-- in iraq. it was the beginning, not the end, of a series of attributes that we will pay to the veterans of that country. afghanistan remains an extremely challenging campaign. 2011 was a turning point in that effort as well. we have begun to draw down our troops and transition to afghan- led security and responsibility. we have seen the level of violence go down and the ability of the afghan army to engage in operations and secure areas that we have transitioned to their control. our goal is that by the end of 2014, the afghans will have the responsibility to govern themselves. let me be very clear -- the brutal attacks we have seen over the last few days on our troops will not change and will not alter our commitment to get this

job done. on terrorism, we have successfully weakened al qaeda and decimated its leadership under bin laden. we have demonstrated we will continue to do everything possible to protect our citizens and our security from terrorism. meanwhile, we have reasserted our central global leadership role and shown that we remain an indispensable partner to a stable and secure world. in libya, we lead an international coalition that helped give libya back to the libyan people. i had the chance, recently, to go to tripoli. i was deeply moved by the determination of the libyan people to try to forge that better future for themselves.

more broadly, for my travels as secretary of defense, over the last eight months, a consistent theme has been the desire by countries across the globe, including our allies, old allies, new partners, to increase their partnership with our military forces. all of this has been achievedbed women who were able to serve their nation. who were willing to put their lives on the line. who were willing to die to protect this country. we owe it to them to learn the lessons of the past. to build a better future for them and for their children. that means that as they return home, we must embrace them and support them in communities like

this. whether it is by helping them pursue an education at schools like louisville, or providing assistance in starting a job or business. as we turn the corner on a decade of war, it is absolutely vital that we maintain and enhance the very strengths that have allowed us to overcome the challenges that we have faced throughout our history. we must maintain the strongest military in the world, and effective diplomacy and an innovative, dynamic, strong economy. those are all elements of a strong national security. underpinning all of that is the fact that despite all of the frustrations that we have, we

have the best system of government on earth. one that i have said gives all of us the responsibility to govern this nation. that responsibility is a heavy one because, despite what i have just said we have achieved, challenges that still confront us are numerous and complex. there are no simple answers here. there are no simple solutions. we are still a nation at war. in afghanistan. we still face the threat of terrorism. we have confronted it in pakistan. terrorism is still there, still in somalia, still in yemen, still in north africa. they continue to plan attacks on this country. we deal with the dangerous

proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. we have to confront behavior of -- the behavior of iran and north korea. they continue to strident -- to threaten global stability. there is a continuing turmoil and unrest in the middle east. rising powers in asia test international relationships. there are growing concerns about cyber-intrusion and cyber- attacks. a whole new area of the war front that can take place in the future. at the same time, we face an additional threat to our national security which must also be confronted. and that is long-term debt and high deficits.

as someone who spent much of my time in public service, working on fiscal policy, i believe that if the country does not control and discipline its budgets, it will inflict severe damage on our national security. it would deprive us of the very resources that we require at the department of defense and it would also hurt the quality of life of the american people. something that is equally important to our broader national security. i refuse to believe that we must be forced to choose between our national security and fiscal responsibility. but to avoid that choice, we have to be willing to make difficult decisions. about how to reshape our defense strategies, how to maintain our

military strength for the future. while also doing our part to reduce the deficit. a bipartisan congress, mandated in the budget control act, that we should reduce the defense budget by $487 billion over the next four years. we have come together as a defense department with the service chiefs, with the combatant commanders, with my undersecretaries, to try to develop a strategy, not just for now but in the future, that would be the basis for making the budget decisions in order to achieve those savings. we have done that. we have stepped up to the plate. this has been an enormous undertaking.

but we have developed a plan and a strategy to develop the force that we need for the future. to reduce defense spending by nearly $500 billion over the next decade. of ce, we will be smaller by necessity. we believe that we must ensure that it is supremely capable and ready and agile and prepared to go wherever we need them to go. in order to defend this country. and that we can maintain that force with a decisive technological edge in order to confront aggression and effectively defend this country in our global interests in the 21st century. we are going to maintain and even enhance our presence in

vital regions of the world like the middle east, the asia- pacific region, to develop an innovative force that will establish partnerships and a presence from europe to africa, from latin america to east asia. let me be clear -- we will be able to defeat any adversary, anytime, anywhere. we must continue to invest in new capabilities like cyber and unmanned systems, space, the continued growth of special operations forces. those technologies will be crucial to our ability to have a strong defense in the future. and we also need to be able to mobilize. that means maintaining a strong national guard.

a strong reserve. maintaining our industrial base. so that if we need the ships and tanks, the equipment, that industrial base will be there and we will have the skills and the crafts that are so important to our national securities, not just now but in the future. to do this, we have to make some painful and politically tough decisions. and we have. i cannot cut $500 billion from the defense budget and not have its impact on the 50 states in some way. let me also say this -- we cannot balance federal budgets on the back of defense alone. we have done our part. now it is time for congress to step up to the plate and make

sure that we do not devastate our national defense by allowing this mechanism called sequester to go into effect. that a sequester would impose another $500 billion in cuts. across-the-board defense cuts that would be devastating to our national defense. additional deficit reduction must be made through a comprehensive and balanced deficit reduction plan. it will involve making decisions not just on defense but on every other area of federal spending and revenues. making these tough decisions is what our forefathers intended when they established this great country.

they made this remarkable system of three separate but equal branches of government. it is a wonderful formula for ensuring that our is never centralized in any one branch of government. it also happens to be a perfect formula for gridlock. the key to breaking that gridlock has to rest with people that are willing to exercise leadership, compromise, and to make sacrifices in order to find answers. as we confront the broader set of choices and decisions that we need to be made to put america's fiscal house in order, all of us in washington need to demonstrate the same leadership, the same leadership that we

counted on our troops to display in battle. they made sacrifices in order to achieve their mission. surely, those of us in washington can make sacrifices in order to govern this nation. we know from our history that the american people have always overcome crisis and adversity. but we cannot just sit back and count on things to work out. it will take leadership. it will take sacrifice. and it will take a willingness to fight to secure that dream for the future. i often tell the story of the rabbi and the priest. they decided they would get to know each other and understand each other's religion. one evening, they thought they would go to a boxing match

thinking that if they went to the events together, they would discuss each other's religion. just before the bell rang, one of the boxer's made the sign of the cross. the rabbi nudged the priest and said, "what does that mean?" the priest said, "it does not mean a damn thing if he cannot fight." [laughter] it does not mean a dam thing -- it does not mean a damn thing if we are not willing to fight for it. if we fight for what is right, i believe we can turn crisis into opportunity. and demonstrate to the world that this resilient american spirit will endure for our

children, their children, and beyond. capt. stacey blackburn, a 2004 louisville graduate, also a mcconnell senator scholar, is also what i am talking about. stacey serves in the army as a jag officer and she recently returned from afghanistan. like me, her decision to enter public service goes back to the lessons that were instilled in her by her family. as a young girl, reading her grandfather's poems about serving in world war two as part of the greatest generation. she, for the first time, learned what it was like to be part of something bigger than herself.

she is now part of something bigger than herself. part of the next generation that is willing to fight and if necessary, and died for their country. -- if necessary, die for their country. like her, we all pledged to fight for that dream of a better life, to fight for an america that will always remain the strongest power on earth. most importantly, to fight for an america that will always be governed by it and for all people. thank you very much. [applause]

>> thank you, secretary panetta. you can all be seated. we are not done yet. we have time for a few questions. we have four mcconnell scholar alums in audience. there should be two on the right and two on the left. put up your hand if you have a question now. let's go quickly to the right. i see one right here. >> my name is meredith. he said it was our duty as americans to serve our country. during your time in washington, what you believe has been the greatest difference you have made in service to our country? what marquette you left for future generations? >> -- what mark have you left

for future generations? >> the joy of public service is to get things done. i have never thought that people were elected to office to sit on their rear end and try to survive. the purpose of being elected is to get things done. i had the good fortune of being in congress at a time when both parties worked together. we had the opportunity to get some things done. probably the one thing -- well, there are several things. let me just say -- one thing that i am proud of is the work that i did on the budget. i was chairman of the budget committee. i had the opportunity to work on budget summits. i was involved in the first budget summit with president reagan. he again cent of his secretary

of treasury, chief of staff. we gathered in a small room in the capitaol. we worked through and develop a deficit reduction package. it was not easy to do but we did it. the next opportunity was i sat in the summit at andrews air force base for almost two months working again with bipartisan leadership and representatives cabinet,sident bush's developing a deficit reduction package of about $500 million. it was tough. it was tough politically but it was the right thing to do. that, combined with and which i was omb director, putting the budget plan for president clinton together, also brought the budget down by about $500

billion. having the opportunity to work on that, it was the result of each of those plans, an economy that was able to move forward as a result of washington's showing some fiscal discipline. the consequence of that was we balanced the federal budget. not only balanced it, but we had a surplus. i look back on that as an important achievement and i regret that we are now back in the same damn hole and having to come out of it again. i do think that if the same kind of leadership comes together, we can get it done. the other thing i am most proud of is the cia, having worked with some great men and women at the cia to not only develop the information on bin laden, but help with the operation that

finally brought him down. that is not bad. [applause] >> my name is jesse. i am a student in the political science master's program. my question pertains to the dictatorship of belarus. americans are bombarded with media reports on the middle east but few even know the country of belarus exists. i find that worrisome given that millions of dollars from russia have just been invested in the country for a nuclear energy program. secretary clinton said that she supported this program if belarus would adhere to national standards and regulations. the country did not seem to be -- from past actions, it does not seem like that is a possibility. what are we doing for our defense to make sure that this threat does not come about?

we are worried about nuclear power in iran. is there any possibility that the dictator in belarus could partner up and develop something that is not important for u.s. interests? >> as i said in my speech, one of the concerns i have is the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. we have to be very conscious of the danger of that happening. it is what concerns us about iran and north korea. it concerns us about other nations as well. specifically with regards to belarus, i leave that issue in the hands of the secretary of state. as secretary of defense, i want to make sure we are taking the steps necessary to make sure we are doing everything possible to

try to eliminate any proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. that means ensuring that no country uses nuclear power as a vehicle to develop nuclear weapons. that is something we have to stop. >> my name is raul. as secretary of defense, what are the problems that keep you awake at night? [laughter] >> i have a hell of a lot to keep me awake tonight. there are a number of issues that are out there. i have to tell you, i do worry, however, about this new area i talked about -- cyber war. we are literally getting

hundreds of thousands of attacks every day that try to exploit information in various agencies and departments and, frankly, throughout this country. this is obviously growing technology, growing expertise in the use of cyber warfare. the danger is that cyber -- i think the capabilities are available in cyber to virtually crippled this nation, to bring down our power grid system, to impact on our governmental wallems, to impact on o street -- on our financial systems. they could literally paralyzed this country. it is very important for us to understand that we not only have to defend against that kind of

attack, but we have to develop the intelligence resources to understand when both possibilities are coming develop greater capabilities in the cyber-arena. one thing i worry about the most right now is knowing that this is possible and feeling we have not taken all the necessary steps to protect this country from that possibility. >> thank you for being here tonight, secretary panetta. my question is about the arab spring and the situation in the middle east. we have been watching people in syria and egypt struggle with freedom and democracy. how do you feel the events taking place in those countries impact america's national defence? >> we are going through a very historic time in the middle east. the last time we encountered

anything like this was the fall of the soviet elite -- soviet union. suddenly, the number of nations is going on their own and trying to develop what their system of governance will be, how to basically put together the institutions that govern, how to be able to develop the kind of reforms that they need to put in place in order for people to participate in their government. what is happening in the middle east, what happened in tunisia, egypt, what happened in libya, the turmoil we now see in syria -- we see a middle east that is truly in a changing state in which people are, in fact, trying to achieve a chance to be able to have a better life and

to be able to govern themselves. we have seen these dramatic changes. i think the important thing is to try to do what we can to make sure these changes move by the right direction. when that kind of literal revolution takes place, there are all kinds of forces that come into play. there are those that would like to take advantage of those changes that often times represent extremism, that represent the views we do not concur with. those begin to come into play as well. i think the greatest challenge for the united states and the international community is to do what we can to make sure these countries as they go through these changes can develop the institutions of government, can develop the reforms that are important to developing eight country truly represent greater freedom and greater opportunity

to govern themselves for the future. that is not easy. it is a tough challenge, but i believe we have a chance to be able to guide these countries in that direction. as this happens, my view is that, in fact, it further isolates iran. iran is the influence that tries to undermine stability in these nations. the more these changes take place, the more isolated iran will be. ultimately, i think, the greatest challenge we have in the middle east region is to try to do what we can to promote greater stability and greater democracy. [applause] >> we will take one last question. >> good afternoon. thank you are speaking today. a 2008 department of defense

report noted how climate change will impact current and future u.s. national security. the department of defense has been progressive in transitioning bases around the world, solar panels, etc. the weather patterns in somalia have led to difficulties with shabbab.al- could you talk about climate change and the department of defense and could you get senator mitch mcconnell to stop blocking that legislation? thank you. [applause] >> i learned a long time ago, do not mess around with people. state what you think is right and hope that others will follow and be able to incorporate those thoughts in whatever they do. i have tremendous