as lb-605 from the council of state governments dealing with sentencing and corrections reform. last year we brought in director scott fricks to the department of corrections. the director is working to create a cultural reform to one of accountability and excellence. to address mistakes in inmate releases, he is instituting a new automated system to perform sentence calculations. we also know that further

investment is needed. in november director frakes rolled out the first phase of his strategic plan, inconcluding a $26 million investment in the community corrections center here in lincoln. this investment will allow to us expand the capacity we have for reentry programing. we will provide job training, work-release, and counseling. this will help our offenders avoid becoming repeat customers and ultimately reduce the recidivism rate. we must make this wise investment in our corrections system. [applause] now, one of the biggest challenges we face long term to the budget is medicaid expansion this body has wisely rejected

medicaid expansion three times in the last three-year because it was an unreasonable risk to nebraska taxpayers. the most recent iteration of this expansion would have cost nebraska taxpayers $158 million over six years. medicaid is already grown from 2.9% of our budget when it was started to where it is today, 19% and growing. this government entitlement crowds out investments in tax relief and education, things we need to grow our state. we also know that we can not trust the federal government to keep its commitments when it comes to spending a 90% federal match rate is not sustainable in the federal budget. when the federal budget gets

tight, or priorities in washington change, that commitment will disappear. history shows that the federal government can change the rules at anytime. for example, the federal government promised to pay for 40% of the cost of the expansion of special education in our schools. now they're down to paying less than 20%. from denying people a choice of their doctor to rising premiums, and now this unreal liesic promise of federal matching dollars, obamacare is an example of government that does not work. government needs to work for the people. and serving in government is a noble calling as well. now we have great people in state government. people who show up to work every day to help our fellow citizens.

from the cabinet to our front line teams, we have been able to make great strides over the past year in making government work and helping with the business of life for our people. i want to highlight some of the great work for our people starting with the nebraska department of health and human services. i'm proud of the progress that the team at hhs has made under the leadership of ceo courtney phillips. we are working to insure a new level of accountability and transparency for taxpayers. our people are dedicated to giving vulnerable citizens the best possible experience in receiving assistance and creating a more customer-centric organization. one example is access nebraska, that serves our fellow

nebraskans who need help. whether nutrition, child care, to assistance with energy bills. as i travel the state i used to hear a lot of complaints about access nebraska. the average call wait time in august of 2014 was nearly 24 minutes. now, because of process improvements, the average wait time for the last three months has averaged under five minutes. i want you to imagine being a low income person, a low-income nebraskan, just bought a prepaid fon with 45 munns on it. you call in to access nebraska. you have to spend over half the minutes waiting on hold just to get somebody to talk to you. how does that impact your quality of life? not only have we reduced the call waiting time but we have improved our accuracy rate as well. nebraska's national rang in processing snap applications was 48 out of 53 at the beginning of

my term. now we are ranked number 32. now, don't get me wrong, nobody is proud of being in the middle of the pack but it does show we are making improvements. we are now 21st in payment accuracy and 10th for denial accuracy. at the end of 2014 the average time it took to process applications was 40.9 days. now, our average is 11 1/2 days. members of the access nebraska team are here with us today. please help recognize them for all the efforts they have made to improve this important system. [applause]

great job, team. and we have made other improvements in other areas as well. in 2015 for the first time ever in our child welfare system we met all six of the federal government's standards. just three years ago we only met two of the six standards. other agencies have been innovating as well. to make government more customer focused. the department of labor launched a first in the nation reemployment program to help our states job-seekers to connect more quickly with good-paying jobs. individuals receiving benefits now participate in that program which includes sitting down with a job coach and creating a resume' searchable by potential employers. this helps give our job-seekers a leg up.

alan homan of lincoln was helped by reemployment program to get a job with serious computer solutions. alan, his wife becky, and his boss kevin langford are here today. alan, becky, congratulations. thank you, kevin for giving them a little time off to be with us today. let's recognize them. stand up. [applause] since i took office, our other state agencies have made priority to identify cost savings as well. our chief information officer, ed turner, has saved taxpayers $5 million in so savings, consolidating software licenses and county servers. we're also able to pass along additional $3.3 million in road funding to our counties and

cities. in every agency of state government we worked to create a customer-focused culture of accountability and excellence. we are embraceing new ideas to make government work and to make the business of life happen for our citizens. in the session ahead i very much look forward to working with each of you to take advantage of the opportunities we have to meet these challenges head on and grow nebraska. let's work together to deliver property tax relief, to grow nebraska with a transportation infrastructure bank. to manage our budgets by controlling spending. and to continue the process of prison reform and investing in community corrections. this session is also important

for another reason. 11 members of this unicameral will be closing this chapter it of their public service. speaker hadley is one of these. mr. speaker, i value you friendship and all the advice you've given not only with regards to the work of the legislature but invaluable advice you've given to the chicago cubs. thank you very much for your service to our state. [applause] again, thank you for your leadership. and 10 more of your colleagues are going to be leaveing at the end of the year as well.

can you please stand so we can recognize you. senator dave bloomfield. [applause] senator cathy campbell. senator toby koash. senator tonya cook. senator mike loy. senator ken hart. senator heath miller. senator boyd mccoy. senator ken shill. senator kate nelson. thank you all very, very much for your service to our state. [applause]

once again, our family here in the state capitol will have its moments of the session no doubt. but i know, when the ice thaws, the snow melts, sports fans including speaker hadley return again to baseball. we will have accomplished much in this session, for the people we represent. the people of nebraska are good, hard-working and courageous people. they are the best of america. [applause] and in turn, we will give our best to them. god bless all of you. god bless america. and god bless the great state of nebraska.

[applause] >> white house budget director sean donovan outlines the president's 2017 budget request today live at 1:00 p.m. eastern here on c-span2. the potomac institute held a discussion on countering terrorism and biological threats. speakers included former homeland security secretary tom ridge and former u.s. senator joseph lieberman. this is two hours. >> ladies and gentlemen, if i could have your attention. i'm mike swetnam i'm ceo of potomac institute for policy studies and it is my great honor to welcome you to the 18th annual review of terrorism events. opportunities to deal with it

and concepts and studies for how to prevent it from ever happening again. for the last 18 years the potomac institute has been the very proud home of the international center for terrorism studies that has been headed by headed by professor yonah alexander. i'm sure you're here because you know about yonah and tremendous work he has done. we think of his center at the potomac institute as the foremost academic center for the study of terrorism in the world. it is affiliated literally with dozens of universities and think tanks around the world and publishes dozens of articles, seminar findings, and books every year on almost every aspect of terrorism, how it is being carried out around the world in every part of the world. how different parts of the world are dealing with it and how academics states men and scholars come together to offer up ways for to deal with it and

deal with the underlying causes of terrorism. this past year yonah has helped initiate a number of books that, on the issue from the islamic state which is just recently out, to a book on nato terrorism to the consolidated writings of osama bin laden. all of these are available from our website and also on amazon and lexington press. we'll be very happy to direct you to them or to the many publications that the institute and that the center have published this last year on, on terrorism events around the world and what can be done to deal with them. i would like to report to you in summary that after 18 years of looking at the issue at the potomac institute that things are improving. i think i'm going to put a happy face on it i can say that those focusing on the issue, the academic study of it, the

political focus of it around the world is increasing mightily and with great purpose. unfortunately the threat is still there, growing, metastasizing and evolving in ways that threaten more people than ever before. unfortunately this is something that most likely our grandchildren will deal with. it is up to us to give them as many tools as they can. i would like to ask you all to join me, however, at this moment and recognizing professor yonah alexander. his contributions to not just academia but to the world are something we should all applaud and encourage and hope that it will continue for the foreseeable future. professor yonah alexander. [applause] we brought together today, yonah has brought together today a very experienced and senior

panel to discuss these issues. we have a keynote speaker who is currently serving as the director of the defense intelligence agency and the, i would like to introduce general al gray, the 29th commandant of the marine corps and chairman of the potomac institute, before he gets here and kicks me off the stage i know, the published this last year bit potomac institute which documents -- all those things general gray has said. i want to add my welcome to all of you, we're particularly honored this afternoon to have a very distinguished general officer, speak to us, in this keynote address. general vincent stewart is a great leader. has been, and is a great marine. i'm very honored, really to have

a chance to tell you a little bit about him. his biography is here. so i won't go through all of that. i mention general stewart not only had and held all of the key command assignments in the signal intelligence arena in the marine corps, in the combat intelligence arena in the marine corps and has served also in staff and command positions everywhere from the department of the defense, forth marine, you name it he has done it. he is also a distinguished communications officer. he is an armor officer by original trade. he has been to many, many schools. in fact, eight different military schools and five of them were on my watch. so that's my fault for sending him to too many schools but he, he, i say this because i think

it's crucial that the intelligence community be infiltrated with a goodly number of non-intelligence people, operational people, people who have operational experience so that you can do not just the intelligence analysis and but the operational analysis, data analysis, et cetera, from that standpoint. some of our greatest intelligence victories in all through our history were created really because you had operations and intelligence operating together and working together and thinking together. and so i'm very proud of you, without further adieu i will turn things over to you. [applause] >> general gray promised he would do a very short introduction. he has never called me distinguished. so that's a first. so, thank you, sir. i'm going to try to do a couple of things today.

i will try to talk a little bit about this terrorism topic. then i want to touch a little bit about what we at dia think we're doing to help encounter terrorism. first of all truly honor to be here, sit next to governor ridge and on the podium with senator lieberman, our distinguished public servants, is truly an honor for me. so thank you all for inviting me to this event. combating terrorism is unmistakably an important topic on everyone's mind. today's agenda constitutes a significant opportunity for sharing and debating ideas, defining the threat, as well as to identify opportunities to undermined forces that use terror. i emphasize the finding of the threat for this reason. i have heard and i will talk about this a little bit more in

detail, i have heard it is, all of islam, thugs and criminals. and until we settle upon which of these its ends or somewhere in the middle we're dealing with we probably won't be able to define a coherent strategy. we'll talk about that a little bit. . .

politically intimidating strategies. the recent years, everett, san bernardino attacks demonstrate daesh, isil, isis, or whatever you want to call them has to become a direct terrorist threat around the world especially in europe and here in america. more information is coming out about daesh operatives allegedly here on u.s. soil. so these recent attacks may be just the beginning of violence perpetrated by daesh, by the inspired lone wolf actors, by returning foreign fighters, or daesh coordinated and directed attacks. in daesh we see what i was called a -- were simultaneously confronting both a quasi-military force with state

like features and transnational terrorist organization driven by religious ideology. like a state it claims territory, attempt to control its borders. it as an executive, a command-and-control structure, a set of laws, a taxation system. it builds an army, and supposedly provides services as well. while not recognized as a state by modern nation-state standard, it has been recognized by affiliates around the world who have accepted the issues goal of the global caliphate. daesh exam is to advance this notion biden married its capabilities to transform cyberspace into another dimension of this battle space. one with immediate effects on nontraditional battlefields marked by terrorist attacks all over the world. the idea that the caliphate exists, both in physical and

virtual domain, is daesh's center of gravity. to highlight, last year's daesh remained entrenched on iraqi and syrian battlefields and expanded globally to libya, sinai, afghanistan, nigeria, algeria, saudi arabia, yemen and the caucasus. it even inspired terrorist attacks in beirut approximately the same timeframe as the terrorist attacks. this year daesh has grown more dangerous through emergent branches in mali, tunisia, somalia, and punish and indonesia. and it wouldn't surprise me to see them extend further into egypt. daesh is likely to increase the pace and lethality of its transnational attacks because it seeks to unleash violent actions and to provoke a harsh reaction from the west, thereby feeding its distorted narrative. we know that daesh does not

represent islam or the 1.5 billion muslims around the world. and get daesh claims to be creating by force the caliphate, veteran caliphate, a notion that is resonating among the very selected segments of the sunni community who advocate violent selloff the jihadism. it is important to note it takes all three of these words together to describe the current threat environment. in the second daesh six not only to get west and islam but two-stroke sectarian conflict between sunni and shia, not so different from the violence of jihadists groups such as hezbollah. these groups seek a great economic environment in which the groups can thrive. these threats are exacerbated by the security challenges of the middle east which is now facing what of the most dangerous and unpredictable periods in the last decade. middle east countries have internal and external threats,

including terrorism, subnational armed groups or insurgencies and conventional military threats. some nations have even attempted to eliminate their political or sectarian adversaries under the guise of combating terrorism. while daesh might be at the forefront of our thoughts today, they are not the only nefarious organizations in town. increase international focus on daesh allows al-qaeda to recover from its degraded state, and it enables similar groups to flourish. we must not forget al-qaeda and its affiliates still exist. we cannot count them out. al-qaeda along the afghanistan-pakistan border, al-qaeda in the arabian peninsula, al-qaeda in the maghreb, al-nusra in syria. while they may not advance the goals, similar ideology and analogous tools of their drive them. furthermore, the jury is still

out on the largest state sponsor of terrorism, iran and its affiliates. we do not yet know yet if iran will behave responsibly or how they will invest the $100 billion they received as a result of the joint comprehensive agreement. let's not forget that since january 19, 1984, iran has been listed as a state sponsor of terrorism. we will not take our eyes off of these threats. we also face uncertainty in south asia. the taliban has launched its first ever winter offensive in order to make a comeback in afghanistan. it has increased attacks in pakistan. daesh is also attempting to expand their enterprise in the south and central asia as well as southeast asia. drawing your attention to africa, i see a volatile security of our but due to dysfunctional political systems

and complex creating permissive environment for transnational terrorism. in north africa, years of civil conflict over political control of libya and an expanding violence salafis jihad is presence remained the most pressing security concerns. the been there daesh has establish a stronghold causing instability and increasing illicit activities as well as increasing activities in algeria. west afrikaans mike chadd regions are contented with a number of violence trying to jihadists groups. the recent terrorist attacks and in november 2015 attack on a major hotel in mali highlights the expanded terrorism threat. in nigeria and the greater lake chad recent terror attacks boko haram also known as the islamic state west african province, who are the most violent daesh

affiliates, which is saying a great deal, and are likely to continue especially since their alliance with daesh. parts of central and eastern africa remains at risk of instability over the next year. al-shabaab attacks in control of rural areas will persist in somalia. the risk of episodic violence in the central african republic, the democratic republic of the congo, south sudan and sudan will continue despite peace and stability efforts. the key causes of instability, aging authoritarian leaders, lack of political transparency, corruption, suffocated civil societies, violation of human rights, religious extremism, insufficient economic opportunities as for social mobility are some common many and they will continue to serve as drivers of civil conflict, social cleavages come instability spill over and

regional spoilers are all of these issues daesh plays a part and blames the west for its challenges. these terrorist threats and the drivers of conflict alone not taking into account the myriad other global security concerns, state actors, the economy, technology have profound impact on the way daesh shapes and sizes its force to deal with the future. our mission simply provide intelligence on foreign military capabilities and operating environment that delivers decisive advantage to prevent and decisively win wars. we are one of three all source intelligence agencies that effectively incorporates operations analysis as well as science and technology to support our mission. we face a complex he could if i but marked by broad spectrum with disparate threats from aggressive nation-states that

have adapted nonstate actors. many of these threats -- and spans across multiple categories and multiple regions. all of these have implications for future joint, interagency, multinational, and public partnership at all levels. especially our military power will be used. especially counterterrorism in the gray zones. whether we're talking about mountains of afghanistan or throughout cyberspace, in addition while these efforts continue in the military realm, military action alone is not sufficient. diplomacy through collaboration is also significant force multiplier. therefore, we must think about how we do business. we have to take a broader approach to partnerships. collaboration across the services and all of government is no longer enough. fully integrated partnership

with our key allied nations is now an imperative. our relationship with our allies, our military responses and the way we practice intelligence must of therefore adapt and posture for the future. we must be prepared to operate with greater speed, flexibility, jointness, partnership and accuracy. the way to do this is through integration, not as an end state but as a means to an end. to address this challenge d.i.a. and our intel partners have move toward integrated intelligence centers. sitting and listening next to collectors, collectors next election managers, next to engineers, technologists, mission support experts. all in close contact with a full array of intelligence collection capability. this operating model reflects the success we experienced on the battlefield in afghanistan and iraq. it best suits her future challenges because it empowers senate leaders to effectively

manage the entire intelligence cycle from end to end, maximizing efficiency and effectiveness. this creates a cohesive, collaborative operating model that can truly deliver decision advantage. once this -- are functionally focused center, it works in unison with the national counters and center and our forward deployed military forces. especially the special operation forces. it integrates critical defense analysis, targets a collection to enable warning, operational decisions, precise action within the warfighters operating apartment against terrorists and their networks. we maintain a broad set of capabilities that aid personnel recovery, exploit captured materials and build identity intelligence. we've also integrated our

foreign partners because in today's complex security environment we can understand the world without them. when it comes to our partners, and other key international partners, it is unlikely that we will go to war again without them. we will be in combat as a coalition. so why should we fight and integrate as a coalition today? almost two years ago in march of 2014, we stood up our capabilities to the maximum extent possible. the five i said advocates improvements to warning, election, analysis, crisis planning, operations and information technology. i'd like to think this rethink the das on the forefront of international intelligence integration but the more we can expand and key partners across our agencies, the more we confess effective policies and

operations. our goal is to take d.i.a. from a finalize enclave to an agency that thinks and acts as a five eyes agency. we are also taking unprecedented steps in intelligence sharing beyond the community. take for example, our collaboration with friends, our oldest ally. we maintain a close partnership with france that is recently the result of paris attacks but before encountering terrorism around the world whether in afghanistan, iraq, syria or north africa. we also making many bilateral intelligence and a relationship with other partners throughout the world. partnerships the majority muslim countries are vital to gain a holistic understanding and to foster regional capability. integration, innovation, modernization, give us an edge given the multitude of challenges we face ahead. in closing let me go back to the

topic at hand and take a moment to share with you, you will probably do this again if you haven't heard it before, on december 2 this past year, in the british house of commons, shadow foreign secretary spoke of his support and action against daesh. while he explained the daesh poses a clear and present threat, struck me was his description of the enemy, and he said and i quote, and we are here faced by fascists, not just the calculated brutality but their belief that they are superior in every single, their severe to every single one of us. in this chamber tonight. and all of the people that we represent, they hold our belief in tolerance and decency in contempt. they hold our democracy and contempt. and what we know about fascists is they need to be defeated.

the caliphate must be destroyed. this movement must be defeated. this is definitely something to think about. debate, and come to a better understanding especially if you on the following panel of distinguished experts and statesmen. thank you for enduring me this afternoon. and i prepared, i think, to answer your questions. [applause] >> how are you? norm used to be one of my instructors at one of the many schools. the reason i went to a lot of schools is because i couldn't learn that quickly so i had to keep going back. >> you've done very well. i have a question. would you give us an assessment of iran as a de facto belligerent in this effort, limitations, the problems that that presents and the challenges

that presents common if you could? >> the underlying conflict that's running across the middle east is the saudi iran conflict. they are at complete odds in terms of their in state, which makes getting after daesh particularly in iraq and syria very difficult. the focus of efforts should be on daesh, yet for the iranians are the focus of effort is the assad regime. so i always run -- i remind folks that we saw this kind of terrorism that goes back to 1979 with the iranian revolution. so they play a difficult role on the battlefield because they are the ones taken continues to use our advocates state-sponsored terrorism to the irgc, that could force, lebanese hezbollah.

so did, in fact, complicated actions across the region. complicates action in terms of our partnership, public its action in terms of how we target on the battlefield, and they are not terribly helpful. i don't know if the answer to question but i'm trying to not stir up too much trouble. [inaudible] >> i'm wondering if this piece i generally stay away from the press to i don't understand why i'm here at the national press club. >> you are at the national press club in an open forum. i'm taking advantage for him wonder if there's anything you can share with us about -- >> no. [laughter] spilled i'm going to ask anyway. about the north korean missile launch the other day, and what you might be able to tell us about the launch and whether or not it successfully put an object or a satellite into orbit? >> i can tell you they conducted

a space launch that looks too many of us like the characteristics you would want to have for international, intercontinental ballistic missile. i think it's fair to say that the launch achieved its orbit. and i think i might stop there. it did achieve its orbit. it did have a payload, and i think i'm probably safer to stop right there. [inaudible] >> -- about two objects being tracked. can you talk about that? are there two objects being tracked? >> i don't know it would be a good thing for me to talk about what we can track and how we can track them. >> in the open right now speak with the fact it's in the open doesn't mean i should confirm that, does it? >> i'm only trying. >> confirming something because it's an open will probably get me in trouble so i'm not going there.

nice try though. i think i probably told you more than i really should have. i am very, very careful. >> thank you for your keynote speech. i disagree with terrorism that isis also spread to bangladesh in south asia. our government position is about already declared zero-tolerance against any extremism. in fact, no person so far in the bangladesh soil. we very effective and meaningful cooperation with the u.s. government and others encountering terrorism. so i'll be happy if you -- >> if i could -- >> so far there is no presence of isis elements in bangladesh. thank you.

>> daesh and own publication offers five characteristics for someone to join, being an affiliate of daesh. declaration of allegiance, unity and nominate a leader, develop a strategy to implement islamic law, establish contact with the isil leadership, and gain the leadership, isil leadership support. whether there is, defined the scope of the, elements within bangladesh are on the way now to meeting all five criteria that daesh has published in the open publication. [inaudible] >> -- and the government has successfully contained a homegrown military.

at present, the country is free of any extremist radical islamic groups. >> if it's okay i probably will not taken off my list just yet. i will just can't watch that. i take your word for it but i probably will not take them off the list just yet. sir. >> until this past me i was a program manager at darpa were iran probably the largest research program in socially research into united states garb to date, the order of about $50 million. and i was not able to get anybody in the tiny government, more or less come interested in using any of his technology. that we developed. the reality is that daesh and the chinese and the russians and everybody else in the information space is basically up to this point gone completely unchallenged. i don't see that changing anytime soon. i wonder if you have any ideas

or ways to see it go forward on this and to change that? >> the only idea i would offer is that those adversaries who cannot meet us and confront us and be effective using conventional military capability will augment the capabilities by trying to win the warfare information space. and so that space must be countered. now, my agency will not do that. i think it's important. they are starting to do some things now in a number of other agencies that will counter the narrative and confront daesh in the information space. but i think warfare in the information age requires that we find the tools and approaches and techniques to counter narratives and present a more compelling narrative, our narrative, to our adversary. and that's as close as i can get tthe key and enter that i agree with you, but i probably don't

drive this conversation. >> i would suggest for the record that tools now exist. it's on the question of having the will to use them. our adversaries are using them spectacularly well and we are not. >> and i cannot disagree with you. >> general, thank you very much. you mention intelligence integration of intelligence information. could you talk a bit about the challenges of timely intelligence attacking isis? for example, there is criticism of u.s. bombing operations are not vigorous enough and some people claim because we are being super cautious. can you discuss the difficulties or describe it in getting that information? also confirming targeting. >> finding -- i did an experiment many years ago where

we tried to find small, fleeting targets in a large desert environment, twentynine palms, california. that is particularly difficult it because they are not massive come in spite of images that you see. they are not messing their movement. finding targets of though, decades after the critical vulnerabilities. we are starting to pick up the pace on that. i think you may read come if you haven't already, some attacks we've done on some of their cash flows. we are going after the oil infrastructure. have a pretty high threshold to protect against civilian casualties. i'm comfortable with that space because it separates us from other nation-states were not as careful in how they employ weapon systems. i think we are seeing an increased effort to understand the systems that make up this proto- state, and i think you'll

see in key a stash increased precision targeting of those critical vulnerabilities, what we are also the side of limiting our casualties to civilians. >> thank you very much. [applause] >> moving on what the rest of our program. just a few hours ago the president of the united states announced a $1.8 billion program to do with the zika virus which is a relatively innocuous, can be deadly, can cause problems, virus that's moving up from south america, but hasn't resulted in any widespread casualties or problems in the united states, except for fear. few things cause fear and have the potential to terrorize us and biological defense, and the

use by terrorists of this technology frightens us all. last year, little before last year, the end of last year a blue ribbon study panel was about to look at bioterrorism and inform washington, d.c., the congress and the president on these threats. we have with us today that you chairman of that bioterrorism study panel. and they just released the first report from the panel with recommendations on how to deal with one of the most frightening terror scenarios that could ever be brought together. that you chairman i'm speaking of are two of the most distinguished bipartisan public officials that washington has seen in the last century. both of them have served on national security issues for many decades, and we're privileged to have them in here today to talk about after i would like to first introduce governor ridge, and then later senator joe lieberman,

co-chairman of the state. let's start with the governor ridge who serve as governor for quite a long time, and then the first secretary of homeland security, he spent the last couple of decades dealing with the issues of terrorism, national security, and most recently biodefense. governor ridge. [applause] >> thank you, michael, for that very kind introduction. thank you for your warm reception. we are glad you are here, and thank you for taking the time. i do want to say to you, michael, the blue ribbon study panel is grateful for the institute's strong participation. we relied heavily on professor alexander throughout the year, year and a half. on half of all our panel members and all those who participated we are grateful that we can continue to maintain that relationship as we go forward. ladies and gentlemen, senator ligament and i were asked to

co-chair the panel but one of the preconditions to accepting both the opportunity and responsibility -- senator lieberman -- we did want to write just one more washington report. we insisted that we also upon the conclusion of the effort and the writing of the report and we make very specific, very specific short and long-term recommendations to the congress of the united states. we felt that strong about it. i'm grateful to be here with my friend, senator lieberman, and we look forward to both he and aniand the panel look for the working with the institute as we take these recommendations, and hopefully convince the congress of the united states how serious it is. i don't know how many of you g20 showed up today you would have this great briefing from general stewart about perhaps the connecticut threat of terrorism that we all know there's a digital threat as you point out if they live in a digital world and in the physical world.

there's another world of concern that we addressed in the panel and that's the work of violent terrorism. it is one of the lesser discussed aspects of the terrorist threat. but after a year of inquiry, not just in washington, d.c. and around the united states we concluded that the threat is real, it's growing and, frankly, given the nature of the threat, we don't think the country is sufficiently prepared for it. one of the interesting challenges come at you tried to frame this for the body politic and for congress, frankly, whether the threat, the pathogen is thrown at you by mother nature or a terrorist group, the impact of the consequences are the same. to a certain extent it was a dual panel, whether you're dealing with zika virus or a bio

attack from terrorism we are still not adequately prepared regardless of the source of the attack. mother nature reminds us regularly the global made to combat contagious pathogens, regardless of the origin, regardless of the source. nature is over before yesterday with a great many infectious diseases. we all witnessed the events of the last two years as ebola ravaged three countries in western africa and across continents to me to europe and the united states. ladies and gentlemen, shortly after i accepted the opportunity to work with president bush as assistant to homeland security, this was in 2001 to i was the recipient of obviously drank from a firehose, a lot of briefings and one of the briefings included the pathogens that we should be concerned about, that if they fill in the hands of the terrorists we might have to deal with. this is 2001, early 2002.

one of those pathogens was ebola. you draw your own conclusions. we thought it was serious enough then, whether as a country we have the infrastructure to identify and respond as quickly as we did in 2014 and 2015. so there's been an awareness out there for quite some time. think about 2003, the sars begin in china, based in -- took a while for the global commit to become aware of it because it took a while for the authorities in china to let the world health organization no. avian influence return to our poultry facilities in the midwest again this year. now we have the news about the zika virus. again am much congratulations and it's admirable that the administration has recognized the need to understand the resources are essential to do with it, that if you listen to,

hopefully you listen to some of our recommendations and let senator lieberman conclude and that we can do the q. and a., once again it is reflective, it is reflexive and when the purposes of the panel, of the commission is to build an infrastructure internally both from a scientific and technical point of view and a critical infrastructure point of view so that when these things happen you don't necessarily, you may need emergency appropriations budget don't have to scramble multiple agencies in order to bring specific focus on the potential battle. i don't think we should forget as well the ever present danger from pandemic influenza, the rise of antibiotic resistant organisms, like a drug-resistant tuberculosis. and let's not forget about the spread of disease symptoms like sars and mayors. murders your excuse me.

-- mers. hss insidiously than ever before. the aspect of the bio threat, the combination of intent and capability to use biological weapons is pretty difficult to quantify. i think we all understand and agree on that. it's an enormous challenge to collect intelligence on the development of bioweapons. how does our country are any country for that matter know whether someone working with pathogens in a laboratory is working for the benefit of that community and the world, or to its detriment? a dual use problem is hard enough to tackle here in the united states labs, no less in labs in makeshift facilities in foreign countries. here are some of the open-source \facts/fax about this threat of which you may be aware, but bears repeating. we know that al-qaeda started

to develop biological weapons. they launched a program in afghanistan to develop anthrax into a mass casualty weapon. the u.s. discovered evidence of that unsuccessful, or maybe just not fully realized program after our military entered. we know that isil has publicly espoused the valley of biological weapons for their ability to cause massive loss of life. it certainly expressed their intent to use such weapons. we know according to intelligence community at the department of state that china, iran, north korea, russia and syria all continued to engage in suspicious of dual use or biological weapons, specific activities, and we believe are in violation of the biologic and toxic weapons convention. we know that caches have been

completely destroyed or buried biological weapons materials from old state programs cannot access again, and then smuggled other regions were used in today's wars by proxies, which include some of today's terrorists. and we know that isil now possesses what it needs to get a biological weapons program going. frg a piece of land that can be both controlled and secure, as ago infrastructure, scientific expertise, personnel who know best to deploy these weapons. so we believe as part of the panel's discussion and recommendation we need to do a better job of getting the intelligence community, the resources it needs to address the biological threats properly. frankly, our assessment of the nature of the threat believes

that the limited resources are far disproportionate in a negative way with regard to the emphasis we need to pay attention and happy icq maybe pay attention to biological threats. -- i see community. even with intelligence on nefarious intent, it takes a very sufficient leap perhaps to go from intent to lodging a successful attack. significant amount of knowledge and institution of some sort of program are necessary for the successful development and execution of a mass casualty attack of a biological weapon. these are fairly large hurdles to jump over and explain why we have not seen a large-scale biological attack yet. but our study panel comment by climbing out of experts who spoke, give us some guidance, spoke with us and give us guidance are concerned that as

biological science becomes monetized and increasingly ubiquitous, these hurdles become lower and a lot easier to jump. steal, or weaknesses in the bio intelligence prevent us from having situational awareness about our enemies intent and their capabilities. we intend to work with congress on the upcoming intelligence authorization bill to realize the kinds of improvements the nation needs in supporting ic. finally, we are concerned reflected in the testimony of many groups and individuals that appeared before us. the interface involving the interface between the digital world and the digital threat of a biological threat, experts told the united states is not yet well-positioned to address cyber threats that affect the

biology and biotechnology sector your we do not know how a cyber attack would affect the life sciences and we're not sure how will pathogens data are secured. our panel recommended the u.s. government in partnership with the private sector move quickly and innovatively to address this growing cybersecurity threat in this sector. we need a national strategy that is prepared to commit the resources to it to restore pathogen data. we need to ensure that we provide the research community, standards and assist and support to secure their data as well. although we came up with about 33 recommendations and about 100 very specific action items to help formalize the biodefense enterprise in this country and to make it to function more efficiently and effectively, there was one major, major

proposal at the epicenter of our aspirations in terms of doing a national strategy and response to potential threat. at me just say this as an asset. we identified over 50 political appointees who are given some narrow, important but no responsibility and the whole area of the biodefense. you can well imagine a number of agencies that have as part of their jurisdiction responsibility biodefense. the multiplicity of people and agencies. perhaps you can understand the most basic recommendation. our foa phone worst proposal abt the vice president of the united states should be the focal point for coordinating the many responsibilities inherent in running the loose conglomeration of activitieof the activities ae call within our government the biodefense enterprise. we need someone at the top who can get multiple departments, a dozen plus departments and agencies working together, moving simultaneously in the

same direction so that we can make progress. for us in many instances as a matter of leadership, organization and government patient, all things we americans are pretty good at, all these things was to bring a focus to it, but some in charge to hold others accountable for the mission to execute on a mission and a strategy that we proposed. we also made several other recommendations to support the vice president, including the members of both the government and the private sector to build out a strategy upon which these recommendations would be intimated and execute that strategy again in building the infrastructure we think we need to identify, identify the threat, build infrastructure internally, respond and recover it, don't want to be breathless about it, but in the event either terrorists or mother nature does the contagion at us, particularly one that we are not

well prepared for, if prepared at all. i think my friend and colleague senator lieberman and i would be very pleased to take your questions once he said the opportunity to share his thoughts with you as well. thank you very much. [applause] >> senator lieberman served 24 years in the u.s. senate, but among his many i think over 100 awards and decorations, an award from the potomac institute which recognize his leadership in policy and law the arrived from science, technology and rationalism. he is the epitome of what people say doesn't exist in washington anymore. comedy, working across the aisle and getting things done. it's a real privilege to have been here today and it's a privilege to have him working on one of the hardest problems i think facing the country. ladies and gentlemen, senator lieberman. [applause]

>> thanks, mike, alex and gentlemen action of all the awards i have, the navigator of what i got from potomac is one isolate because it's a beautiful piece of wood work and has a clock in it. the only thing i get weird about is your kind of tribute award as one of the tragedy sheets used to describe it was rational. that probably explains why after i got the award i got in political trouble back at home. it's a dangerous thing to be, rational. thank you all. thanks to you, mike. particular thanks to yonah alexander for the sport at the potomac institute -- support -- to our bipartisan blue-ribbon panel on bio threats to the u.s. we couldn't have done it without you. this experience, general gray, thank you, to. gamini keerawella, omar al

khaldi and most of all my co-chair, tom ridge. my work on this bill proves that there actually is life after the u.s. senate. it can be constructive life, and which with tom ridge i proved it can be more bipartisan than most anything happening on capitol hill today. so a great pleasure to work with tom. i just want to add a few points to what held the ridge said. he covered it. this is about america's state of preparedness to detect, prevent, and respond to a bio threat, whether it be from terrorists or from nature. and it's hard to look at the current state of terrorism in the world, particularly with the coming of the islamic state which seems to build its credibility in a sense of popular in a small radical group

because it went beyond the standards of brutality, even al-qaeda appreciate it, particularly with the beheadings, that they are not working now as we knew al-qaeda was to develop biological weapons to use against us. the world presents every day, including this day with the announcement of president obama has made about responding to this zika virus, the increasing threat of a naturally occurring pathogen, pathogenic bio threat to the u.s. and to people all over the world. i just want to talk about a few of the conclusions. this is a program about international cooperation. most particularly about international operation in dealing with terrorism, but i do want to seize the moment as the

governor did and talk about international cooperation. with regard to naturally occurring bio threats. one of the things that i had known some about before for my work on homeland security, but really learned a lot more about on the panel, and also learned a new word which i'm embarrassed to say i didn't know. zoonotic, do not it means diseases that reach human beings to animals -- synodic means diseases that reach human beings to animals. we learned a lot about that subject particularly what i would call a generally prevalent and totally artificial separation between humans, animals and the environment when it comes to biological threats. in fact among the biological

threats for which the u.s. department of homeland security has issued a material threat determination, all of them except smallpox our synodic. the same is true of emerging infectious diseases. 60% of which enter the human population via animals. i saw an article a while ago started with a question. what is the animal or non-human being that has the deadliest effect on the human race? you can make a lot of guesses maybe today because of you to you will guess what it is that it's a mosquito. this study i saw said the mosquito can be blamed for 750,000 deaths a year around the

globe. tom ridge talked about avian influenza, devastated parts of the poultry industry in our own midwest, northwest and california last year. more than 48 million birds had to be turn one and euthanize. that doubled the price of eggs, cost taxpayers go to $1 billion in reminded us that there were no vaccines or treatment available to prevent the spread of the disease or treat the poultry that had it. but what is actually alarming is how these diseases spread. avian influenza began in asia, and was carried by migratory waterfowl who then come in

various ways, enabled it to spread to poultry. how it got to the united states or to north america and south america are fascinating questions. some of the theories are, believe it or not, that the migratory birds meet in the arctic and sometimes the antarctic and then blend in spread the disease and bring it back to where they are. this cries out for international cooperation, because while it's true that individual countries can limit the spread of disease by applying public health standards in their immigration policies, that is, these temporarily, at least -- stop people from coming into show signs of the disease, ultimately that's not going to work. ultimately, no matter what your overall immigration policy is, or if you put up a big wall, to

stop immigrants from coming in, it's not going to stop the waterfowl or the mosquitoes were carrying the disease, and that really calls on us all to figure out how to cooperate to cut the incidence of these diseases. isi statement by an expert on this a while ago that predicted that sometime in the next two or three decades and would, in fact, a leslie miller to come up with better prevention devices, approaches, and better major medical countermeasures, that at some point they would be at infectious disease pandemic. it would make as many as a billion people sick, would kill millions of people and would cost the world over $1 trillion, maybe trillions of dollars. we need international cooperation to work to prevent

that, of course, from ever happening. let me just focus quickly and then we will go to questions on to international organizations that the u.s. and a lot of the countries represented here are part of. what is the biological and toxin weapons convention, the so-called pwc, which is presented a lot of challenge to all of its signatories. given the dual use nature of much of the work done in the life sciences, it is difficult to verify the countries are not doing that work in support of an active biological weapons program. as opposed to a more benign and constructive activities, including dealing with the threats that i have just described, naturally occurring infectious diseases. you've got to recognize answer panel did the difficulties inherent in establishing

effective verification protocols. at america's representatives to the bwc have expressed that clearly, but just because verification is hard does not mean that we can't in any sense disengaged on this international process. we've got to keep trying to establish a verification protocol that makes sense and enables all nations of the world to differentiate between legitimate work and that used or being used to develop biological weapons. and that from our point of view means that the united states must stay at the table, engaged with the rest of the world to make progress on this problem your the second organization is obviously the world health organization which has worked hard to maintain awareness of

what i call global disease antigenic surveillance. in other words, which diseases are where, and to alert the world went serious disease appear in spread. but w.h.o. does not have the resources or capabilities to do it all. we've got a responsibility, our panel concluded, to lend our resources and expertise in the global disease surveillance endeavor. i understand the united states has, i know the u.s. has contributed in the past. for instance, sending cdc personnel to work at w.h.o. headquarters in geneva, donating funds to the global outbreak, alert and response network, and sharing a lot of information that we get from our own disease surveillance efforts. and i also know that the obama administration fortunately this place a high priority on global

health security. we've got to maintain and increase those efforts in our own self efforts in self-defense, let alone to protect the rest of the world. governor ridge talked about three recommendations, 100 action items of our report. we don't have time to begin to describe those but it's online and urge you to go to the panel. i do want to say on a day when president obama, and i thank him, president obama over announcing the $1.8 billion to take preventive and responsive action to the zika virus, on a day when he is announced that, the finding of our panel was that the federal government is simply not coordinating the enormous number of efforts in

this area detection and response to bio threats. and, therefore, while i'm grateful for the statement the president has made it, i'm also concerned about whether this money will be used in a well coordinated and most cost effective way for our government, and that's why, as tom said, we recommend something unusual, which is that the office of the vice president be put in charge of this to give it the power and clout of the white house and also to be able to coordinate what's going on. bottom line, bioterrorism, naturally occurring infectious diseases are a clear and present danger in our time. that is growing. and we concluded that our response to that threat is not growing as fast. we need to pick up the pace, to

go to the topic of today, we will do it best if the nations of the world are working together to meet this challenge, which is to all of our citizens. thank you very, very much. [applause] >> questions or governor ridge in senator lieberman? [inaudible] >> there's been incredible progress in understanding the nature of diseases. there's been incredible progress in the ability to analyze massive quantities of data that would be necessary in order to detect early naturally occurring diseases as well as people trying to create bad things. and this type of data would include things like social media data, it would include hipaa

protected data, financial transactions of all sorts. was not in any significant progress as far as i can tell is in gaining access to the kind of data. so my question to you is, have you guys do anything to look anything to provide access to that kind of data, to the researchers and practitioners who actually need to use it? >> let me try to respond because i think it's a very germane question. first of all, there is disparate data all over the united states with regard to zone not diseases, but unlike personal health and requirements, there is not a national registry of animal health of diseases the same i want to start with the basics. we don't even have basic information to give you with regard to a requirement from department of agriculture, department of -- one of our recommendations click if you're looking to build a one health

concept, its people, animals and a private event iq at the data, no one. we have to have meet that responsibility in the united states as well. secondly, engaging the broader global community to share with us time and relevant information to the wto whatever mechanism is. it's just a responsibility. we have to be we engaged in the global community in order to develop of access and credibility that we are interested in being a leader in the space. we have kind of pulled back from that over the past several years. it's not incriminating anybody. we have to be more engaged want to gather that data. and, finally, we made specific recommendations that the intelligence community is focused on the kinetic threat, focus on the digital threat. spent a lot of time on resources, too many people using whatever capabilities we have to determine both the intent and capability of other countries, nation-states out there as well

as terrorist organizations to see with our and the development of a bio threats. your question is germane. it's at the heart of several basic recommendations we made to congress. [inaudible] >> i say, so what about the legal and policy problems? even if the data, you knew where it was, you still can't look at it. i mean, it's enormous. >> you mean because it's classified or -- >> no. it could be hipaa protected. it could be just ordinary social media data which the united states government has not allowed to look at on a large scale. it could be financial transactions of all sorts. purchases of different types, movements that different kinds of materials. we know where the data is. we know how to get it. we are simply not allowed access to it because of legal and policy problems and that prevents us from doing anything really useful. >> i must say we didn't directly

focus on the. it's a good question. if you have any answers to it, you should, i welcome that response. i would say this is part of a lack of coordination of the whole counter biological threat apparatus in our government. i'll give you an example. it's not directly on point but able to you what the problem is. we estimated, or we found estimates that the government, federal government is spending five to $6 billion a year to counter the biological threat of the two kinds we talked about. ..