attack on iran is concerned. i know just recently they said they certainly weren't in any way going to involve the united states to give us some semblance of separation from that. i wonder why it is that the administration doesn't give complete support to israel and say if ran continues with its program, we will do whatever is necessary to stop the program and give israel the support that i think they need. right now they are surrounded by all the potential enemies you can count. they really need, i think, in the world of public relations to know, and the world to know, that the united states is with them through thick and thin. the last thing i talked to you about before and i'll give you time to respond.

i've been concerned about the entire northern tier of africa and the persian gulf becoming radicalized. tunisia, libya, egypt, maybe syria, and in the persian gulf area i've been talked to -- i talked to a number of ambassadors there. they are all concerned about radicalism taking over. although we want to get rid of people like moammar gadhafi and mubarak, although he was a pretty good friend as far as the camp david accords were concerned, although we want to get rid of the bad guys, i want to know what we're doing to know we're not supporting a bigger problem than we already have. i understand we want to get rid of people that are persecuting their populations. but we also have to be concerned about what it means to the united states as far as energy is concerned, stability in the region, israel and all those

things. and i'd like to know what guarantees we have that the governments we're supporting over there or fledgling governments we're supporting over there are not radicalized and supporting or implementing shah rhee yacht law and thus we would face a more difficult problem down the road than we face right now. >> congressman, 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 behind that pledge than has ever been put before. we are -- we've increased u.s. security assistance to israel every year since fy '09. this budget includes $3.1 billion for foreign military financing, a $25 million increase from the fy '12 level.

we have a very strong support for israel's missile defense programs, which are an essential aspect of what israel needs in these very challenging times. you know, prime minister netanyahu has called the bilateral security cooperation unprecedented, particularly with respect to cooperative missile defense developments and realistic military exercises. there is an ongoing consultation at the very highest levels between our two governments. we share our assessments with the israelis. we listen to their assessments. i think the prime minister's words speak for themselves, it's unprecedented the level of cooperation and funding we're providing. i look forward to providing an answer on the record regarding north africa.

i just returned from a visit to tunisia and algeria and morocco. i think we have an opportunity there, but i'm conscious of the risks and dangers you identified. >> thank you, madam secretary. thank you, mr. burton. mr. meeks, the ranking member on the subcommittee on europe and eurasia. >> thank you, madam chairman. madam secretary, it's always a delight to have you before us. i want to stay on behalf of all the american people what a splendid job you're doing. i have three questions. one, about our complex relationship with russia which i believe presents significant accomplishments, challenges and opportunities. our areas of disagreement are sometimes profound, coordinated action to confront efforts of life like syria or global security as in iran. notably, however, the cold war is behind us. united states and russia are no longer eyeball to eyeball with fingers posed over red buttons

that would release arsenals aimed at one another. we are often elbow to elbow at conference tables, which i think is a good thing. madam secretary, would you comment on your priority and strategy with respect to russia? you may or may not know that i am particularly interested in expanding trade and economic relationship with russia, which in the year ahead i hope will be a good news stories for the united states. secondly turkey, which continues to be a strategically important player in a challenging part of the world. in fact, turkey demonstrated leadership and supporting change and peace in syria and receiving tens of thousands of syrian refugees that spill across the common border. they have stepped into the spotlight regarding events in the middle east and north africa and facilitate redeployments from iraq. can you speak about turkey's growing prominence including united states relationship with turkey, including what seem to be rough spots with israel and

iran? lastly, the u.s. leads the world in promoting racial and ethnic tolerance and gender empowerment. i want to commend you for your personal leadership in these efforts. i would like to focus your attention on u.s. brazil joint action plan as well as u.s. colombia action plan to promote racial and ethnic equality and like to hear about plans to continue works on initiatives especially since i didn't see or was not clear about the funding of these initiatives in 2013. it's very much concern to me whether that's going to continue in bureau of western hemisphere. when i was in brussels, now being the ranking democrat on europe, there's been our european counterparts have expressed a strong interest in concluding such a joint action plan with us also. i was wondering if the state department could expand this initiative and look at negotiating an agreement with the eu. >> thank you very much for that description of a lot of the most

important issues that we 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 rules-based economic system that we think benefits americans and that we are very keen on establishing firmly for the 21st century. so we are looking to have the congress vote to grant permanent, normal trade relations to russia. 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 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 jackson-vanik amendment. jackson vanik after shooefd its historic purpose by helping thousands of jews immigrate from the soviet union. it's not the tool we need to promote personal rights vis-a-vis russia because we want to continue to press for human rights inside russia. but failure to lift it will put our farmers, businesses at a disadvantage. we very much hope congress will grant pntr to russia, lift jackson-van ik, recognize the

need to keep pressing human rights inside russia and create american jobs as a result. with respect to your important questions and areas of concern, congressman, i'll just end by saying we strongly support the work we're doing with colombia and brazil to promote racial and ethnic equality. we do have the means to continue to work on that within the existing budget and it's a very high priority. >> thank you very much, mr. meeks. madam secretary. mr. record backer of california, the chairman on the subcommittee of oversight and investigation is recognized. >> thank you very much. i, too, respect the job you're doing. we have some disagreements. the fact is you work hard and you take your job seriously. probably of all the members of the obama administration, you have more respect here in capitol hill than your other colleagues. sorry, that's a backhanded compliment. i shouldn't have said that.

there are many lives that depend directly on the decisions you make in your job. i'd like to ask two questions but relating directly to people who are now in grave danger who will be affected by your decision making, then after that if i have other time i'll have a couple of other questions. the first one is about the doctor friti in pakistan. as you're aware it is now illegal for the government from pakistan to receive aid money from the united states unless you, as secretary of state, certify that pakistan is cooperating with the united states in counter-terrorism efforts and preventing terrorists from basing their operations in pakistan. of course the one that did cooperate with us was dr. afridi the medical doctor who helped provide the information that led our navy saels to where osama bin laden was hiding. he's been arrested by the government.

he's face ag treason charge, his office staff has been fired and he's being called a national criminal by that government. can you certify, able to certify pakistan is cooperating with us as long as the doctor is in custody and charged with treason? >> well, congressman, i agree there is no basis for holding the doctor and his staff. i think his work on behalf of the effort to take down bin laden down was in pakistan's interest as well as the united states's interest. we have made that view very well-known. we will continue to press it. it is going to be taken into account as we move forward. >> if they do not let dr. afridi go, we'll be watching this

closely, there's nothing to show they are cooperating with us in fight against terrorism when they have dr. afridi in prison. that is their decision of noncooperation. another group in danger, 3,000 iranian exiles residing in iraq who you're fully aware of because they are enemies of the mullah dictatorship. these exiled members, 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 some kind of another slaughter of these people? they were already slaughtered -- they are unarmed -- before we react to get them settled, something as easy as take 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 ashraf. we have supported the work of united nations to find a path forward to relocate the residents and that has now begun. we fully support the mou signed in december between the united nations and government of iraq, and it includes commitments from the iraqi government for the safety and security of the new camp where the relocation is taking place. as you know, there were 397 residents relocated on february 18th. there were complications but it was peaceful. there was no violence. the safety so far has been protected. we are watching that very closely. we continue to work on our review of the mek's designation

as a foreign terrorist organization in accordance with the d.c. circuit's decision and applicable law. i would note that not every resident relocated to what used to be camp liberty, is now camp horia. the structure and history dictate we take a serious look at each individual, not prejudge member or that person's presence there. once again, the u.n. hcr process will be expedited. so no government has raised the fto issue with the department of state as a bar to receiving individuals. we're going to continue to work to ensure safety and we think we have a good plan. i would say, congressman, given

the ongoing efforts to relocate residents mek in the successful and peaceful closure of camp ashraf, the main military base, will be a key military factor roaring the status. >> thank you very much madam chairman. thank you, madam secretary. mr. engel of new york ranking member on subcommittee is on western hemisphere is recognized. >> thank you madam chair, the committee is proud but in new york we're especially proud. i want to ask three questions. i'll try to do them one at the same time. i've just come back from a trip to israel where i've met with people at the highest levels of government. there is a big 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 sanctions work.

many in israel believe if we wait too long, we'll be at the point of no return and then iran will not be stopped at all. can you please comment on that and assure us that we are not for a position of containment? >> our policy, congressman, is prevention. our policy is to prevent iran from attaining nuclear weapons capabilities. we have a two-track policy pressure and engagement. we are pursuing both simultaneously to that end. >> thank you. i want to speak with you about the balkans. you and i had several discussions in the past week or so about kosovo. i want to just praise you publicly for guaranteeing that kosovoans rights as sovereign country remain secure throughout recent negotiations with the eu and serbia. while i'm glad that kosovo will take its rightful place as a sovereign state in regional negotiations and i commend the

prime minister thatcher for this difficult position i'm concerned that belgrade is advancing to candidacy status before meeting eu's conditions and normalizing relations with kosovo. at the same time we discussed i hope the u.s. will seek additional ways to support during the process including through the millennium challenge program and by pressing eu to stop dragging its feet on the future and make sure serbia implements deals to which it agrees. >> i thank you for your constant support of kosovo and the kosovar people. i agree with you that the prime minister thachi showed great leadership. the invitation to candidacy that the eu has extended to serbia has many milestones along the way. resolving border issues, resolving a lot of the unfinished business that has to

be negotiated between serbia and kosovo are some of those. at the same time, i think it's important that the european union has reached out to kosovo and is working to move kosovo closer to european integration as well. this is a difficult piece of business. it's a historically complex area, as you know better than most, congressman. i think we are slowly making progress and i'm going to continue to press forward. >> thank you. two things about the western hemisphere, the ranking member. the farc has recently announced it is going to release some of its political prisoners and want people to believe they have reformed. while i'm obviously skeptical about anything the farc says, i'm wondering if you can comment. president santos of colombia said 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 plan colombia, for sticking with it, for providing the colombian government and the people with the means to be able to defend themselves against a paramilitary terrorist 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 authored supporting the establishment of u.s. embassies in the five caribbean countries where we have none. these embassies would be similar to the post we have in grenada and would show our caribbean partners we pay attention to their region and connect

millions of caribbean americans with their ancestral homelands. it will be minimal or no costs. homelands. it would be minimal to no cost because it would be established with the diplomats returning from iraq and afghanistan, and i wonder if you can comment on that. >> of course, we believe strongly in having positive diplomatic relations with our eastern caribbean friends and partners, and 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. roist, the secretary on trade is recognized. >> madam secretary, you and i have talked about joseph koni, who abducted 30,000 children, the boys he turned into child soldiers, the girls into

concubines and some of the horrible circumstances we've had with human rights abusers, and likewise people like victor boot, who is now in custody, but a gun runner supreme who as an arms trafficer is on both sides of the civil conflicts. i have legislation to expand that to include transnational organized crime, to go after people like victor booth as well as those engaged in the worst human rights abuses, like joseph koni. and i know that your department is interested in putting a price on the head of people like koni 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 the subject. i wanted your thoughts, if i could. >> well, 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 us apprehend, you know, serious criminals and s 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 the alternative to try to track down some of these bad guys. so let's work together on that. >> it's time tested. >> yes. >> again, madam secretary, on another subject this morning, it was announced that north korea has agreed to expand its uranium enrichment into a moratorium, but that was announced in tandem with the obama administration finalizing these details on puda to -- food aid to north korea, tons of thousands in food aid.

i had prohibited last year food aid to any country that diverted it for unauthorized use. the french engios told us of monitoring the food aid which ended up on the food exchange. we have examples of things that would indicate we would have to verify that. we have been duped a number of times by north korea on these agreements. of course, what i'm most concerned about is when they sell it on the food exchange for hard currency, 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. you know, the provision of humanitarian assistance is something that we do because of the concern we have for the

welfare and well-being of people, including those who are starving in north korea. and we've done a series of assessments and concluded that a targeted 240,000 metric ton nutritional 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 mechanism to ensure that the food is reaching the people that we intend it for. and that will -- you know, that will be our responsibility, to try to set up those mechanisms and to 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 do have to verify this. i have suggested a crackdown on north korea's illicit activities. i've seen in the past where that was effective, where they were counterfeiting $100 bills.

we had the sanctions on a bank, bank of delta asia. they were using that to run their illicit activities through, a lot of their drug smuggling and cigarettes and other activities. when you cut off that kind of currency, you force the regime to come to the table. and i guess one of my great frustrations was, although we shut that down for a number of months, and he couldn't pay his generals, and the words we were getting back from the defector was they couldn't get the parts. there was a piece for a satellite that they needed, or actually, this was for a missile program. they needed a gyroscope. they were trying to get it on the black market and didn't have the money for it. we had the sanctions for this and then the sanctions were lifted. my hope would be that the administration would approach 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, madam secretary. glad to have you back. i want to say thank you for following up with co-chair chris smith, chairman smith is i with the bosnian caucus and the fact they have a new government in place, we hope that continued u.s. and international support can help move them forward. so thank you for that. i also wanted to commend you on the recently announced international partnership, the climate between air coalition to reduce short-term pollutants. it underscored the nature of the challenge as well as the advantages to working with our partners at the u.n. and around the world. i wanted to ask, has that investment paid off in terms of stronger commitments by

developing countries? and can we count on them to continue and fulfill those commitments if we are not hon honoring our pledges? raising that, congressman, because wehae change and the consequences of climate change pose national security problems to us, and so we are looking for ways to try to move forward where we can and take practical steps. the fact is that the short-term climate forces, things like methane, things like black soot, black carbon and soot, are more easily dealt with than carbon dioxide. and i think that what we put together here, which is the climate and clean air coalition, has developed countries like sweden -- underdeveloped countries like bangladesh, developing countries like ghana,

canada, and we've had a really positive response from countries around the world asking how they can be involved. so we think this is a way to help cut down on about 40% of what the pollutants in the atmosphere are that affects climate change. so we're going to be promoting this issue. it's not as controversial, it's not as, you know, far reaching. we still have to deal with, you know, the greenhouse gas emissions and try to come to grips with the co2. but it gives us something that people can do. and i'll give you a quick example. we have a global alliance on clean cookstoves. how women cook, about 2 billion of them around the world, creates respiratory illnesses, puts a lot of soot, black carbon, into the atmosphere. if we can create a market for a

more clean-burning cookstove, we improve health and we improve the environment at the same time. so there is a lot of win-win strategies that we're working on here. >> thank you. i also wanted to follow up on the cgar auto report of the police development program, and it reveals issues in iraq of poor planning, mismanagement, inefficient evaluation metrics. in this current budget, what's being done to enhance those monitoring mechanisms in a way that ensures that police training is really being ramped up the way it needs to be, it's also ensuring the integrity of our tax dollars? and really, related to that, as a similar kind of transition is approaching -- fast approaching afghanistan, the lessons we've learned in this transition in iraq, how can we apply those in