i'm wondering how you think about that problem? and if you're thinking about making any changes yourself to the combatant command structure as part of your own review of goldwater-nichols? >> i am thinking about it a lot. i am, had the opportunity to discuss that with the committee and with chairman mccain yesterday and i think i like the chairman and other members of the committee see goldwater-nichols was a great thing. it did a lot of very important things. it established the combatant commanders jointness, lots of other things however, that was an era before there was a big a need as there is now for transregional and transfunctional integration. and so that's an area that couldn't have been foreseen at the time. and that we now see clearly. my own view of that, and i'll be making proposals in the next month and matters affecting what is called the goldwater-nichols

basket, many which congress will have to approve, we'll be discussing that with them and hearing their ideas and trying to come up with the best possible ideas for the country going forward, the, i depend on the joint chiefs of staff and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff to do that integrating. i do that every day. i depend on them. i would like to strengthen their role in doing that. i don't want to do that in any way that subtracts from their ability to give independent military advice, which i don't favor putting the chairman in the chain of command per se. the chairman gives, i just watched this every day, gives me and the president of the united states a very valuable, independent, professional military advice. that is really key that that be independent. but we can have both of those things at the same time. so i expect that to be something where i will be making proposals and also in areas of acquisition

and structure. getting rid of some of our excess headquarters. i talked about two details. there are a number of proposals coming next month. >> thank you, austin ray. you recently went to the army-navy game. what was that like? >> it was terrific, level of energy and enthusiasm is fantastic. there, as everywhere, when you look into the eyes of these fantastic young people, who are joining us, that's what i, by far and away, i love most about, this job. i tell them, they are what i wake up for every day. they are, my wife and i who loves the troops also that, the joy of this and we love to meet with them. my wife, by the way, stephanie

works, so she can't -- when i worked for bill perry, secretary of defense bill perry, his wife lee perry is delightful person, always traveled with him. it's a great compliment. many of the other spouses of senior military people can do that. stef can't do that because she works. every once in a while she can. our military is family affair. our enlisted people, over half are married. 70% of the officers are married. it is a married force. we always say you recruit an individual and you retain a family. it is really important that the families feel connected. so when she is able to come. she can meet with spouses, she can meet with kids, we're going to the hospital. unfortunately there is less of that -- fortunately there is less of that than in past years, hospitals every weekend in years past. dover where the fallen come home, for a spouse and a family

to see a family at the other end means a lot. and so it's great when she can, she can come and it signifies, another way of signifying to these kids and their families just how much, how proud we are of them. how grateful we are, and how, how we, they are everything to us. i hope you all feel that way too. >> in addition to the textbooks, you're a fan of "deadliest catch." >> relentless. this is something stephanie says, as far as she can tell everybody episode the same. i cranked through 11 seasons, how many shows there are, i watch every single one. it is great. i love the ocean and it is a little -- at the end of the day you're probably all the same way. you need something to wind down your brain and that's a very good way to do it. >> so i thank bryan bender for the great team he leads at "politico." including austin wright.

thank the secretary's team, thank you for the hard work for this event. our "politico" events colleagues pull off amazing week including with laura bush this week. we thank all of you in live stream audience for joining us. thank john come link word and colleagues at bank america. and thank all of you for joining and mr. secretary, thank you for joining us. >> thank you, mike. >> thank you so much. [applause] >> "deadliest catch," huh? >> yeah. [inaudible conversations]. ♪

>> as director of military and veterans affairs at university of toledo here in ohio, many veterans come talk in who they want to vote for. regardless voting democrat or republican it is your civic duty to get out and vote. many things are at stake with the election, get out, do your research and vote for the can diet that best supports your causes and future of the nation. >> my name is todd, toledo, ohio, i'm supporting bernie sanders. i feel he is one of the most important candidates in the field right now. he is the most viable alternative to mainstream politicians. and he has the most progressive ideas just important for the country. i would encourage everyone to go out and support bernie if possible. >> the most important issue with -- democrats feel this important is election will be college tuition and as well as

jobs. when college kids go to school they need to know how to pay for it and what their future will look like. what the job market will look like. who is trying to bring jobs back to the u.s., college democrats those are the two important issues for the election key cycle. >> i was going to vote for bernie sanders. but since i'm not that politically inclined. i will vote for hillary, she is more knowledgeable and my country's leaders an has been secretary of state. she has already seen inner-workings of the white house and how the game goes. ♪ >> coming up in just a few minutes here on c-span2 we'll take you to a forum on israel's influence on the u.s. it is hosted by a group called american education trust and institute for research. they will look how congress, the u.s. foreign policy and the news media approach israel. it starts at 9:00 a.m. eastern, about eight minutes from now.

we'll have it live here for you on c-span2. coming up later today on our companion network c-span, a conversation on isis's targeting of christians and other minority groups. that's live from the heritage foundation. it starts at noon on c-span. here now on c-span2 secretary of state john kerry. yesterday he announced the state department believes that isis has carried out genocide against ethnic and religious minorities in iraq and syria. >> good morning, everybody. in 2014 the terrorist group daesh began to seize territory in syria and iraq overrunning major cities and committing atrocities. the united states responded quickly by denouncing these horrific acts and more importantly, taking coordinated actions to counter them. in september of that year president obama mobilized an

international coalition, now 66 members strong, to halt and reverse daesh's momentum and that is what we are doing. in the 18 months since coalition airstrikes have helped to liberate kobani, tikrit, a maudedy, and other key cities and towns. we have pushed the terrorists out of 40% of the territory that they once controlled in iraq. and 20% in syria. excuse me. we have degraded their leadership, attackinged their revenue sources and disrupted their supply lines and currently we are engaged as you all know in a diplomatic initiative aimed at trying to end the war in syria. that civil war fuels daesh and in, doing what we are doing now, we are working to further isolate, to weaken and ultimately to defeat them.

we are working intensively to stop the spread of daesh and its affiliates within and beyond the region. all of this constitutes an extraordinary effort by a large segment of the international community and the united states, and that effort is fully warranted by the appalling actions of the organization that we oppose. my purpose in appearing before you today is to assert that in my judgment, daesh is responsible for genocide against groups in areas under its control including yazidi, christians and shia muslims. daesh is genocidal by self-proclamation, by i don't thinkology and by actions in what it says and what believes and what it does. daesh is also responsible for crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing directed at these same groups and in some cases also, against sunni muslims, choireds, and other

minorities -- kurds. i say this even though the ongoing conflict and lack of access to key areas has made it impossible to develop a fully-detailed and comprehensive picture of all that daesh is doing and all that it has done. we have not been able to compile a complete record. i think that is obvious on its face. we don't have access to everywhere but over the past months we have conducted a review of the vast amount of information gathered by the state department, by intelligence community, by outside groups. and my conclusion is based on that information and on the nature of the acts reported. we know for example, that in august of 2014 daesh killed hundreds of yazidi men and older women in the town of koto and trapped tens of thousands of yazidis on mount sinjar without allowing access to food, water or medical care. without our intervention, it was

clear those people would have been slaughtered. rescue efforts aided by coalition airstrikes ultimately saved many but not before daesh captured and enslaved thousands of yazidi i am with and girls, selling them at auction, raping them at will, and destroying the communities which they had lived for countless generations. we know that in mosul and elsewhere, daesh has executed christians solely because of their faith. that it executed 49 coptic and ethiopian christians in libya and forced christian women and girls in sexual slavery. we know daesh massacred hundreds of shia turk in mosul. besieged and starved the turkmen town of armily and kidnapped hundreds of shia turkmen women

raping many in front much their own families. we know in areas under its control daesh made a systemic effort to destroy the cultural heritage of ancient communities, destroying armenian, syrian, orthodox and roman catholic churches, blowing up monasteries and toombs prophets. desecrating cemeteries. in paul myra even beheading 83-year-old scholar who spent a lifetime preserving antiquities there. we know daesh's actions are animated by extreme intolerant ideology that castigates yazidis as quote pagans and devil worshipers. we know that daesh has threatened christians by saying it will, quote, conquer your rome, break your crosses, and enslave your women. shia muslims meanwhile are referred to by daesh as quote, disbelievers and apostates and subjected to frequent and

vicious attacks. in december, a year ago, a 14-year-old boy approached the gate of shiite mosque in baghdad, unzipped his jacket to show that he was wearing an explosive vest and he surrendered to the guards. he had been recruited by daesh in syria, and joined to serve islam but he was told after his recruitment that unless he obeyed every order, shiites would come and rape his mother. daesh said of shias, and i quote, it is a duty imposed upon us to kill them, to fight them, to displace them, and to cleanse the land of their filth. one element of genocide is the intent to destroy an ethnic or religious group in whole or in part. we know that daesh has given some of its victims a choice between abandoning their faith or being killed. and that for many is a choice between one kind of death and

another. the fact is that daesh kills christians because they are christians. yazidis because they are yazidis, shia because they are shia. this is the message it conveys to children under its control. it is entire world view is based on eliminating those who do not subscribe to its perverse ideology. there is no question in my mind that if daesh succeeded establishing so-called caliphate -- >> we'll leave secretary's rememberkies remarks. -- secretary kerry's remarks. this is forum on influence of the u.s. this is institute for research. this is just getting underway. . .