that they know what that personalize level but the way that higher education fits in that larger framework to produce the meritocracy that is said sham and you should run the of the way those strange ways to measure intelligence it is of the rankings and did you march through that somewhere as well you may find yourself at the of iran to a little disappointed of the public order year my parents went to high school at the time i went to

college. and i'm glad i did for personality and matters but the larger forces are worth paying attention to. >> in closing and and would you consider of magazine reconsider high-school students like these? >> sure. they do have a section called conversations that could be a nice format in the way to spur further discussions. and with that back-and-forth. and it shows by a simple wood is valued.

>> we will show our very great appreciation and. [applause] >> if you have a copy ensure he would be happy to sign that. and i am grateful but it is all for the good. and this is incredibly important i take you all for coming and encourage them to relocate. thank you. [applause]

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and does be lessened. >> [inaudible conversations] spee lesson.

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[inaudib >> here we go. thanks for coming. director of national intelligence this is his first visit with our group. our guest went into the family business his father was a career army intelligence officer.n in the farm in northern virginia also with the intelligence business and later worked the nsa.ing up then we could listen to the police department to track the operations it began as a military career in the marine corps to the air force rotc program rand was commissioned from the university of maryland he shared as a trail with his

dad. later he flew 70 combat missions. after the executive positions to return to government service as a director of what is now called perugia's spatial intelligence agency coming under secretary of defense as a fourth director in 2010. now on to the mechanics.s.al o north of grumman -- northrop grumman please no filing of any kind while the breakfast is under way to give us time k to listen to our guest there is no embargo in the session ends.says there is

to help you resist that urgetche as soon as that breakfast and. and as a subtle nonthreatening signal for the time the we have available.on as we have ti akio interested today's guest dials and myself to my question and then can question our guest we will start by offering direct your clapper as questions from around the table. >> why don't we just go to questions? >> i have 270 days left. [laughter]

>> the new job the president secret and how that has evolved. as those predecessors toso have in pursuing discussions and not usually with those policy discussions to as a brief the president as an intelligence consumer to change the way the intelligence community deals with the white house? >> this is the only one i have done this with. almost six years' experience with president obama to be

veracious and astute. he is the faithful reader from the president's daily brief which unlike in the past we don't greet him because he reads it. i know he does because of the references he makes to the articles. that is supplemented by a session that we have every day if when he is in town the additional briefing items that complement or supplement and to have the histories so each one has

his own style or method ofi the intelligence. so does president obama. >> so the community has neglected? >> on the contrary. with the formal engagement with the oval office is the fact that they have all whole range of interagency meetings of the national security adviser in the national security council meetings. everyone of those requires a national security apparatusintee whoso across the board the intelligence and pervades

the decision making process. >> going to "usa today" teefive. >> speeeight. [inaudible] >> clearly this is an ongoing issue with military litigation. said to be handled in accordance so i probably should not comment specifically. and espn donnish case

reaching the point ever prosecution by definition. ser >> i am from "usa today". >> and then to compel companies. >> i cannot answer that. the issue with encryption is that people take those absolutist positions i have interviewed them as has the director and has been pretty consistent with our support of strong encryption. somehow we need to find a balance i'm not the itea

expert i don't know the technicalities but that is the characteristic of this country of a way to thread the needle to insure privacy and security and in the context of what is best for the collective good. that is right down the elusive holy grail images what the president said about. >> director i have a couple of questions on the encryption issue.

>> former cia director said encryption is more of an issue for the law-enforcement community not intelligence so how much of a challenge. >> i cannot hear. stickout much of the challenge for the intelligence community withor the nsa and cia and did they try to find those old abilities to help the fbi? >> i will speak to that point but i will tell you that the results of the snowden revelation to the process was accelerated by seven years.

in to have a profound effect to collect against terrorist. to be the most sophisticated by far, user of the internet and the technologies are available privately to ensure encryption. so that is the major inhibitor of the plotting that is going on. so with that growing availability of the applications that have unbreakable encryption this was a challenge for us. >>. >> i apologize.

>> talk about those 28 pages to be classified although we were told it could be several weeks or a month before it could be declassified and talk about what is going on right now and how much and under it may take can you talk about the speculation from a government sponsored charity and a 11? seven banks for the question. positio and with that position of the declassification of the 28 pages. as senator graham mentioned i

and then they said that as a realistic. >> also being announced his the cross border in their date -- arguing it makes more sense and from a security progress can you tell us that the decision between that and with his new agent rick. >> first of all, and we have

no in said what is inside it. but of the match is certainly i did wonders and that is for the employees there. but each to his facility but

they knew from the get-gothe ot that unhappy with the decision making process but this is the rub robert decision. >> given your extensive background.

i teredo wages and to have political matters but with how impolligence back brush how important. the intelligence?re's a >> probably ben to a lot of parties the all want to know some of these candidates. but their concerns and how does that affect your job or doesn't make any sense at all? that. >> doesn't make a lot ofnc difference tell me because i am not appear on the 20th of january 2017. certainly to worry about the rhetoric of the campaign trail i think the history has been with the president is inaugurated in to be

deposition.egardless and bigger this year. and i am struck house simple things are on the campaign trail as those issues are very hard in the confines of the situation room.ations two tg but the example i will speak to anything with risk of one candidate or another.ve you a so and where we're going next

but this is just. >> up public estimate we saw this before but to believe that this is possible a onetime privacy concern. and with an estimate a two-part question is impossible? do you plan to do so

publicly. >> have to say how important it is a to the nation's safety and security. so we are looking at severalons options right now in they are not optimal they all have drawbacks. the irony is as we have pointed out many times that with an accurate number we have to be more evasive to come up with an accurate

number. that is a fact. so we are looking at this i got the letter then in the media and we will do our best. in the methodology we come up with.much. >> very much. thank you. and in those coming monthsy by u and are they encouraged in any way for trump as a candidate? >>.

>> with that indicated aha preference in all presidential elections.at could and to do something that could have a bearing on it. particularly if they do something in this country. but that could and influence in the election. >> earlier this month to have a contradictory demandt phs and to come to that philosophy. and with proper security.he meda

and despite the hyperbole because of the many safeguards oversight by all three branches of government we will be as precise as we can be to exploit the internet for foreign intelligence i often long for the days rehab of those telecommunication systemse domia selected by the soviet union there is a most assurance they would not collect and with the advent of the internet everything is interconnected. with all of those transactions are all mixed

up with nefarious activities by nefarious people so the challenge for us is to pick out the needles from the haystack and then without jeopardize seeing the consumers of privacy. in trying to go to the extraordinary lengths and by the way all of us are american citizens. and with our own privacy ass well. >> speaking about said dangers of cyberattacks the non though law enforcement side of a response to the idea of the unbreakable encryption.

so how do you square that? have you make those decisions about unbreakable i've place great faith andngenuy confidence in the tremendous creativity that we have in this country. and this is one case to be a partnership and i don't know what the answer is the company's to put a serious effort with research and a development in theat alternative methods to safeguard the private security people as well as ensuring that public security smith there are

circumstances and it is impossible to break and it is ensuring? is that we were asking? and the history but there is no such thing.plicatio and with that technology. and so the question gets back. >> now we go next to the

next question.g with the underground nuclear bomb test. talking about the hydrogen bomb. and some people suggested and those that were improvement to creating a hydrogen bomb. >> i can say that ben aspirational lee the current regime in north korea. >> but to be very determined to portray to the world and to have recognition of that.

and those what they have occurred with those nuclear capabilities or aspiration leawood include that caseload. . .

>> the question is, is there any concern that that lawsuit isn't allowed to go forward will it discourage cooperation with contractors in the future? >> i don't know. i'm reluctant to comment on an ongoing matter of litigation. i really can't and shouldn't say anything about it. the likelihood that we are going to engage in higher contractors to do interrogation techniques, is about slim and none. so from that standpoint, maybe

not, but i can't really speak to the total and final legal implications of what the case are. >> thank you mr. dir., a question about syria. as you know the president announced today that he has approved the deployment of 250 additional troops on the ground in syria. this comes after several years in which the assessment of most of the intelligence community was that the arab opposition forces have very little capability in terms of organization and military impact and staying power. anything you wanted. has that assessment changed? and is it possible yet to set out any plausible timelines if there capability increases if pressure on isis continues?

the answer to the last question is no, i certainly can't project a timeline. i do think that the deployment, as announced of the special forces additional troops is a manifestation of the need to and the effectiveness of advising and assisting and being on the ground with not just the arabs but the others who are there and various factions of the kurds. the complexity of the situation in syria is unbelievable. to the extent that we can promote proxies who have interest in their own villages

and towns and communities. cannot predict what is going to be the incremental impact before there is some sort of resolution, i can't say that. >> robert sessions are is next. no were not going to go to him, were going to go to tim johnson. >> earlier this month there was a rather immediate response from isil in terms of shaking up the political status quote but not

in russia or china. do you this could blow over it will depend on individual cases. >> one of the reason it has a lot of reaction in russia, it's kind of obvious is that there's tighter control on your counterparts there. so the likelihood that that's going to come close to or touch president putin is pretty remote other places, it depends on the politics and how individual countries and individual legal systems respond to it. it's hard to make a generalized answer to your question. >> mr. director, follow up on

your question, you sort of mention this, but can you say what 250 or 300 soldiers can do that 50 soldiers cannot? >> know i can't. this isn't an intelligence issue. as i like to remind my friends on the hill, i really can't say. >> part of their task is to gather intelligence. will they be able to diffuse the different groups? is this a good thing or will there be more deployment? i wouldn't go there either. inside, on the ground intelligence gathering is but one test that they do. obviously any time you get your ears and eyes on the ground,

that's a good thing. that doesn't necessarily mean that we put more people and that would improve. i can't say that and can't say what impact it would have or where it would indicate more. i can't go there. >> in the past parties for president have received, briefings, what steps will you take to make sure they're not mishandling any information they have? >> that is the process that has gone on for many years and we have already established a plan for a briefing. both candidates, when they are named and certainly after november when the president-elect is known and it gets more intense. we've got a team set up to do

that and a designated lead who is not a political appointee and all of us that are currently involved will not be involved in that other than to oversee it to ensure that everybody gets the same information and we do comply with the need to protect sources and methods and comply with security rules. >> how will they get that? >> we normally arrange those depending on the candidates schedules and where they are and we normally will accommodate their needs through a local secure facility. >> director i wanted to follow up on what you've learned since the it attacks. you were talking about your

conviction that there are other cells in europe. can you expand on that? how much have we learned about the threat of additional tax and also, if you're making such an effort to promote information sharing coming can you expand on what the impediments are and how much time it may take for the information sharing to reach a level that you think would be optimal? >> the challenge we have, with plots is that in many cases, we we are only seeing a snapshot or an antidotal dream. we don't have the total picture all the time. if we did, the plot would easily be thwarted. because of isil's mindfulness of

the efforts to monitor them, they are very conscious of going to the use of encrypted applications. it makes it all tougher. the obstacles in europe have somewhat to do with the fundamental conflicts, on the one hand european union incentives and drives to promote openness and free movement of people and goods, privacy, which is in some ways in conflict with the responsibilities that each country has as a nationstate to protect the security of its borders and its people. those are sort of counter veiling processes.

each country has their own law, particularly with respect to privacy and sharing information between their intelligence and law enforcement. something that we've worked pretty hard in this country since 911. >> do they expect that sharing to happen? >> if it was very significant when the european parliament, after some some four and a half years of deliberation did pass a law that at least authorizes member nations to take two years to figure out how to better coordinate selected airline passenger data, but that's fairly limited. how long this will take, i don't don't know. i will tell you i was in paris two days after the attack on

november 13 and then of course, after that followed by the brussels attack and i think there is growing public awareness when these attacks happen that something needs to be done, certainly with our security organizations there is a greatly heightened awareness of the need to share. >> back to syria, for a long time another reason we haven't been involved in syria were concerns about the intertwining of extremists of islamic groups, al qaeda in particular and opposition groups. i'm wondering if this larger number of advisors and special ops forces suggest that a were

getting a better hold on how to separate them out or for just means were gonna work more with the kurds? >> the advisors are not going to be in the vast bulk of syria. obviously there are sort of two zones, if you will. there's the western western spine going from the south of damascus and north and then you've got the screens east. the phenomenon were dealing with is the term of art that's called marbling. we have these groups and there's hundreds of them, at one point we estimated 15 or 1600 of these various separate groups with varying stripes of ideology and commitment. on the battlefield, there have been tactical marriages of convenience, particularly with

one of the very capable fighting forces. were doing what we can to influence the separation of these, but it's very difficult when many of these groups are focused on their own local area. they're focused on their own village, their own town, their, their own community in a large city. inducing them to separate because it works better for us is a real challenge. >> i was wondering if you could talk a little bit about the spread of isis and southeast asia and how real that is, in particular the increasing issues with us. in countries like india,

bangladesh and pakistan, how capable are the government at recognizing this preparation? >> that's a very good question. that is of concern because of the profit since that appeared to be forming in some countries in southeast asia. i'll just say, without singling out anyone, there are varying degrees of recognition of the problem and we will do what we can to share and enlighten and educate, at least from our standpoint what's happening in each of these countries. >> is there anybody who hasn't had one, before before we go to a second round,. >> brian from the l.a. times. >> i wanted to ask have you seen

any indications that portable air missiles are in use in syria and what kind of threat does that pose? >> there certainly have been against the regime. >> where do those come from? >> the place is a wash. the regime had them, the procurement network or black market, whatever. there's all kind of sources for the proliferation in syria. >> as their threats to aviation in the region? threats to civilian aviation? >> most certainly. hopefully there's not too many

civilian airlines in syria. if i were boarding an airplane, i think i'd skip flying over syria. >> can you assess the possibilities of new technologies that would have a stable and feature on portable air missiles and the possibility of that? >> desert individual missiles, this has historically been a cat and mouse thing, and action, reaction where you field one and develop countermeasures and then they field another that counters the countermeasure and then goes on. that's kind of a spiral were in so as time has gone on, we've developed, not just we, we've developed improvements in the

capabilities and as well, ways and means of thwarting the countermeasures. so that's a conundrum continues. i can't .2 any specific technology that would be the ultimate silver bullet that would negate will not reach that point i don't think. >> certainly where we can, unless we develop new capabilities and counter capabilities, sure. >> john. >> what you always worry about is whatever capability you develop, having it fall into the

wrong hands, the access to the system is it an inhibitor. >> thank you so much. i want to refer to something you said earlier about the seven year speed up in anti- encryption. they generally say there's an arms reach to develop the strong encryption to defeat hackers that are trying to puncture the system. could you stand a little bit on where that figure comes from and also whether or not it's a good thing that we encourage this? >> whether or not it's a good thing that this innovation is set up as it is? >> not from our standpoint, no, it's not. that's an estimate that i think

is quite valid by nsa. the projected growth maturation and substantiation of commercially available encryption, what it forecast for seven years while from three years ago, was accelerated to now. that's because of the revelations of the leaks. from our standpoint, it's not a good thing. >> it's been a few months since you set this up as a cyber intelligence center. i wondered if you had any doubts personally about the ability of that organization to overcome bureaucratic hurdles and then a general update on the status, operationally of what's been done.

>> just to be clear, the president directed me to do this, to establish the cyber threat intelligence center. because of all the controversy surrounding it, we had a lot of time to think through what its capabilities would be, there's only 50 people, bear in mind, what it could do, and what it couldn't do. so we spent spent a good bit of time engaging with stakeholders, and others who have related missions as well as the users and consumers to sort out exactly what they are doing. the feedback that we are getting from that is pretty positive. just like the reason that my

office was set up by the ri rta was to promote integration. so just as the national cameras on terrorism center promote integration across those realms, >> we've got a couple minutes left. were going to try to get in a few more questions. thank you for doing this again. it's been reported that you agree with senator mccain that any attempt to obtain from waterboarding is not worth the propaganda that it gives. does the same apply to a presidential campaign who's out saying that he would reinstitute waterboarding?

>> senator mccain asked me to comment at the arms services midi hearing on the use of torture as a way of soliciting information. first of all, with science, it tells you that it doesn't necessarily work, whether you are interrogating for intelligence purposes or law enforcement purposes, the most important thing is to develop and build rapport. you need to do that with whoever it is you're interrogating. in a torture context, people will generally get to the point where they'll tell you what it is you want to hear. apart from that, the practicalities of the utility of information that is so derived,