inhumane as possible to the residents of that camp and i hope we will be pressing on the other side. and then, finally, and this is a special day with regard to this issue. as you may know, there's the swift system which is the society for worldwide inter bank tell communications, there's an effort to exclude all iranian banks from that system. i had a chance to talk to mr. bernanke who has a role in supervising that system. he said that he did not have a national security adviser at the federal reserve and would want to hear from elements of the government that do focus on national security, whether it is

in our interest, not just to exclude some iranian bank s but all iranian bank s from the swift system thus furtherer isolating iran's financial system. perhaps you can respond here as to whether you would advise the chairman to do everything possible to exclude all iranian bank s from the swift system? >> yes, we would. and we believe that using the swift system is a very effective way of further isolating iran and the iranian flow of financial transactions. so, we will engage with the federal reserve in itemterms of providing such information and with respect to all the other questions we will get back to you in a timely manner. >> i hope your advice to bernanke is all the iranian banks not just those that are

sanctioned. >> thank you mr. congressman. >> madam secretary, it's nice seeing you again. i understand that today or yesterday there was an indication that we may once again open some kind of dialog with north korea. and i just checked and we gave north carolina during the clinton administration over $1 billion in fuel and food aide as well as money we spent building their light water reactor and they violated the agreement they made. if we start a dialog with them, we realize that their history is one of -- that you cannot trust. and even though kim jongil is

gone, it's important that we have a state department that gets everything written in approximate blood so to speak to make sure we are not shafted again. recently the chair of to joint chiefs went to on visit israel and the tonight of the reports that i received and of course, all this is not in writing, but the tone was that that they were ur urging israel not to take any unilateral action, and they said that they would not involve the united states to give us a bit of separation from that. i wonder, why it is that the administration does not give complete support to israel and say, you know, if iran continue s with its program, we will do whatever is necessary to stop that program. and give israel the support that

i think they need, right now they are surrounded by all of the potential enemies you can count, and they really need, i think in the world of public relations, to know and the world to mknow that the united states is with them through thick and thin, the last thing that i heard you talk about and i'll give you a chance to responds, i was concerned about the entire tier of north earn africa being radicalized. libya, egypt, maybe syria and then the -- and the persian gulf area, i talked to a number of aam ba bass doors, they are concerned about the radicalism taking hold. we want to get rid of the bad

guys, i would like to know what we are doing to guarantee that we are not supporting radical islamists that will end up causing a bigger problem than the problem we had. i understand that we want to get rid of people that are persecuting the populations but we have to be concerned about what it means to the united states as far as energy is concerned and stability in the region, israel and all those thing s. and i would like to know, what guarantee s we have that the governments that we are supporting over there or the fledgling governments will not start to put in place sharia law, and thus we will face a more difficult problem than we face now? >> with respect to israel, i can assure you that not only does the obama administration strongly support the defense and

security of israel but we have put more money hiends that pledge than has been put before. we are -- we have increased u.s. security assistance to israel every year since fy-'09 this budget includes a $25 million increase from the fy-'12 level, we have a strong support for their missile defense programs when is an essential aspect of what israel needs in these changing times and prime minister netanyahu has called the bi-lateral security council unprecedents eed especially wit military exercises. so there's an ongoing

consultation at the highest levels between the two governments and we share our assessments with israel, we listen to their assessments and i think that the prime minister's words really speak for themselves, is unprecedentsed the level of cooperation and funding we are providing and i'll look forward to providing an answer on the record regarding north africa, i just return friday a advise -- r returned from a visit. >> mr. meeks the ranking member on the sub committee on europe. >> always au delight to have yo before us. and on behalf of all the american people, what a splendid job you are doing. three questions. one, our complex relationship

with russia which i believe presents a significant accomplishments, challenges and opportunities and our areas a o disagreements are pro found. note ably however the cold war is behind us and the united states and russia are not longer eyeball to eyeball with finger s posed over red buttons that would release arsenals against each other and we are now often elbow on elbow at conference tables. which is a good thing. can you comment on your strategy with respect to russia? you may or may not know that i'm a particularly interested in expanding trade and economic relationship with russia in the year ahead i hope it will be a good news story for the united states. secondly, turkey which continue s to be an important player in a challenging part of the world.

in fact, turkey has demonstrated leadership and receiving the 10ss of thousands of syrian people coming over the border. they have facilitated u.s. redeployments from iraq. can you talk about turkey's growing importance including the united states relationship with turkey, including with a seems to be rough spots with israel and iran and lastly, the u.s. leads the world in promoting racial and ethnic tolerance and agendaser especial gender empowerment. i want to focus your attention on the u.s./brazil action plan, as well as the plan to promote racial and ethnic quality and want to hear about your work on continuing these projects since i was not clear to funding of the prongts in 2013 and it's a

concern to me if that will continue. there's been a european counter part that has been expressing their thoughts on this project. >> well, thank you very much for that description of a lot of the most important issues that he with face, let me focus at the start on russia. because there will be coming before the congress important work to be done in order for american businesses to benefit from russia's membership in the wto. the united states believes that having russia in the wto is very much in the interest of the kind of rule s-based economic system that we think benefits american s and that we are very couldn't

on establishing firmly for the 21st century, so, we are looking to have the congress vote to grant permanent normal trade relations to russia because it's a vote to create american jobs. for u.s. businesses, farmers and workers to receive the maximum benefit from russia's entry into the with wto, we have to give unconditional permanent normal trading relations treatment to russian goods that we provide to all wto members. that commitment requires us to terminate the application of the jackson-vanek amendment. and that achieved its purpose by helping thousands of jews immigrate from the soviet union. and it's not any longer the kind of active tool that we need to

continue human rights vis-a-vis russia, because we want to continue to press for human right s inside russia but failure to lift that law will put our farmers and manufacturer s and american businesses, at a disadvanta disadvantage. so we very much hope that the congress will grant pntr to russia, and lift jackson-vanek and recognize the need to keep pressing human right s inside russia and create american jobs as a result. as to your other question s and areas of concern, congressman, i'll end by saying we strongly support the work we are doing with columbia and brazil to promote ethnic equality. we have the means to continue to work on that within the existing budget and it's a very high priority. >> thank you very much. the chairman of the sub committee on oversight and investigation is recognized.

>> thank you very much. and i too respect the good job you are doing. we have some disagreement s but the fact is you work hard and you take your job seriously and probably of all the members of the obama administration you have more respect here on capitol hill than your colleagues, i'm sorry, that was a back handed compliment, i should not have said that. but there are many lives that depend directly on the decisions that you make in your job. i want to ask is two questions directly related to people who are now in grave containidanger. first one is about dr. friddy in pakistan. as you are aware, it is now illegal for the government of pakistan to receive any aide money from the united states unless you as the secretary of statute certify that pakistan is cooperating with the united states and counter terrorism

effort s at preventing terrorists from basing their operation s in pakistan. of course, this doctor was the one member that kwcooperating. he has been arrested by the pakistani government and is facing a treason charge, his office has been fired and he is being called a national criminal. are you able to certify that pakistan is cooperating with us as long as dr. friddy, the man who helped us get osama bin laden is being charged with tr eve

eason. >> i agree that there's no reason for him to be held of course and his work on behalf of the effort to take down bin laden was in pakistan's interest as well as the united states'. we have made that view well known, and we will continue to press it and it will be continued to that i account as we move forward. >> let me put everyone on notice here, i believe we will with be watching this closely. there is nothing that could suggest that pakistan is cooperating with us in the fight against terrorism when they have the man who helped us get bin laden being held in prison. that is their decision. there are 3,000 irani exiles tht are in iraq, these members who are members of the mek are in

great danger. our designation to their organization as a terrorist organization has been a major stumbling block in efforts to resettle them and take them to safety. are we going to wait until there's a another slaughter of these people, they are unarmed before we act to get them resettled? something as taking that designation off of the terrorist organization would help dramatically and we can do that unilaterally? >> first, we are deeply concerned about the security and safety of the residents of camp ashrof and we have supported the work of the united nations to find a path forward to relocate the residents and that has now begun. we support the mou that was signed between the unite ed natn s and the government of iraq and

it is ensuring the security of the camp where the relocation is taking place. there were 397 residents that were relocated, there were complications but it was peaceful no violence, the safety has been protected and we are watching it closely. we continue to work on our review of the mek's designation as as a foreign terrorist organization in a -- in line with the dc law, i note that not every resident relocated to what used to be camp liberty, may be a mek member, the organization's structure and history dictate that we take a serious look at each individual, not prejudge membership or the condition s of that person's presence at the

camp. and once again, the process will be sped up. no government has raised the fto issue with the department of state as a bar to receiving individuals. and we are going to continue to work to ensure the safety and security, and we think that we have a good plan. i would say, congressman, that given the ongoing efforts to relocate the residents, is successful and peaceful closer of ashrof will be a key factor in any decision regarding the fto status. >> thank you. mr. engel of new york is recognized. >> thank you madam chair, and

madam secretary, the united states is proud of you but in new york we are especially proud of you. i have just come back from a trip to israel, there's a fear in israel that the united states is adjusting to the containment of iranian and nuclear weapons rather than stopping them at all costs. as you of course, know, we have said let sanction s work, butly many believe we will be at the point of no return and eiran wil not be stopped at all of course can you assure us that we are not for a position of containment? >> our policy is prevention. we have a two track policy, pressure and engagement we are pursuing both to that end. >> thank you. i want to speak to you about the

balcans, we had several discussions about ko sovo, i wat to thank you for guaranteeing aa sovereign country remain secure throughout negotiations with the eu and serbia. while i'm glass that costova will take his rightful place as a sovereign state in regional negotiations and i commend the prime minister for thag this difficult position, i'm afraid that bell grade is assisting instead of meeting all of its conditions and expectations. i hope the u.s. will seek additional way toes support this process including through the millennium challenge program and by pressing the eu to stop dragging its feet and to make sure that serbia implement deals to the grief. >> i thank you for your constant

support of koes sew voe and the kosavar people. i agree with you that the prime minister showed great leadership. the envitation that's been presented to serby yeah has many milestones along the way. resolving the unfinished business that has po to be negotiated are some of those. at the same time, i think it's important that they have reached out to kosovo and is working to bring kosovo closer to european integration, as well. this is a difficult piece of business. it's a historically difficult area. i think we are continuing to slowly make progress and we will continue to move forward. >> thank you. two things about the western

hemisphere, the fark has recently announced it is going to release some of its prisoners and want people to believe they've reformed. while i'm skeptical, i'm wondering if you can comment on president santos who says it's a good move in the right direction, but not nearly enough. i'm wondering if we could have your thoughts on that. >> well, i think president santos is exactly right. it is a good move, long overdue to end their kidnapping and their illegal detention of innocent people. but there is a lot yet to be finalized. i think the congress and administration of both parties should take a certain amount of credit for sticking for providing the columbian government and the people the means to be able to defend themselves against a

paramilitary organization and the drug traffickers. so, yes, this is a good step, but it's not enough yet. >> thank you. and finally, last year, this committee adopted a bipartisan amendment which i offered supporting the establishment of u.s. embassies and the five rimman countries where we have none. these embassies would be similar to the post we have in grenada and, of course, would help connect millions of caribbean americans with their ancestral homelands. it will be minimal or no costs. and i'm wondering if you can comment on that. >> well, of course, we believe strongly in having strong relations. it's a matter of cost, it's a matter of resources. i will respond to you in writing because it's a difficult trade off for us, congressman.

>> thank you. thank you very much, mr. engle, madam secretary and mr. royce. >> thank you, madam chairman. madam secretary, you and i were talk about joseph coney, who abdomen deducted 30,000 children. the boys he turned into child soldiers, the girls in conqubines and some of the horrible circumstances that we've had with some of the human rights abusers. and likewise, people like victor boot who is now in custody, but a gun runner extreme who as an arms trafficker armed both sides of some civil conflicts. there is a rewards program the department has and i was legislation to expand that to include transnation organized crime to go after people like victor booth as well as those

engaged in the worst human rights abuses. and i know that your department is interested in put ago price on the head of people like coney so that we can find their whereabouts and, you know, i know the goal is to take him off the battlefield and we would need that to do that. so we'll have a hearing next week on this subject. i wanted your thoughts, if i could. >> congressman, this is the first time i've heard of your legislation, but speaking personally, i would support it because i have the responsibility of signing off on rewards that go to people who have helped uts apprehend, you know, serious criminals and terrorists. i think it's a good program. it does provide incentives. so i would be very interested in working with you. it's also a lot less expensive than some of the alternatives who are trying to track down some of these bad guys. let's work together on that. >> yes. >> again, adam secretary, on

another subject this morning it was announced that north korea has agreed to suspend its uranium enrichment and to a moratorium, but that was announced in tandem with the obama administration's finalizing its details to north korea 240,000 metric tons of food aid. i had legislation passed last year that prohibited food aid to any country that diverted it for unauthorized use. and i'll explain my concern here. the french ngos told us that monitoring the food aid which ended up on the food exchange in his north korea's capital. likewise, we have pneumonia rum examples of citing how food aid went to the military in north korea. so the law now would indicate that we would have to verify that. and we have been duped a number

of times by north korea on these agreements. what i'm most concerned about is when they sell it it goes into their weapons program, reportedly. so i would ask you about that and get your response. >> well, first of all, i think you're right to be cautious. we are, too. the provision of humanitarian assistance is something we do because of the concern we have for the well fare and well being of people who are starving, including those in north korea. we've done a series of assessments and determined that 240,000 metric ton assistance package that targets the key vulnerable groups, mostly women and children, is merited, but before any assistance program could begin, we have to reach agreement on monitoring mechanisms to ensure that the food is reaching the people that we intended for.

and that will be our responsibility to try to set up those mechanisms and so, you know, be as sure as we can be that it's going to be put to the right use. >> thank you, madam secretary, and within the confines of the new law because we have to verify this. i have suggested a crackon on north korea's list of 50s. i've seen in the past where that was effective when they were counterfeiting hundred dollar bills, we had the sanctions of the bank of delta asia, they were using that to run their illicit activities through, a lot of their drug muggeling and cigarettes and other activities. when you cut off that currency, with you force the regime to come to the table. and i guess one of my great frustrations was that although we shut that down for a number of months and he couldn't pay his jobs and the words we were getting back from defectors was

that they couldn't get the parts. there was a piece for a satellite program. they didn't have the money for it because we had effectively with sanctions done this and then the sanctions were lifted. my home would be that the administration would appropriate this from the standpoint that that could be effective. and i wanted to ask about whether the administration was going to follow through on the illicit activities. >> thank you, mr. royce. thank you madam secretary. >> thank you, madam chair and madam secretary. it's great to have you back. we're following it up with cochair chairman smith and i and so those concerns that we had raised earlier, given the fact that we have the new government in place,