last year. now, with less than a year to go in the obama administration, secretary king is charged with implementing the nation's reauthorized k-12 law, the every student succeeds act. so please join me in welcoming secretary king to the stage. thank you. [applause] >> good afternoon. >> good afternoon. >> wow, that was low energy. [laughter] good afternoon. >> good afternoon. >> that's better. it's a privilege to be here with all of you, grateful to leslie for the introduction can, grateful to education week for being a voice for students and educators and also for being a place for constructive, thoughtful dialogue. we're not always going to agree on every policy issue on education in the united states, for sure, but it's important that we have places for thoughtful, well-informed dialogue, and education week is

exactly that. so i'm grateful to be here. i'm also grateful for the opportunity to talk with a room of leaders who have a tremendous opportunity to have impact on behalf of or our nation's children. so i know we're going to get to a q&a, so i won't speak for long, but i wanted to first try to frame a bit about our progress that we've made over the last seven years, some of the challenges that we face and the opportunities, the tremendous opportunities ahead. since the beginning of the administration, we have seen significant reductions in the dropout rate. even in this room knows last year we had the highest graduation rate from high school that we've ever had as a country. that's thanks to leadership from folks in this room. [applause] much of that improvement has been driven by reductions in the dropout rate for african-american and latino states in particular. that is a very encouraging sign. it is encouraging sign we have

tens of thousands of more students with access than before the administration began. we have millions more students who are taking advantage of opportunities in higher education. we recently graduated not only our largest-ever graduating class from college but our most diverse. that is also because of work that folks in this room have done. so there's tremendous progress to look back on over the last seven years. but we also all understand the scope of the challenges we face. the fact that despite that progress, we have high schools in this country with graduation rates below 50%. despite that progress, we see significant achievement gaps, persistent achievement gaps for african-american students, for our latino students, for our low income students, for our english learners and students with disabilities. we also know that we face an enormous challenge of mass incarceration in this country. if you look across this country,

we are -- we should be leading the world in investment and education. instead, too often we are leading the world in incarceration. finish you look across this country and see places where young people, particularly young men are more likely to end up in prison than they are to end up going on to college. so we face enormous challenges as a country. education alone can't be the answer to those challenges. education is a part of the answer. and surely, we understand that schools are embedded in communities and the challenges our communities face; the challenges of poverty, of homelessness, inadequate access to health care. those are community challenges that we've got to face together. but schools can play a pivotal role. and those in the room who know me know that i believe that not only as a matter of public policy, but i believe that deeply from personal experience as an educator and as a student. i grew up in new york city, in brooklyn. went to pf-276.

>> [inaudible] >> oh, somebody's from there. that's good. [laughter] when i was 8, october of my fourth grade year, my mom passed away. i lived with my dad who was quite sick with undiagnosed alzheimer's, and he passed away when i was 12. and my life could have gone in a lot of directions in that period of my life. teachers could have looked at me and said here's an african-american/latino male student with a family in crisis, what chance does he have? they could have given up on me. they could have said the obstacles he faceses outside of school are too great. what chance does he have? but instead, teachers chose to invest in me and created spaces in schools that were transformative. they created spaces in schools that were interesting, engaging, challenging, compelling where we did productions of alice in wonderland and midsummer night's dream, we memorized the capital and leader of every country in the world. i had amazing teachers in new

york city public schools who are the reason -- >> whoo! >> who are the reason i'm alive today, they're the reason i became a teacher and a principal, they're the reason my life turned out differently than it could have if folks had given up on me. and it wasn't a straight line. you know, when i was in high school, i moved around from different family members and school, and i went to boarding school, and i got kicked out of boarding school. i was angry as a teenager. i was frustrated, i was disappointed. i was struggling with the experiences i'd had as a kid, and my frustration with adults in my life, and i got in trouble. and focus again could have given up on me, but they gave me a second chance. and so as we think about what education makes possible, it's not just about creating safe places that give students opportunity, but it's also about insuring students have those second chances, that we never give up, never throw away one of our children. and so we're at this moment, i

think, of tremendous opportunity with the new every student succeeds act. and i hope our conversation today will focus on that. we have the opportunity with the new law to rethink how we define educational excellence. yes, we know that english and math performance are necessary for long-term success, but they are not sufficient. a quality education must mean more. a quality education must mean a well-rounded education, a quality education must mean what we all want for our own children, science and social studies and access to the arts and opportunities to have physical education and develop personal health. opportunities for socio-emotional learning, acquiring the kinds of personal skills that carol has worked so hard to understand and describe. all right? that -- we've got to broaden our definition of a quality education, and the every student succeeds act gives us that opportunity. and so we're at a tremendous

moment where as district leaders, education alleyeders in your communities, you need to be a part of those state conversations about how we define quality, what it is we ask schools to focus on. we also have, i think, a tremendous opportunity in the discussion around the every student succeeds act to focus intensely on issues of equity. the new law, every student succeeds act, is a civil rights law, the it is an update of the act of 19656789 it matters that it was adopted in 1965. it must be viewed in the context of the civil rights act of 1964, the voting rights act of 1965. it is a civil rights act intended to protect equality and opportunity. so as we implement that law, we must be laser focused on issues of equity. are students getting the same access to advanced placement courses and national baccalaureate courses? are african-american and latino

students being disproportionately subject to exclusionary discipline? are all students getting access to a rich curriculum that includes science and social studies and the arts in --? are our english learners getting the support they need to become bilingual? we know that is an asset. their home language is an asset. and are schools focused on insuring they get those schools? we have an opportunity to advance excellence and equity. we also have an opportunity to think differently about school interventions. one of the weaknesses of no child left behind was the one size fits all to school accountability. if a school's doing poorly, you must do x whether it match it is reasons the school's doing fearly or not -- poorly or not. states have an opportunity to rethink that. the department will set guardrails, but states are make decisions about -- will make decisions about what kinds of

interventions happen. >> that's an opportunity to do professional development in this school and insure teachers are ready to work with students to become bilingual and multilingual, it's an opportunity to bring in teachers who succeeded with english language learners to help coach and mentor and change the educational program of a school. if a cool's in a high needs -- school's in a high needs commitment, it's an opportunity to ask are there wrap-around services that would make a difference for kids? i was in houston recently where they have an on-site health clip clip -- clinic, and they're seeing the relationship between better health outcomes and better student outcomes in their school. so intervention could look different under the new law, but that will require thoughtful decision making at the state level. we also have the opportunity in the new law to focus on expanding access to high quality preschool. we know the return on investment is clear, 8 to 1, 9 to 1 return on investment of high quality

preschool. states can use the new law and new resources which we propose in the president's budget to drive opportunities for more of our kids, particularly our low income kids, to get access to high quality preschool. but you've got to be a part of these state conversations to make them transformative. so equity and excellence through implementation of every student succeeds act. i want to ask two more things for us to think about before we go the q&a. i think it's critically important that we all gather together our energies to lift up the teaching profession. we have to acknowledge that over last ten years the conversation around teaching has felt to teachers and principals like they're being attacked or blamed. and we have to acknowledge that. and then we have to ask once we acknowledge that, we have to ask so how do we change that? how do we shift the narrative around teaching? how do we make sure we are lifting up the teaching profession, that we are celebrating teaching excellence, that we are creating time in schools for teachers to collaborate and do the kinds of

professional development, common lesson planning, watching videotape of instruction, looking at student work together, the kinds of collaboration that places like singapore are using to drive outcomes, great outcomes for students? how do we shift the conversation around the teacher and professor? how do we issue that we're equipping students with the skills they need to succeed on day one with our diverse classrooms of students? we need to insure that they have that preparation. and if we want teachers to be able to develop, help their students develop a growth mindset, that needs to be a part of the conversation in our teacher prep and school leader prep programs. and we've got to insure that our teacher and school leader preparation delivering a diverse pipeline of candidates. a majority of our students in our public schools are students of color, but only 18% of our teachers are teachers of color, only 2% of our teachers are african-american men. we must do better. that is about better preparation, better recruitment

strategies and better retention strategies. insuring that folks have the working conditions and salaries and support that will lead them to stay. so excellence in equity, lifting up the teaching profession, and then finally i wanted to raise a tremendous opportunity we have to tackle the issue of college readiness and college completion, career readiness and career success. we've done a lot of work together as a country to try and raise standards over the last decade, to try and point schools towards college and career ready standards, and the new every student succeeds act requires that states commit to college and career-ready standards. but requiring those standards is not the same thing as insuring that they happen data day in classroom instruction. and so we've got to work together to insure that the experience the students are having in the classroom are giving them the skills of writing and problem solving, critical thinking that are essential to college and career success, that they are acquiring the kinds of skills around

perseverance and grit and determination that will help them overcome the struggles they will undoubtedly face as they transition into college and careers. and we've got to make sure that our 4508 students, i was a high school social studies teacher, we've got to connect what students are doing in the classroom to what they will do afterwards whether that's the ap class, the ip class, getting kids to college classes while they're in high school or the internships that help them make that connection between high school and what they'll do afterwards. so college and career readiness are our shared responsibility. there's work that we can do in the higher education sector to focus higher ed institutions on completion. it's not enough just to enroll students, we've got to make sure institutions are focused on them graduating. but in the k-12 sector, there's more that we can do together to innovate around insuring that our students are prepared for college and career success. so i want to get us to the questions and answers, and i'll say three final thank yous.

i'm deeply grateful that folks in this room believe in the principle that all means all. and i would challenge each of us, and we do this at the department every day, to reflect on when we say all means all, are we living that every day? when we say all means all, do we mean the kid who just got back from the juvenile justice facility? do we mean the kid who's had interrupted formal education and is many grade levels behind and doesn't have english language? when we say all means all, are we taking responsibility to create school climates that are safe and supportive for our lgbt students? and so this question of all means all, i appreciate this. folks are gathered in this room because we're committed to that principle, and together we must live that principle each day. i'm grateful we're in a room of people that understand that the best ideas come from classroom, not conference rooms, right? and we've got to be vigilant about that. because as folks make the transition from classroom to

conference room, even if that principle sometimes gets challenged, right? so we've got to make sure that we live out of the principle that teacher leadership -- and this is what places like singapore are doing so powerfully -- that teacher leadership that's supporting teachers, creating opportunities for teachers to help their students succeed is the central goal of our work. and that we've got to build up teacher leadership. and finally, it's a pleasure to be in a room of people who understand the centrality of education to the american promise, who we are as americans is a place of opportunity. and opportunity begins with schools. not to say that schools can do everything, but it is to say that access to an excellent education is foundational. the it is a civil right. and it's a pleasure to be in a room of people who are not only committed to that principle as an idea, but are working to insure its reality every day. so, again, thrilled to be here, looking forward to the q&a.

thanks. [applause] >> thank you, john, very much. so we're only going to take 10, 15 minutes or so, and so i'm going to try to be somewhat lightning round in my questions to see if we can cover a fair amount of terrain. but how many of you knew that john was on the colbert, on cbs late night last night? [laughter] i stayed up -- [laughter] to watch it. [laughter] i stayed up. what was that experience like? >> it was very fun. we were there for a donors choose event celebrating folks all across the country who committed to pay for teacher projects that are on donors. it was very fun. the most important thing for my 12-year-old, however, was that anna kendrick was also on. [laughter] i needed to meet her and tell

her how much my daughter appreciated her, admired her, wants to be like her. so i waited to meet anna kendrick, mission accomplished, most important thing. >> nice, dad. nice. laugh so okay. so in looking back ten months from now, what are the couple of things that you want to be able to say that you feel best about having accomplished? concretely? >> that's a great question. i think creating the framework and guardrails for every student succeeds act implementation in a way that empowers folks in this room to make a difference on issues of equity and excellence. that's top priority, for sure. the other especially on higher education, trying to in our regulatory work and our work with congress to focus higher ed institutions on not just getting students to college, blue college to graduation. -- but through college to graduation. >> i'm going to riff off what you say and just following my questions here, what's your timeline for the regulatory, you know, getting the regulations?

and then because you're going to be right up against even when you get the regulations, you're going to have -- there's going to be a change in administration. are you going to want to start being able to approve state plans before you leave? >> so right now we're in the, still in the input and comment-gathering phase. we've started the negotiating rulemaking -- negotiated rulemaking process around assessments and supplement. we're adopting our timeline -- developing our timeline based on the input and public comment we got from hearings and published request for comment. our hope is that we will be able to create a good regulatory framework and a guidance framework by the end of the year and that states will then be positioned to have their plans in place for the 2017-2018 school year. >> so the end of the calendar year -- >> exactly. >> so by definition, it'll be the next administration where most of the approving and moving toward implementation -- >> i think that's right.

but our hope is and one of the goals in this conversation is folks have to start now thinking about what are those accountability indicators, what are those interventions, what are the changes that people are going to make. that's not a conversation that should wait until after this whole regulatory process concern. >> so i've actually had a couple of conversations with people who say they're already on, like, state teams. are -- how many of you are on state or district teams to work on this kind of work to be able to transition? good. so there is some. so, john, how do you think about the bully pulpit that you have? i'm very interested in this notion of what the narrative is and how you build demand. as you said, i think we've got a lot of work to do to really flip that. how do you think about your role in that? >> well, you know, i -- and part of why i try to share my own experience is to make sure that

we remember the difference that school can make for kids. and it's both a celebration of what's possible in schools and a reinforcement of the urgency we all need to have. because i had teachers that didn't know. they didn't know what i was going through at home. they didn't know how difficult the environment was. but they made school great. and every person in this room has somebody in your classroom or in your school building who is going through a crisis outside of school. and your building may be the only place they get a good meal, the only place where they have an adult who they feel cares about them, your building may be the only place where they get to be a kid. and we've got to remind ourselves of that and say as a society the people who take on that responsibility ought to be valued, celebrated and supported. >> so you were intentional, i think, about making sure your message was an inclusive one and one that was expansive in the way you were putting it out

there. i think that that's been some of the problem in the way some of what has been going on in k-12. it feels like we're trying to -- at times. i'm not talking very generally, you know, show where the negative things are. and instead of saying, wait a minute, can't we all -- so talk about this message of inclusiveness. >> yeah, yeah. yeah, i think it's -- we have the tendency to get into a lot of debates where we try to have, you know, good guys and bad guys. we sort of narrowly define the options. and i think the way the new law helps us by saying, okay, what do we think is right? what do we think ought to define a high quality education in and also leaving room for variation. states is and districts will take different approaches. but i think we have an opportunity to have a more nuanced conversation instead of a sort of binary winners and losers conversation. >> so with -- are you saying

efsa? >> yes. >> you are? i still have been trying to figure out whether we say efsa or e-f-s-a. [laughter] i'm actually deadly serious about that. i worry about these kinds of things. [laughter] what part of efsa do you think lawmaker inand advocates -- lawmakers and add advocates or a aren't paying attention to? >> that's a great question. two things come to mind. one is the english language learner dimension. ed week has covered this, but there has not been enough conversation about now english language proficiency process is a required part of the accountability system. efsa requires folks to look at long-term health, you know, our students who seem health in that status and requires us to look at those with disabilities chat

category of students i think is often underattended to. so that's one. the other is the title iv program which is a grant program that folks will be able to use to do things like arts and school counseling and physical health and access to ap classes, very broad. that's an important conversation for tates and districts to have now -- for states and districts to have now. how are people thinking about using those dollars to advance their definition of what great schooling should look like? >> so as you know as well as anybody in this room, this is a lot of conversation about the states' lack of capacity to be able to take on what will be just by definition more work, right? i mean, the balance, the pendulum is swinging, you know, to some great degree from the federal government to the state government and on down. what will the department do to attend to the capacity issue? >> so, you know, i think counselor of --

[inaudible] school officers has jumped into this work eagerly. tony eagers, who's the chair, made equity the theme of the year, and i think they're very focused on it. we're trying to work with them to think about technical assistance that we'll provide, that they'll provide to states. i think one of the keys here is that the state level conversation needs to be robust and needs to engage educators thoroughly. this is not about making tweaks to current systems just to satisfy the new law -- >> to get a check. >> -- to get a check, exactly. folks see this as a compliance exercise will miss a very important opportunity. it's good that there were hands that went up that you're involved in your state process, but i wish every hand would go up. think these conversations need to be driven by innovative, courageous local leaders. >> so i apologize that this is very, very superficial, but i am trying to hit some topics.

talk about testing and accountability. that too is going to the states more and the idea of different ways of piloting new approaches to assessments. >> yeah. two quick thoughts on that. in the fall, the president announced a testing action plan with the idea being that we need to acknowledge that in some places, yes, we think it's important for there to be good information every year for teachers and parents about kids' performance, but in some places the assessment has become excessive and is crowding out good instruction. and one of the things that we recently did was put out guidance on how states and districts can use existing federal dollars for a process where folks would audit what assessments are given, review those, decide if they're all necessary, eliminate ones that are redundant and replace ones -- i was talking with linda hammond about this morning -- replace ones that are lower quality with more thoughtful performance tasks. so replacing just a simple low-level bubble test with a research project or a science experiment that students write

about and write about their able sis. so -- analysis. so there's that opportunity. think there's local assessment that we've got to reflect on. and then the other piece around assessment, i think, as states think about this, we've got to make sure that the assessments and the work we're doing on curriculum and instruction are lined up with each other in a thoughtful way. >> yeah. >> and, you know, i worry that there's, again, if folks just rush to satisfy the new law or rush to participate in the assessment pilot without thoughtful analysis of how the assessment fits in their broadbander curricular -- broader crick through instruction, they'll have lost an opportunity. people say they want to do what new hampshire's done, but they've been at that for years, right? working closely with teachers and principals to put that work together. so this is something people need to be thinking about now if they want to build that system long term. >> so what was the lesson you feel like you best learned from your experience in new york as

you're talking about this next stage? >> yeah. well, so, you know, the testing plan, the idea of folks doing audits and bringing teachers and principals and parents together to look at the assessments that are beginning, we started that late. >> yeah. >> we also had a grant program called strengthening teacher and leader effectiveness that really asked people to use the evaluation work we were doing to inform, mentoring, induction support, professional and development, coaching. and that grant program actually helped shift how people were thinking about the evaluation from just being about putting people into performance levels to how do we use this information to inform their work. i wish we'd done that earlier. there was a recent study on tennessee and how they're using their evaluation around teacher coaching. i think that's powerful work, and we started that late in our race to the top effort. and i wish we'd started that work earlier.

>> so i'm going to ask a last question. i couldn't -- i had lots of questions; early childhood, career technical. you did a good job of making sure those bells were rung. you and president obama have talked about a new federal program to incorporate socio economic ways of thinking about what integration would look like. there's been a little pushback from folks who want to make sure that's not a retreat from thinking about race specifically. talk about what your intentions are there. >> yeah. so we did a similar version of this kind of project in new york. basically, incentives for locally-driven, voluntary efforts to create greater socioeconomic integration. and the united states in the -- the reality in the united states is that socioeconomic and racial integration often line up with each other. >> yeah. >> if you think about where we are more than 60 years after brown v. board of education, we

have places that are worse than they were a decade or two decades ago. clearly, some of that is about housing policy. a lot of that is about housing policy. but there are many places where the schools are actually more segregated than housing because of systems of school assignment and school enrollment. so there's an opportunity to think about, you know, great work happening in hartford around this, you know, can a dual language program be a program that attracts a diverse population of students? can attars program, an arts magnet attract a diverse population of students, a career and technical program? can you take two k-5 schools that are socioeconomically isolated and make one a k-3 and one a 3-5 and achieve socioeconomic integration? one of the things i love about the schools that my kids attend -- montgomery county -- [applause] that's good. the schools are socially and

racially, economically diverse, and it's because of the intentional efforts by the adulthoods in the community to make that happen. and and i think we've got to encourage that. >> and then it would be an rfp that would put out guidelines for like? >> exactly. it'd be a grant program where districts or a consortia of districts because there are places where the district lines create those barriers, so it might be a partnership of districts. they would apply, use these funds for planning and implementing new socioeconomic initiatives. >> that's great. join me in thank acting secretary john king. [applause] ..

>> so there's now a rulemaking coming up were the fcc will decide what to put in place in lieu of or perhaps replicating the rules under the fcc authority. >> most of the rules that exist, existed in the world of telephones. now that they've extended by declassification the situation to cover isps, they have to come up with rules that are appropriate to the world of the

internet, not just the telephones. >> watch "the communicators" tonight at eight eastern on c-span2. >> campaign 2016 continues on tuesday with primaries taking place in missouri, illinois and swing states ohio and north carolina and florida. live coverage, 7 p.m. eastern, take you on the road to the white house on c-span, c-span radio and c-span.org. >> this year studentcam documentary competition was our largest yet. nearly 6000 students took part alone or in teams of up to three. we received nearly 2900 entries from 439 schools across the country and even from schools as far away as taiwan and the united arab emirates. now it's time to award $1000 in

prize money to our winners. for this years contest students were asked to produce documentaries using our road to the white house, specifically to document what issue they most wanted the candidates to discuss during the presidential campaign. through their entries students told us of the economy, equality, education and immigration were all top issues. our judges have finalized their decisions for one grand prize winner, and 150 prizes in all. there is one fan favorites selected by you. now we are happy to announce our top prize winners. our grand prize winner is a 10th grader in jenks high school in chinks oklahoma. her winning documentary titled up to our necks address the federal debt. >> the united states in his $18.1533 in debt. how is the -- america get up to its neck in debt?

every year -- federal money to three main areas, the first of these is discretionary spending which in 2015 received $1.1 trillion. the second section is mandatory spending which received to $.45 trillion. >> lastly, the interest on the federal debt which received $229 billion. >> as our grand prize winner, she wins $5000 for documentary and c-span bus will travel to our schools we can present her with a check for the grand prize. our first prize winners for middle school our sisters, an eighth grader and a sixth grader in virginia. they're winning documentary is titled what should be done about money in politics. >> you see flyers in your mailbox. this is the way politicians try

to get elected. politicians spend millions on their campaigns. us is what election ends the fundraising for the next begins. every day that congress is in session fundraisers all over the country. in 2012 the presidential election cost about $2.6 billion. you can't help but wonder what does all this money come from? >> the first prize winners over high school category are 12th graders. they all attended troy high school in troy, michigan, to their documentary is titled the 1% and it addresses the scarcity of freshwater. >> today americans are drowning in overly debate issues such as immigration, medicare, terrorism, leaked e-mails to all those these are important topics the issues that will affect most americans is the issue of the 1%. >> 1%. >> 1%. >> no, not that 1%. this 1%. the shining blue jewel of the united states.

the great lakes. >> to be one of the unique resources in the world. it's the largest treasure water resource in the world. there's nothing like it. >> our first prize winners were high school west category are 12th graders. >> their documentary is titled rethinking reform, prisons in america. >> the prison systems around the united states have changed radically in the last 20-30 years. let me address arizona. 20 years ago our prison population was about 20,000 people. now our state prison system is over 40. the composition of the prison population has also dramatically

changed. >> finally our fan favorite was elected through your online voting. we are happy to announce that the winners will receive an additional $500. our first prize winner is for high school these category, 10th graders. from montgomery blair high school in maryland. their documentary is titled driving forward and it tackles the topic of highway and bridge funding. >> americans love moving around. we love fast cars, big trucks, road trips, horsepower and 70-mile per hour speed limit. we drive farther and have more cars than any other country in the world. but for all our love of what we drive we tend to take what we drive on for granted. america's 2 million miles of roads and 6000 bridges are aging, congested and often dangerous. >> thanks all the students and teachers who competed. and congratulations to all of our winners. the top 21 winning entries will air starting in april, and all

the winning entries are available for viewing online at studentcam.org. >> will commute to washington -- >> live a discussion of the wilson center in washington, d.c. with israel's offensive minister talking about challenges in the middle east, opening remarks introduction is underway. >> please join me in welcoming -- [applause] >> thank you. thank you so much. and to joined you come here no idea how greatly appreciate your effort. mr. minister, you here in 2012. a much welcome you back to the woodrow wilson international center for scholars, a living memorial to mark 20th president ali ph.d president and the only president, american president everything washington, d.c. which is perhaps a commentary, however

said on what presidents thought of the nation's capital and their time to get the two of us go back a long way. recently the late '80s and early '90s, we've watched the u.s.-israeli relationship develop. we've watched the ups, mostly downs when it came to pursuit of arab-israeli peace. to this degree i always appreciated the clarity and economy of language with respect to your analysis. i continue to believe that if you want to change the world just to first understand it. and that requires at times sober judgments on the way the world actually is. rather than the way we all want it to be. i'm going to conduct a 20, 25 minute conversation with the minister. several different areas. we will then go to questions from the audience. i urge you all to turn off your

cell phones and other devices, and please try to identify yourselves before you ask your question, but try to make the questions questions rather than what i call station identifications. it will be easier that way and we will be able to get to the business at hand and get to most of your questions. so let's start off with the news of the day, or at least the reason for your visit. i know you're going to see secretary of defense carter later this afternoon. can you tell us, what can you tell us about status of the negotiations over the memorandum of understanding? what are the key challenges without trading away negotiating for trade secrets, what are the key challenges? and are you pretty confident that, in fact, there will be a new agreement? >> first of all, good morning,

everybody. thank you, ambassador tilden or for the introduction. thank you, aaron, for hosting me for the second time at the wilson center. and talking about our discussion here in 2012, so many issues have been changed, so many developments in our region that we have to discuss this for four years under to discuss the cooperation between the united states, the state division of regarding defense. we do enjoy spirited relationship when it comes relationship when it becomes to defensive establishment whether it is between the pentagon and the minister of defense, similarly between secretary of defense secretary carter and myself.

intelligence agencies for the benefit of our two countries. talking about common values and no doubt common interests shared between our two countries, although we might have a couple of disputes which we had in the last couple of years, even though regarding the challenges ahead of us and the way the issues we deal with them. here's an issue, the m.o.u. is on the table. we hope to review it as soon as possible and i've agreed with the secretary of defense about the capabilities available to the state official in order to keep what is called our military edge in the reason i to region. and hopefully we can sign the m.o.u. sooner rather than later.

of course when we talk about the u.s. support to our country regarding defense, we are very appreciative and we are thankful for the administration led by president barack obama, but we do have certain worries regarding the future, about the fate of mainly because of the iranian deal. we believed that iran of today is more confident or free to act in the region with more money as the result of the sanctions relief, violating many u.n. resolutions, international resolutions regarding the proliferation of arms. they have more money now as a result of the sanctions relief to finance hezbollah in lebanon, to finance the islamic jihad and

the other states, the houthis and other elements in the region and to go on with terror infrastructure in five continents to include north america, south america, europe, asia, africa and the middle east. so this regime is still a rogue one of. they haven't changed their nature, they chant death to america. they consider america a threat. very provocative regarding the missile, the ballistic missiles which is violation of u.n. resolution, provocative tests last week on one of the missil missiles. actually israel should be wiped off the map. and for those reasons are part of the consideration we talk about the m.o.u. for the next decade. and, of course, the arms race in

the region is a result of the deal. the sunni regimes in the region, we share a lot of common interest with us nowadays. -- [inaudible] about $200 billion. so in this case issue of m.o.u. here has to be concluded and we hope it will be concluded very soon. >> i'm going to push you on the issue of u.s.-israeli relationship just a bit. we both watched this relationship developed over the years and there've been tensions, differences of opinion between american president and israeli prime ministers before. the current prime minister in his first term and bill clinton. bush 43 and ariel sharon eric this relationship though has been battered and hammered come

and it seems to me to be absence of trust and confidence. israeli-u.s. relationships can be dysfunctional but productive, and we've seen in the ones i've mentioned that yes, there is dysfunction but it's also, they can also produce things. this relationship seems to be kind of the fine the loss of political gravity. i guess my question is when the administration says whatever the differences between the prime minister and the president, that it is committed security relationship in the institutional nature is as sound, closer than ever, is that a statement you would agree with, or has the relationship between the two at the top begun to affect the nature of the u.s.-israeli relationship?

>> our relationship, talking about the relationship between the united states and the state of israel, by open channels on a daily basis. first of all, sharing intelligence, sharing know-how, experience, technologies. when it comes to certain challenges, we might have differences. a big difference our approach to the deal with iran, we still argue about it. we do have differences regarding what should of done done in syria on what should be done in syria. we worry very much, tehran has become a central party in order to solve the problems in the middle east. why? because they are ready to fight daesh. to allow them to gain hegemony

in the region and this is the case so far, because this shia radical access led by iran to include bashar al-assad regime, the houthis in yemen, shiite and bahrain, saudi arabia, this axis is exploding the deal now to gain hegemony. pressure the hegemony -- in baghdad was a shia government, hegemonic in beirut regarding hezbollah, and now they're going to build hegemonic in damascus. some are governed today by the houthis, by iranian forces. so to see tehran as a central player in solving, bring about stability of the region, no way. so we are talking about syria,

with iranian dominated syria, we can't agree with it. and this is the case so far. look, over the last two years regarding terror attacks, into golan heights, the 10 of them, all of them actually, in terror attacks perpetrated operated by iranian revolutionary guard. not even one attack by sunni elements. and they did it from -- not even one attack from opposition governed territory. whether it was rocket launchings, explosives along the border and so forth. iranian proxies, actually and quds force proxies -- so i'll

bow now iran to be situated on our border, we don't share border with iran. of course, we don't have any territorial dispute with his regime whatsoever but -- why? because of occupation. because of their ideology, there is no jewish state in what they call an islamic sector lynn. now do i allow iran -- to allow iran now to dominate is mistake. we have a steady dispute about situation. we didn't favor muslim government. of course, we do not intervene even in syria. we have very clear policy regarding our experience. we don't say we are for this, for that, but when it was a popular impeachment in egypt,

30 million egyptians went to the street to get rid of the muslim brotherhood government, we saw that to allah general sisi, my counterpart secretary of defense at the time, to take over military result, military period actually, to become the president, it should have been western intervention in let's say this way. and, of course, when it comes to the israeli-palestinian conflict we might elaborate later on. what is the core of the problem? occupations and 67, or as they claim, occupation since 48 edge with our existence. to organize our right to exist

as a nation state of the jewish people. so let's deal with it, first of all by common understanding of the challenge. if you don't understand, if we don't agree about it, how can you upgrade? this is the case to say, concession might bring about peace of the region, -- weather was after oslo brought about 1500 casualties. especially by homicide bombers -- [inaudible] so it's not come it's about so many misconceptions regarding the conflict, we should sit

down, talk about and not make more mistakes as we did in the past. we made many mistakes, both about instability to the region and today, the current situation in which no doubt middle east is going through what we call geopolitical airspace. that's a long strip of basically it's a collapse of the nation-state, artificial nation-state. perhaps the monarchy is still right. that's the lessons officially. why did it happen? our analysis, western leaders were sitting after world war i creating sites, creating artificial borders, ignoring them, ignoring the culture of the mentality in the region, sinking input to the middle east. the success of european system

nation state, forgetting that in europe it took about 200 years for agreement, and even in europe, yugoslavia, which is characterized more than any other country like arab countries in the region, was a collapse in the '90s. again, sectarian differences, sick carrying national aspirations, religious differences and so forth. and we claim the system in the middle east was the result of western mistakes, whether it was naïveté, wishful thinking, or -- [inaudible] we tried very hard to implement what we believe is unrealistic strategy in the region. first of all we did not recognize that the we do not claim that they should become democracy. we wish to of all democracies in

our region but that democracy by election is a mistake. education, yes. to propose the warfare pashtun ready to adopt or not. you can't force democracy by elections. you have to experience hamas one person one vote once. no second chance or position. as might happen in egypt, mistake. exploited democratic rules of the game, not to bring about democracy. so this kind of the differences should be discussed. and we believe that leading in the region we have some understanding if not better understand regarding the challenges ahead of us. we have many ideas, many thoughts about what should be done even in difficult situation by avoiding naïveté, by avoiding wishful thinking and by avoiding

nepotism the way it was done in the past, involved middle eastern. >> if it's true where you stand in life is driven by where you set, i'm wondering whether or not there is an opt structural divide, which is very difficult to bridge. i mean can we sit with non-predatory neighbors to our north and south and fish to our east and west. what what historical our liquid assets. these oceans are very important. you si it in a different environment and in a different region. regardless of whether it's republican or democrat in the white house, it seems to me that those differences, particularly into of the geopolitical earthquake you are describing and instability can only grow. i'm a great believer in the special nature of this

relationship. i worry about it from time to time however as well. so before we moved off of this because i do want to get to questions from the audience, what is the one thing in your view that you think washington, official washington, we will keep it generic, to avoid the r&d problem. what is the one thing that washington in your view gets wrong about israel and the national security challenges it faces? >> allow me to things. >> i will. >> one is the challenge of iran, hegemony. as i said earlier, we do argue. also believe the deal might

bring about change in the atmosphere in iran and to have more moderate regime in iran. our assessment that we are not going to expect -- detail on. and this regime in a smart way come in a very smart way, succeeded in keeping the indigenous capabilities to have a nuclear bomb. they didn't have to destroy anything regarding -- which is very important for them. and within 10 to 15 years, or even earlier, they might acquire the capabilities. i believe if and when this regime will feel confident regarding the economy, the rehabilitation of the economy,

they might decide to break out. not the case now your might be within five years, seven years, or 10 years are waiting until the end of the deal which is 10 to 15 years. so this regime actually has given up timetable of the project. they haven't given up need is a vision nor the aspiration to acquire a military nuclear -- and meanwhile, undermining regimes in the region. how calm that no one thought to make the decision to go to work against israel is hezbollah. lebanese government is irrelevant. and syria, bashar assad is

dependent on iran and hezbollah. in yemen, we did the same with hezbollah. they armed the houthis since 2009. they went out from the country to take over sinai, almost dominating other sites. the strait of hormuz controlled by iran, this is a strategy. they are still ambitious regarding undermining the sunni regimes in the region. very active, ready to sacrifice. in their time other sanctions they were willing to pay for those elements before taking account inside iran. this is biology. we don't agree with.

the second is about israeli-palestine conflict. first of all, what is the place of existence? we are still here. the ability in the middle east -- you can't stabilize the middle east. it was ridiculous in the past. it is ridiculous today. what is the linkage between the uprising in tunisia and israeli-palestine conflict? a counterrevolution in egypt. what is the connection between the ongoing civil war, almost half a million casualties, countless. this is because of israel, this is because of the israeli-palestinian conflict. the sectarian violence. so this is, that is a conflict between us and the palestinians. and the army misconceptions. first of all what was the cause

of the problem, whether it is occupation since 67 or the reluctance to recognize our right to exist as a nation state of the jewish people. in any boundaries. and the second is the right analogous. [inaudible] rejected in the last seven years to sit at the table with us. otherwise talking about settlements and borders. why? not to give anything. let's talk about everything. and when he closed the door in front of both secretary of state february 2014 and president obama, 2014, he wasn't blamed. why? he's too weak to be accountable. the issue of accountability which is demonstrating --

[inaudible] if i have to point what is the most important value which is missing in the middle east is accountability. [inaudible] officially the u.s., not accountable. hamas is accountable. he's not accountable to its people. they can't survive without arms, but going back to economy. because of corruption, because of incompetence, because of denial of accountability. so when he closed the door in front of president obama he should have been blamed. he should be accountable. in our days we tried to make progress. i can tell you that we don't want to govern the palestinians.

we are happy that they enjoyed political independence. they have their own government, their own parliament, political institutions. they decided to be divided into two political entities. fine. what about their accountability for the economy? incompetence, corruption. that's why they are dependent on us. even in gaza they are dependent on us. so when it comes to what we do with it is we don't want to govern them, we propose let's make progress step a step up from the bottom up. let's improve the economy but let's improve the government, security, law and order, judicial system, whatever. too weak to be accountable. that's kind of differences makes

all strategy regarding the middle east as wrong one. >> last question and then we will go to the audience. you've had so much experience operationally, strategically, but most important for me, analytically. because i don't think that wise policy can be made without sound analysis. we get us us into all kinds of trouble i seen the world the way we wante want it to be rather te way it is. israel is relatively young country in its modern form. i mean, 68 years after our independence if you look at the united states, you would've seen a fundamentally different country than the one that exists today. neither our borders were agreed nor the character of our nation. now, i would argue to you, you that in 68, you could make the

same argument that neither the borders or the state of israel know perhaps even the character of the state. is great disagreement among israelis, and israelis, religious israelis. my question to you in false impact of non-resolution of this problem but i don't know who, including in this administration would continue to make the argument that the key to middle east to build our u.s. credibility was an unresolved resolution of the problem. i bought it at one point. things were different then. they are no longer that way. it's very important but as an israeli that's my question to you. no resolution leads to what? >> i wish to solve the

israeli-palestinian conflict. it's not going to be settled in my lifetime. and it is a matter of alternative. i am trying to avoid wishful thinking. it's a matter of alternatives. let's imagine that we will not now deployed in somalia, the west bank. i'm sure that first of all we would have faced hamasistan armed with rockets, mortars, snipers in jerusalem and so forth and so forth. with palestinian islamic jihad the iranian arms in the west bank like is the case in gaza, with the danish element in the west bank like is in gaza.

let's think about my kingdom in such situation. can we survive it? so as we try very hard, not talking about our history, we address positively all the proposals since a 37. we are ready to make compromise. not as they rejected, very consistent, 37, 47, 2000 came david, president clinton proposed, rejected the annapolis proposal and so forth. [inaudible] so it's a matter of alternativ alternatives. we can manage. none is happy from this

instability but it's a matter of alternative. as long as this situation of course we should enjoy the freedom of operation in somalia and the west bank to include the u.s.a. i was in uniform when we were avoided to act, we deployed in -- the outcome was suicide bombing attacks every week. then we went to the forum defense shield operation and we succeed in eliminating the total infrastructure. [inaudible] with out our cooperation, they would not have survived. we make 80-90% of the jobs in the west bank. the palestinians security

apparatus doing their utmost, 10-20%. so it's a matter of alternatives. yes, we are ready to make progress. we are ready to come as i said, to go from the bottom up step-by-step to improve the situation. and today talk about the ordinary palestinian. we want him to live in dignity, to ensure welding. this is the case with most of them. and if they complain, first of all the complaint to the third because of corruption, because of incompetence. those of the demonstration until this recent wave of terror, manipulations as they did unfortunately, most of the demonstration were against the palestinian authority, not against israel. so it's a matter of alternatives. we can manage, and i believe

that trying to push a solution, well known solution again and again, well known solution, it's very clear, why did it fail backs with all our effort, why did it fail? it might be that we have the wrong notice. it might be, so let's allow us to deal with it, and especially bilaterally. all the ideas of external intervention create a negative incentive to come to the table, to make progress, as long as figure about the initiative for mib u.s. initiative or u.s. peace or bring issued a national security council. this is the way to escape the reality on the ground. and if it is the case in which

we see together, we make progress, we do cooperate, yes, but we can do even more. don't interrupt. >> thank you. all right, questions. sandy gruber. >> thank you, aaron come and thank you, minister, for joining us. last week vice president biden made a strong statement condemning the p.a. for not condemning the terrorism. at the same time as you know ipa pays for the terrorists pursued a law passed in 2010. so my question is, do you think biden knows that he is the terrace, give it is what is the point of asking the p.a. to condemn the terrorism would at the same time they are paying the terrorists pursuant to law? >> it does not just about condemning which is very important. and yes, they succeeded in escaping any condemnation even in front of the vice president

after the murder of american citizens nearby the place which the vice president was sitting in the in tel aviv. and by avoiding condemnation or actually he encouraged, encourages the terrorists to go on whether activities. it's a signal, but it starts from education. i served as the head of intelligence under light miniature ravine in 1995 -- the late minister. i say i have to warn you, strategic on the morning. i don't see any sign for reconciliation on palestinian side. if he doesn't prepare his young generation for coexistence with a jewish state, and i can testify about the way the tide

educator my kids about our official education curricula. living together side by side. and when i set it to prime minister rabin, i didn't have too much sophisticated intelligence. i just had to open the palestinian textbooks. not for the hamas textbooks. the palestinian authority textbooks. and this is the case we know. if you educate to hate the no, tonight the israelis, to admire the suicide bombers, we shouldn't be surprised that 15 years old youngster have a problem with his father a specific morning and late afternoon, he murdered a jewish mother. so easy.

so where is the palestinian authority? and i clin claim from 1995 and n i'm asked even here on what should be done, any dollar to anything which is given to this policy no soldier be condition but educational reform. this is a basic. then the outcomes, the payment for the prisoners and all the other issues, the reluctance to condemn the terrorists. but he is too weak to be accountable, as i mentioned. i made a mistake. he should be held responsibili responsibility. >> thanks. over here. please identify yourself. >> thank you very much. kurdistan tv. first, what is your opinion of parties forces peshmerga and fight against isis? do you think that peshmerga should be armed? and second question, if

kurdistan will be a state, how important is it for the stability in the region? thanthank you very much. >> thank you for your question. if i have to think about any kind of settling the situation in syria as those in iraq, -- as well as in iraq and we have two kurdish sectors in iraq and in syria. the only way that -- [inaudible] a kind of federation. there's no way to unify syria. that's what i'm talking about strategy to unify syria, whether, know someone else leading syria. no chance, wishful thinking. and to talk about a kind of

federation, -- he consulted a 30% of its former territory. that's it. we have syria kurdistan already. we know the turks are not happy with it. that is a kurdish autonomy in syria. but there is a kurdish autonomy in iraq. we might think about -- they might cooperate as they do now. the problem is when it comes to the sunnis, whether daesh, muslim brotherhood elements and moderate sunnis. so first of all let's find a way to have a kind of federation or whatever to agree to this kind

of federation. and then fighting the other or whatever. the problem is that there are so many contradictory interests regarding the situation in syria, as an example. there are those who support the bashar al-assad regime, like iran, hezbollah, russia today with its intervention in syria. and even western parties believing that, first of all, iran should be a central part of a settlement of the solution, as i mentioned earlier. [inaudible] why not support other moderate in syria like sunni moderates to fight for their cause? most of them were ignored.

western party decide to sit on the fence. they were defeated by daesh, kobani to the point where it started to get support. and then just as settled as contradictory interest with turkey, saudi arabia has its own interests. yes, the reason for different strategies regarding syria, what the idea to unify syria back become as it was in the past, official thinking. >> weight in the back next to the camera. last row. >> voice of america, persian tv. last week as you know lloyd austin told senate foreign relation that iran's missile

test would be -- achieve the validity to carry a comic warhead. and also prime minister netanyahu yesterday asked the world economic community to enforce more opportunities, measures against iran ballistic missile test. are you going to meet with ashton carter defense secretary while staying here. what is that you're going to ask him regarding this? >> not going to tell you what i'm going to ask, but generally speaking, but generally speaking, no doubt at least three reasons today to sanction the iranian regime. what is proliferation of arms to terror. we have other evidence. they deliver weapons to terror organizations in the region, to

hezbollah, which is here, now even in the arab league, a terror organization. deliver money, delivering weapons, advanced weapons and so forth. delivering weapons to the houthis in yemen. we know that today. we have evidence on a daily basis. it's a violation of human security council resolution. [inaudible] have been exposed. and even in other countries. so it's one reason to sanction of this regime. a second is the missiles, the ballistic missiles test. very provocative. believing we are not going to be harmed because shouldn't be -- of the deal.

the third reason is human rights issues. this regime succeeded in strengthening the gripping government. and yes, we hear that most of the iranians are not -- of this regime but strengthened their grip of government of the last 30 years or so, going back to the revolution of 1979. hanging dissidents in the marketplace today. oppression, suppression. if you're looking for reasons to sanction this regime, then it is clear. >> over here on the left. >> just another question similar to what my colleague asked about the kurds. in 2014 when prime minister netanyahu became the first head

of state to openly endorse an independent kurdistan, h he said secretary of state would serve as some sort of bulwark against the rise of islamist extremism. can you elaborate on that from a military perspective, how israel would benefit from independent kurdistan? the second question is, this u.s.-led coalition against isis includes at least 60 nations. there doesn't seem to be any rhyme -- why is that speakers why don't you take one of the two questions speak with one of them? >> i want to see if we can get to some others as well. >> i'll take one of the questions, the first one. as i mentioned, the problem in the middle east regarding the occupation of nation-states, it's a matter of democracy. there was a description of winston churchill as secretary

of colonies. illustrating the boundaries of the new created states in the region, straight lines looking to jordan as an example, very nice explanation for the straight line to the east. the ipc, the iraqi people the company pipeline to be defended both sides certain ranges. i was recommendation of the british officers and that's what it did. on each straight line you can see two curves. we believe it was two fingers on the roller. so we believe looking to the future that to keep autonomy's, states, whatever based on generous demography, like i mentioned in syria, might be in

iraq, might be in other countries, placed on generous demography, this might be an option to allow the kindest of italy. [inaudible] we believe they should enjoy autonomy. a decision whether they can be independent state or not should be considered regarding other considerations in the region in consideration, internal consideration, extra consideration to this is a way to bring about stability for the region. that's why we do support it. >> back here on my left. >> general, given the lack of reconciliation on the palestinian side that you mentioned from years back into the grid manipulation in terms

of incitement, why doesn't israel, to the best of its ability, close down the mechanisms by which that is conveyed, palestinian tv, newspapers that disrupt social networks and so on? >> first of all we do closed, but you know in the time of information, they can escape, they can overcome it. just last week and we closed certain media assets but they found a way to use another satellite channel, french channel had been closed or used other satellite channels. now we do with this way to close it. but without even satellite channels, the internet is used, facebook, whatever. so it's quite difficult to close it. we do deal with it.

it's another area of war. we do not under estimate it, but it's quite challenging. >> yes, straight in the back. >> thank you. and with the american hellenic institute. we know and we've heard a lot lately about the existing relationship between greece, cyprus and israel. i've sop you coul could speak te course of this regional partnership and what it means for u.s. interests and security security in the region. thank you. >> israel as a strategic relations with many countries in the region. to include arab countries on top of them jordan and egypt, but not just jordan and egypt i would say. and to the west, greece and cyprus we believe that we are on the same platform regarding the

challenges ahead of us. and, of course, bearing in mind the potential exploitation -- we do share a lot of economic interest as well. that's why the relationship are so strong that i've been to greece recently and to cyprus recently, and my counterpart has been to israel, and prime minister netanyahu met the prime minister for greece and cyprus recently. yes, there's a lot to be done regarding common interest between greece, cyprus and israel. >> yes, way in the back. >> good morning. dawn bergen with senator portman and the senate homeland security committee. during your remarks you talked

about the m.o.u. and congress is currently negotiating the ndaa as well this year. in light of the challenges in the middle east. what recommendations do you have for congress in helping secure the middle east, and particularly our relationship speak with my recommendation is not just for the congress, for the administration as well as to our european allies and arab allies in the region. israel is an island of stability in the region. let's imagine israel doesn't exist. you can imagine how many refugees might come from many countries in the region, not just from syria and iraq. north african countries and others into europe.

and in order to keep the island of stability, israel should be supported. at least supported politically, should be supported security wise, not with a lot of money. not to compared to the extent of the world around us. as we do share information, as we do share experience, technologies as i mentioned, so this island of stability should be supported. ..

we will have a dramatic relationship with russia since 1991. the situation of the old cold war and the u.n. we do argue about some

interesting. first of all, regarding the coordination system between russian forces deployed in syria and israel. between tel aviv and how many, the russian facility which is used in order to avoid any accidents, what we call taking safety precautions. we don't have to coordinate our today's to act and activities. it is coordination to avoid misunderstanding and accidents. they have russian speakers.

you know we have officers who speak russian. nevertheless, we have at least one incident in which russian aircraft and to downplay costs the border to tell the russian headquarters it was done in immediately the aircraft from israel to syria. we are not happy from the fact that russia made weapons of assistance. however, our enemies the problem is the system this year in or

around in this kind of end users. we provide evidence. the second lebanon wall. [inaudible] we sold it to syria. it's almost a responsibility to inspect it. the case where russian-made assistance by hamas. we provide evidence and we have a way to ratify russia and help it be saddled.

the fact that russia assistance start countries in the region. we are not happy with it. but we do have a chance to clarify. if i had to conclude -- >> yes, yes. [laughter] i want to emphasize that israel is going to celebrate 68 years of independence one coming may. looking back after 68 years of independence, buenos aires and

the fall, that israel is a successful enterprise. there are two elements in the region to exist as a nation state. i mentioned i read and others. not talking about the sudanese claiming the same claim that this is a secular islamic lands in the jewish state. against all odds, by all means for the economy. we hope to exploit the cap found in the mediterranean as soon as possible with all natural resources. strong economy outcome. our minds and our hearts, this

is our way loan. we succeeded in using whatever it disabilities advantages to become advantages. in the 16th way about with the syrians today we don't testify for water. we supply water to our neighbors. why? because we use our sophisticated technology to develop the facilities, making these advantages to advance pay a specific case in the military. when it comes to quantity.

and the population is succeeded in developing and embracing technologies run by highly motivated, highly educated sources. so when it comes to the exchange which we enjoy and hopefully at the end of this year we will enjoy -- [inaudible] israel defense industries like israeli minds and heart. the missiles or whatever.

highly motivated, highly educated. and we believe that sharing our advantages are enabled. the other countries will be enabled to enjoy those that we share with our peace accord and advantages. but no doubt, looking around which i do it every couple of months, looking to the east unfortunately dominating today smoke, fire. and we are ready to share it. actually, we support the border,

providing them support. you can't ignore it. food, blankets, all they need. we need to share, but we should get rid of this or that dense of recognizing our right to it this destination state. i met this regard like-minded people shouldn't be manipulated and deceived by slogans and occupations apartheid. they all look prescient community which is growing in the middle east today is the israeli arab community. in the palestinian authority and other countries. so this kind of understanding of

our unique situation and which western like-minded are manipulated by false propaganda, we should overcome. otherwise israel would be the demise in a way and the weapons against us with sanctions, on these kinds of weapons as an alternative whether conventional types, weapons, nonconventional types with a new weapon as a result of us to deal as a convention. so we need this kind of understanding. we do need this moral support and what i'm asking here. thank you. >> i was going to ask you to

join me in thanking for the incredibly insightful. i will thank you on behalf. >> thank you. thank you for everybody. [applause] [inaudible conversations] >> we will have remarks about our website. if you missed in a conversation, find it, watch it on c-span.org and it will be in our video library. one of the topics the minister touched on was syria, the hill reported on the push to restart the u.s. program to train steering rebels to fight isis and is facing opposition from congress. top military and pentagon officials stresses and a reboot of the program would include

changes aimed at avoiding the missteps that led to the program being shut down last year after it acknowledged a fallen short difficult to train 5000 fighters. senator say another attempt at the training would amount to little more than misspent taxpayer dollars are outbursts would bolster isis by giving them easy access to u.s. equipment. you can read more at the hill.com. more live coverage today of the c-span network. we'll be hearing from henry louis gates junior for a discussion about race in america ahead of the premiere of mr. burns latest documentary

>> lawmakers question focus on increasing expenditures and what buyers in western states. [inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations] >> good morning, everyone. good morning, chief good morning. we are here this morning to review the president's request for the forest service for fiscal year 2017. chief tidwell, good to welcome you back to the committee. appreciate you being here to explain the president's proposal it's probably not going to be a surprise to you. i am not enamored with it. in fact, i have got some issues with several aspects of it. i will just mention a couple of them this morning in my opening. we do have several proposals here within the budget. a number of mandatory spending proposals without providing

assets. i've mentioned this as other members of the cabinet have come before us that when we have mandatory spending proposals with no offsets that is problematic. the secure roles program, srs is clearly an example of that. we wish a point where we are not cutting trees on federal land. we hardly are. counties, parishes and boroughs are cutting their budget and that is not acceptable. the timber industry can be sustainable but the funding required for srs without asset in the assets of timber harvesting is not. we have many on the left that are dependent economic of our forests. as an outcome of southeast alaska is full of such communities and this is not a budget that they are going to find appealing. unless august, the character of agriculture has expurgated away from him chamber harvesting towards a program on

predominately young growth. we know this is a secretarial mandate and it will fundamentally change the way the tsongas is managed, but there is no mention of the transition in this budget to explain how it will be executed and how it will be funded. and yet, that doesn't stop the forest service from moving on a plan amendment to luck in the transition before the administration this office. the forest service is to do what's right and what is tsongas advisory committee called for in its recommendation is a good inventory to address uncertainties that exist in an outcome of volume and timing of the availability to support transition. the successful transition will only be possible if it's grounded in strong science and backed by comprehensive data. as a starting point as a matter of common sense really, we need a complete inventory before we

allow a plan amendment to move forward. in the meantime, it's critical to service provided enough timber to meet market demand because if you don't do that, we've had the conversation so many times. if we don't do that, there isn't any industry left to transition to. another issue that i know we will hear a lot of discussion about this morning is how this budget proposes to address wildfire. again, the forest service budget asked congress to fund 70% of the 10 year average of suppression caused from a proposed cap adjustment would pay for the remaining 30% as well as any cost about the 10 year average. this idea has been rejected every year since it was first proposed in the fy 2015 budget. there just isn't a great mixer on congress on whether or how to address with this proposal is aimed at. the growth of fire programs as a percentage of the forest service annual budget. but what we do agree on and i think you'll probably hear it

echoed from all this morning. what we agree on is putting an end to the unsustainable practice. we know we cannot continue to fight by diverting friends from other parts of the budget and we agree with you there. that is why we work so hard to include wildfire provisions in the omnibus. there are proposals responsible and pragmatic. above the average cost of fighting wildfire over the past 10 years. also 360 million for the timber program which will help us in to resume active management of our forests. barring a truly record setting fire season this year, firepower and should not be an issue for the rest of this fiscal year. and that gives us some time here to advance legislation that addresses wildfire budgeting and

how we manage our forests. we need to do both at once because we know the wildfire problem is not just a budgeting problem. it's also a management problem. high upfront cost them high upfront costs, month event horizons and regulatory requirements including that seem like an unending environmental review process are impeding our ability to implement treatment set the pace and scale the wildfires are occurring. they have preparedness to break upon activity to keep fire small. period with a vested interest to make sure we are doing half of that 10 million acres with already had our second wildfire this year in the state. this is what marching can i party had our second.

no chief and i'm eager to work with you as well as other members of this committee another committee this committee another committee said that they will on this issue. we've got some real challenges here that will only feel great. look forward to working with you to address these challenges and others. at that, i will turn to senator cantwell. >> thank you mama mature. as you know in 2014, washington experienced the largest and worst fire in her state history, the carlton complex. in 2015 as her still recovering from the washington was hit hard, again this time even harder and experienced the worst season in the history of our state. and one month, more than 1 million acres of washington burned. that's an area larger than the size of rhode island and according to economic loss and loss of home and business we experience were quite tragic, but on top of that, firefighters were killed and another severely burned in entrapment.

the callable tribes lost 20% of its tender. i was about a billion dollars worth of timber. i spent last summer travel last summer travesty meeting with firefighters and residents and to talk about every day from evacuation process to loss of homes and policymakers can do to help so that fewer homes burned down so the keeper of firefighters save and decrease the intensity of the fire so that we can be better managed. so i appreciate that the committee and my colleague, senator barrasso attended a field hearing to talk about these issues as well and now this underscores the importance of addressing these issues in getting the right solutions. we need to better protect our communities and firefighters from wildfires and guided to invest in and pursue policies that make our forests more resilient to these wildfires. we need more equipment and more efficient use of existing resources to have a more hasty response that the initial attack to these buyers.

fortunately, as you can see from the chart behind me, maybe we need to move that further, my colleague, senator murkowski mentioned a 60% increase in firefighting funding for this year giving us a window to come up with more functional solutions. we certainly appreciate the work of my colleagues in getting the 60% in greece. i know chairwomen mccaskey experience one of the worst fire seasons on alaska's history and we've been working together for months to get ahead of the problem. we've had several hearings where he talked about different solutions to get different oath and in particular we need better preparedness strategy. it will reduce the risk of post-communities and reduce the cost of our nation. some of these estimates are these estimates that we could spend anywhere between two and $4 billion a year for the next several years given the changes we are seeing and conditions.

so we need to start obviously wants to get the energy bill done to focus on this issue and come up with legislation that will help all of our communities. i believe legislation should set key priorities of preparedness. we must increase our community is preparedness director of the day such as veal reduction, fire ways programs, changing the time and function, risk mapping. we also need to improve efficiency of operations by using aircraft when available and improving safety of firefighting conditions and for us in the northwest it even means getting a better top of system to forecast weather conditions since we have a point by writing an essential part of our stay. we can invest in prayer case failed treatments to make a difference high-risk areas such as prescribed burning mechanical thinning and i hope we will in

the future talk a lot about ideas to be very innovative on this page and it makes no sense to talk about what you do after the fires have been as much as we should be talking about what we can do to minimize the risks to everyone, but specifically the two to $4 billion cost we look at each ear and these buyers. the finding that was awarded last week to groups in washington to the joint chiefs landscape restoration project is a great example of this. thank you. it will help diverse communities with higher preparedness in okinawa and counties. finally, we can increase use of technology including unmanned air vehicles and gps to more accurately see location for spot fires so firefighters in the community can be sent out to help. i look forward to working out the remaining details with many members of this committee, the cert they chairwomen murkowski is to bring together legislative solutions here appeared turning

to schools if we could i want to express my concern in the delayed distribution of the 2015 secure roles payment. the 2015 payments have not been distributed to communities and the fiscal years in washington began a few months so i can imagine some of this county strange than the annual budget not knowing how much they would get from the service. skamania county, securable spin that represent more than 15% of their budget. so these payments in salaries of more than half of the county 65 employees. for our wall and timber communities, these are very serious issues. i notice there's not a lot of detail the proposal to reauthorize the program, but nonetheless i look forward to working with you in the chairwomen and members of this committee including senator wyden over the months to extend the crucial program. they also want to thank you chief tidwell for the

announcement with the recreational permit. we need to find ways to streamline the process in order to make you more young people to get outdoors. secretary jewell announced a similar proposal across all interior programs and was right here in this room the past year's in this thread vegetarian menu and i talked about problems with the ymca of greater seattle and the forest service and i'm delighted to hear that you and secretary jewell are embarking on a very significant process to make it easier for young people like the ymca to move through the process and open the doors to hundreds of young people and organizations. despite the good points, there are gaps in this year's budget request and we should work to address these. we can do more to it together on recreational access. we rely on the economy, confused about some priorities and budget. for example, proposing to cut road maintenance and currently

exploring ways to close some of the major recreational resume stay. we are going to hear about different people on this, so i hope you can ask a question and get some detail on that. same vegetation the proposing significant increases in new growth. people try to understand many rats versus maintenance and without much of an exclamation, we want to understand how we make sure priorities are met on both sides. i want to take a point of personal privilege if i could and conclude my remarks by recognizing the passing of my cousin, sheila cantwell. she was like many of the forest service employees dedicated to her career. she served 23 years in the forest service working for the mount whitney ranger station and longtime. so like many other people in the forest service, they do their work, love their job. i want to thank all the people of the service for their hard

work and dedication and i turned back to you, and senator murkowski. ..