geographic location but it's a specific domain that requires special capabilities and capacities to operate effectively. with the opening of the arctic there is sure to be commercial and economic interest. historically those are followed closely by security interests and we will seek to stay ahead of the challenge and not behind it, and make sure that the arctic is explored and the resources exploited in a collaborative peaceful way. >> and this is a burgeoning area of responsibility. >> i believe so, senator. we're working closely with canada. canada's got it as a top priority. i'm in a unique position as the norad commander with my relationship with canada so i can tell you that we're joined at the hip with not just canada but all eight of the northern region countries. >> do submarines play a part in that thinking? >> submarines are still active up there and i know that our navy operates in the arctic

region and will i presume continue to do so. >> and they are important to both economic and national security in that area. >> the arctic will, as it opens up as a domain, i'm sure will be -- will find all types of commercial, economic and military activity in the arctic. >> thank you. my time has expired. which means that your time has expired. thankfully, i'm sure, from your standpoint. i want to thank you again on behalf of the entire committee for your service and for your sacrifice, your family's service and sacrifice and for being with us today. thank you very much, gentlemen. i declare this hearing is adjourned. thank you.

as this senate hearing comes to a close, their colleagues are in session this morning. they are right now in a quorum call but members are working on transportation programs and projects. at noon there will be two amendments that senators will vote on, lawmakers will break then for their weekly party caucus lunches between 12:30 and 2:15 eastern. majority leader reid has warned senators to expect votes on the remaining 18 or so amendments throughout the afternoon. you can see live coverage of the u.s. senate on our companion network, c-span 2. tonight, c-span's road to the white house live coverage of the

alabama and mississippi primaries gets under way at 7:00 eastern. coverage will get speeches by the republican presidential candidates from their primary night headquarters and election results. viewers can also join in the conversation by phone and on facebook at facebook.com/cspan as well as follow us at twitter.com/cspan roadwh. we will also simulcast a portion of politico's election night coverage. watch coverage online at c-span.org/campaign 2012. live pictures now from the white house rose garden. we're waiting for president obama to make remarks on trade policy with china this morning. hoping to enforce trade rights with that nation. the white house has stated the intent is to quote, level the playing field for america's businesses and workers. this on the heels last thursday of action in the house where lawmakers approved a measure allowing the commerce department

to impose higher duties on goods from china. president also hosting the british prime minister today, david cameron is in the united states this week for official talks with the president. prime minister cameron arrived yesterday and later today, he and the president will travel to dayton, ohio to watch a college basketball game. >> good morning, everybody. before i make an announcement about our efforts to stand up for u.s. businesses and u.s. workers, i would like to say a few words about the situation in afghanistan. over the weekend, as many of you know, there was a tragic incident in which a number of afghan civilians were killed. i have made to president karzai when i spoke to him, the united states takes this as seriously as if it was our own citizens and our own children who were

murdered. we're heartbroken over the loss of innocent life. the killing of innocent civilians is outrageous and it's unacceptable. it's not who we are as a country, and it does not represent our military. for that reason, i have directed the pentagon to make sure that we spare no effort in conducting a full investigation. i can assure the american people and the afghan people that we will follow the facts wherever they lead us, and we will make sure that anybody who was involved is held fully accountable with the full force of the law. yesterday, i met with general allen and ambassador crocker who were here in washington and i have extraordinary confidence in them and in the many americans who are serving in afghanistan and who have made extraordinary sacrifices to be there. today, i will be meeting with

prime minister cameron, who is part of our broad coalition serving in afghanistan, and we'll have an opportunity to consult about the way forward as we prepare for the nato summit in chicago later this spring. so make no mistake. we have a strategy that will allow us to responsibly wind down this war. we're steadily transitioning to the afghans who are moving into the lead, and that's going to allow us to bring our troops home. already we're scheduled to remove 23,000 troops by the end of this summer, followed by -- following the 10,000 that we withdrew last year. meanwhile, we will continue the work of devastating al qaeda's leadership and denying them a safe haven. there's no question that we face a difficult challenge in afghanistan, but i am confident that we can continue the work of meeting our objectives, protecting our country and responsibly bringing this war to a close.

now, one of the things that i talked about during the state of the union address was making america more competitive in the global economy. the good news is that we have the best workers and the best businesses in the world. they turn out the best products and when the playing field is level, they'll always be able to compete and succeed against every other country on earth. but the key is to make sure that the playing field is level. frankly, sometimes it's not. i will always try to work our differences through with other countries. we prefer dialogue. that's especially true when it comes to key trading partners like china. we've got a constructive economic relationship with china and whenever possible, we are committed to working with them to addressing our concerns. but when it is necessary, i will take action if our workers and our businesses are being

subjected to unfair practices. since i took office, we brought trade cases against china at nearly twice the rate as the last administration, and these actions are making a difference. for example, we halted an unfair surge in chinese tires which has helped put over 1,000 american workers back on the job. but we haven't stopped there. two weeks ago i created a trade enforcement unit to aggressively investigate any unfair trade practices taking place anywhere in the world, and as they ramp up their efforts, our competitors should be on notice. you will not get away with skirting the rules. when we can, we will rally support from our allies. when it makes sense to act on our own, we will. i just signed a bill to help american companies that are facing unfair foreign competition. these companies employ tens of thousands of americans in nearly

40 states. because of subsidies from foreign governments, some of their foreign competitors are selling products at an artificially low price. that needs to stop. this morning, we're taking an additional step forward. we're bringing a new trade case against china and we're being joined by japan and some of our european allies. this case involves something called rare earth materials, which are used by american manufacturers to make high tech products like advanced batteries that power everything from hybrid cars to cell phones. we want our companies building those products right here in america but to do that, american manufacturers need to have access to rare earth materials which china supplies. if china would simply let the market work on its own, we would have no objections, but their policies currently are preventing that from happening, and they go against the very rules that china agreed to follow. being able to manufacture advanced batteries and hybrid

cars in america is too important for us to stand by and do nothing. we've got to take control of our energy future and we can't let that energy industry take root in some other country because they were allowed to break the rules. so our administration will bring this case against china today and we will keep working every single day to give american workers and american businesses a fair shot in the global economy. we're going to make sure that this isn't a country that's just known for what we consume. america needs to get back to doing what it's always done best, a country that builds and sells products all over the world that are stamped with the proud words "made in america." that's how we create good middle class jobs at home and that's how we're going to create an economy that's built to last. thank you very much, everybody.

>> president obama wrapping up remarks on trade policy this morning. trade policy with china. later this afternoon, he'll gather with british prime minister david cameron, who is here in washington, for officials talks with the president. the two will travel to dayton, ohio to watch a basketball game. tomorrow, they will meet again for an official dinner at the white house. we will have live coverage of the prime minister's arrival at the white house tomorrow as well as all the guests attending and toasts from both leaders. c-span.org will stream the guest arrivals in their entirety. tonight, c-span's road to the white house live coverage of the alabama and mississippi primaries begins at 7:00 p.m. eastern. our coverage will include speeches by the republican presidential candidates from their primary night headquarters, and election results. viewers can also join in the

conversation by phone and on facebook at facebook.com/cspan as well as follow us at twitter.com/cspanroadwh. we will simulcast a portion of politico's coverage. watch coverage online at c-span.org's dedicated site for campaign 2012, c-span.org/campaign2012. >> c-span's 2012 local content vehicle cities tour takes our book tv and american history tv programming on the road. the first weekend of each month. march featured shreveport, louisiana, with book tv at the library. >> mr. noll was a local man who was born here and lived here most of his life and he started accumulating books when he was a teenager, and continued until he was in his 80s. over his lifetime, he accumulated over 200,000 volumes. if we have a gem in the

collection, it is probably going to be this one. it is one of the books we're most proud of. it's in the original binding from 1699 and it was once owned by a very famous scientist. you can see he's written his name, i. newton, and we are not pulling it out so much anymore because it is starting to flake away on the title page. >> an american history tv looked at civil war era medical practices. at the pioneer heritage museum. >> pioneer medicine is a long stretch from what it is today. when you consider that the things that we take for granted today when we go to the doctor, things like the instruments being as germ-free as possible or the doctor has washed his hands before he decides to work on us. we use the term loosely for doctors when we're talking early medicine. a lot of these doctors in our region were self-taught or they had worked under somebody else who had been self-taught and they were getting ready to retire. so they would just learn as they went.

>> our lcv cities tour continues the weekend of march 31st and april 1st from little rock, arkansas on c-span 2 and 3. >> congratulations to all this year's winners of c-span's student cam video documentary competition. a record number of middle and high school students entered a video on the theme the constitution and you. showing which part of the constitution is important to them and why. watch all the winning videos at our website. student cam.org. join us mornings in april as we show the top 27 videos on c-span. we'll talk with the winners during "washington journal." >> at & t, comcast and blackberry executives testified last week at an energy and commerce sub committee hearing on cybersecurity for communication networks. the panelists warned congress against mandating regulation but encouraged more information sharing between government and industry. according to a recent gao report, cybersecurity threats

have increased 650% in the last five years. this is just over two hours. >> we'll call to order the subcommittee on communications and technology for a hearing on cybersecurity, the pivotal role of communications net works. i want to thank our witnesses for being here this morning. we look forward to your testimony and are very appreciative of your taking the time to be here to help educate us so we can do the right thing in terms of assisting you all. back in october, the house republican cybersecurity task force appointed by the speaker recommended that the committees of jurisdiction review cybersecurity issues. this subcommittee has embarked on a series of hearings to heed that call and to get a complete picture of the cybersecurity challenges that our nation faces. in our february 8th hearing, we examined threats to communications networks and the concerns of the private sector

security firms helping to secure those communications networks. that hearing provided us with valuable information and even some potential solutions. this hearing continues our subcommittee's review of cybersecurity issues with the focus on the steps that network operators have taken to secure their networks and any recommendations that you all might have on how congress can help, actually help in those efforts. as we heard in the february 8th hearing, threats to communications networks have come a long way in a very short period of time. before coming to congress, i spent 22 years as a radio broadcaster and as a small business person, i had to worry about securing our own communications network. those were simpler times. in modern communications, networks of all types, cybersecurity has become a pressing concern. in our february 8th hearing, we had a dizzying array of new cybersecurity threats discussed, like supply chain vulnerabilities, botnets and

system spoofing. on the brighter side, we were also told during that hearing about several potential solutions to make communications networks more secure. this is why i have asked a number of my colleagues on the subcommittee to serve as the communications and technology cybersecurity working group. the working group is a bipartisan team of six subcommittee members led by subcommittee vice-chair lee terry and sub-committee ranking member anna esue. we will look into some of the potential solutions and the legal and regulatory impediments to securing networks against cyberthreats. with an eye toward incentive-based approaches, the working group looks to facilitate communication among private sector companies and the public sector on a variety of topics, including dnssec adoption, supply chain risk management and a voluntary code of conduct and best practices for network operators. now, in this hearing, we're privileged to have five witnesses that represent parts of the commercial network to

help guide us through the complex cybersecurity issues that you each face. network operators own, maintain and operate most of the infrastructure that makes up our communications networks. their management of the wires, the towers, the base stations, the servers and the wireless handsets that are integral parts of communications networks put these companies on the front lines of cybersecurity. i want to know what cybersecurity services and educational initiatives are being aimed at your consumers. what steps are being taken to secure the core components that make up our communications networks. and what affirmative steps network operators have taken to secure the supply chain and to prevent cyberattacks. i would also expect to hear what you think the appropriate role of the federal government is to combat cyber threats. are federal laws and regulations helping or hindering information sharing? are there cybersecurity solutions that your companies have identified that would

prevent cyberattacks, but would run afoul of existing laws? how can the federal prevent cyber attacks but would run afoul of the existing laws? how would members of the private sector help in the arena? how do we make sure we don't put things in statute that cause misallocation in the statute? i yield my time. >> we are deeply appreciative of your time for being here. >> could you get closer to your microphone? >> i certainly can. i am a mother. i can always talk louder. that's right. the gao report that mentioned -- we have scenes a 650% growth in

cyber attacks over the past five years. i think that caused a lot of people to, you know, sit up and take note of what might be happening out there. you look at the attacks and what it equates to on the affect of the economy. chairman bonomack and i are looking to security i.t. from the senate. i think the concepts we are reviewing are not to be overly prescriptive and do no harm. i would love to hear you all talk a bit about government networks and the importance you think and responsibility you think government has in securing its over networks and systems. then i would love to also hear a bit from you about incentive-based security and how we approach that. with that, i yield back. >> thank you. i recognize my friend from

california. >> thank you, mr. chairman. welcome to all of the witnesses. thank you for being here today. as the title of today's hearing suggests, communications networks is part of the critical infrastructure from electricity generation to finance at services and transportation. we depend on our communications networks for nearly all aspects of our daily lives. yet, as was highlighted during our first cyber security hearing, our networks remain vulnerable to attack. in particular, there are three areas i would like to hear more about from our witnesses today. first, as we discussed in the last month's hearing, the fcc chairman is proposing a voluntary isp code of conduct as

a way to alert consumers when a bot net or malware infection is discovered. today's witnesses will be on the frontline in ensuring such best practices are effectively implemented and obviously i think that you will talk about that. i look forward to it. second, i would like to hear more about your views on this supply chain security. i continue to have grave concerns stemming from my eight years that i recently completed at the house intelligence committee about the implications of foreign control telecommunications infrastructure companies providing equipment to the u.s. market. in 2010, i wrote to the chairman asking for a better understanding of the fcc authority to address the challenges and what kind of transparency requirements should be placed on companies seeking to sell telecommunications infrastructure equipment to u.s. network providers. third, i would like to learn

more about any unique challenges in securing mobile networks. as more data is transmitted wirelessly, we need to see how the networks are secured to make sure they are not the entry way into the broader network. again, i want to thank each one of our witnesses for being willing to testify today to be instructive to us. i want to thank the chairman for the spirit of cooperation around this issue. usually, there are democratic witnesses that are called and republican witnesses. that's not the case today. so, this is something that rises above that. i look forward to working with the entire committee so that we not only better understand the cyber security challenges facing communications networks, but what steps we can take to secure them and strengthen the country.

let's see. i would like to yield the remaining time to representative matsui. >> thank you for yielding your time. mr. chairman, thank you for holding today's hearing. i want to thank the witnesses for being here today. there is no doubt the cyber attacks are real and continue to pose significant threats to several aspects of our economy. mr. chairman, i'm pleased that you and ranking member eshoo formed the group to explore the interests to enhance the nation's interests. there are a variety of issues we may explore. communications networks are one of the many areas that our nation must protect and ensure safety and soundness. advancing ip technology heightened the concerns for cyber security. it is important that data is protected from a pc or cell phone to transit to cloud

courage. particularly as more and more americans send more information to the cloud. i also believe the sub committee will have the ability to promote information sharing on cyber threats. securing the supply trade will be important to tech can be secured through the manufacturing processes. among others, i believe that r & d incentives could explore ways to defend against malware and bot nets. i look forward to give greater protection against cyber threats. i yield back the remainder of my time. >> i thank the gentle lady for her comments. i recognize mr. terry for opening comments. >> thank you, mr. chairman. let me start by saying most of my colleagues share my optimism that a collaborative, active

cyber defense ability is achievable. there might be a few differences in opinion on what needs to be done to reach the goal, but through the bipartisan conversations, we are getting closer. in reading through the written testimony provided by today's witnesses, i noticed a common thread throughout. as mr. amaroso eloquently says, quote, quite simply, innovation is inconsistent. i agree. with my opinion, i find this to be the most vital guiding principle in enhancing our cyber security. as i continue to dig deeper, i become more convinced that the effort to provide overbroad regulation or certification regimes has consequences. i believe isp should respond to realtime security threats in a manner that minimizes delay and maximizes the ability to protect consumers and their network. a couple of things we can do to help reach the goal of

collaborative active defense capability or remove the current barriers in place to prevent communications networks with the government agencies is with the private sector entities. provide adequate liability for the cyber threat sharing is second. i yield my time. mr. stearns. >> i think our message is today that the private sector has

strong commercial incentives and maintain robust cyber security. each of our witnesses today described unique approaches to protecting their own networks. these examples demonstrate that one size fits all legislation. it is not the appropriate legislation to consider these threats. because these threats change every day, industry must be responded quickly. i feel the government mandates are not only unnecessary, but they simply will not work. instead, government should seek to improve information sharing and consumer education of the we also should work to eliminate outdated regulations that have created unintentional barriers toward ensuring the security of the networks. i look forward to our witnesses today and i thank you, mr. chairman, for this great hearing. >> are there any other members seeking time on our side? if not, the gentleman yields back his time. i recognize the gentleman from california, mrwa