this con tetext requested here the drawdown as by the administration in my judgment has had a detrimental effect on some commanders in on the ground, in a difficult position. i wanted to follow-up on a question regarding running influence in afghanistan. you responded that there's potential for common ground between us and iran to cooperate for the long-term benefit of afghanistan, and you stated that we're -- that you are seeking to check the negative assistant between iran and afghanistan. and i guess my first thought is, do you think this is possible -- or is this common ground between us and iran is possible, given the leadership and the current iranian regime and how does the long history between iran and

afghanistan provide any sort of a basis for leveraging events in favor of our national security, and do you know for certain that we're effectively checking a negative assistants by iran to the insurgency and overall question is, is it wise in your opinion, to proceed with the current drawdown given the iranian government's support to this insurgency in afghanistan. a lot of questions there. sorry. threw them at you all at once. >> we're seeking to understand exactly what iran is doing in afghanistan. but we also understand that iran and afghanistan have their own bilateral relationship. and that's a, an ancient and a, in many respects, productive relationship for afghanistan. so i will not take issuwi the a government has a relationship with iran. my issue is primarily in the

area of security, and what we understand to be iranian assistance to certain elements of the taliban. it has not been dramatic. it has not been pervasive. but we seek to understand it, and we have interdicted that assistance on a number of occasions. and so we'll continue to watch it very closely. we'll see if it is is modulated, increased or becomes more pervasi pervasive, we'll have to take actions to continue to check that process. >> did you want to weigh in on that? >> if i could add very briefly. as you know, sir, the iranian government has also provided not only materiel support to the afghan government. so what we see is a -- is in many instances a positive, but then just as general allen talked about, at the same time in another part of the country, we've seen for the insurgency. so what we obviously like to do

is encourage continued support for the government in kabul and through various means including the interdiction that general allen talked about, reduce to a minimum, tend to eliminate any incentives for support to the insurgency. >> it just occuroccur to me give history to blow up our troops in iraq shouldn't endear a great deal of trust on our part to the po tevl using the long-standing relationship between afghanistan and iran to our benefit. i'm not sure that there's a real basis for that, but, i mean, i defer this case to the people on the ground. i'm just suggesting that there seems to be a general pattern here, and i'm just wondering what the drawdown and the dates certain has done to the overa overall -- at least the psychological array of our

enemies' attitude towards continuing to resist the efforts of freedom there in afghanistan. and i'll -- general, if you have any other thoughts. >> i was just going to say we have not seen the iranian signature weapons in afghanistan. that we saw frequently in southern iraq. and that would be a very quick indicator to us. that things have changed dramatically. >> thank you. mr. chairman, thank you. we've got two committees going on at the same time. so i have to sprint to the other one. so thank you very much. >> thank you, mr. plotso. >> i'd like to thank our distinguished guests. does the general have a scuba bubble above his gold jump wings, we just can't see it because he ran out of uniform for all of his prestigious ribbons and medals you're kind to ask, but i tried to stay

above the water. >> common air breather. perfect understand. >> we're talking about afghanistan but then the subject of china comes up. we go to the pacific region and of course you expect to hear china and every area you go to, the subject of china comes up. this morning i was talking about the arctic and china came up, how they're building ice breakers to begin i guess going out there to try to lay claims in the arctic ocean or wherever for the, for resources because we know they're definitely a resource-driven country. it's something that this committee i guess will hear a lot of. i'm glad you're here today. i've been hearing some questions and i guess it's related to a lot of the incidents that have been taking place in afghanistan by some of our american service members swunt koran burning, the other, alleged killing of

civilian bice a member civilians by a member of the military and other things. and our concern in the new 24/7 cycle and the internet people are thinking we're going to turn over american service members to the afghani government to be tried and to possibly be punished. of course, personally, i -- i hope you'll -- validate what i'm thinking is that that's never going to happen. it's not going to happen in these cases. but could you just elaborate on that, either one? >> the current relationship that we have with afghanistan permits us at this juncture to -- to prosecute these cases under u.s. law and we intend to do. >> so and that's based on the status of forces agreement. >> right. >> so is it a possibility that this administration could say, well, that's great. turn him over to the afghani government? >> i'm not the one to ask.

>> okay. i didn't -- >> from my perspective, i intend to work very closely with the united states army ultimately to prosecute this case and we will do it under u.s. law. and i was clear with that, in that discussion with president karzai. >> okay. >> dr. miller? >> just to confirm that we have no such plans to do so. >> okay. but that could be an option, if so chose jn chosen? i mean, that -- there's nothing barring turning over a u.s. service member to the afghani government to be tried? surely our men and women have some form of protection from -- >> sir, there's the -- as the general mentioned, there's the status of forces agreement in which it's understood we have that right and have given every indication that that's the way we will proceed. >> okay. you know, i'm not trying to go anywhere with that.

i was just curious, because ier that and there are some concerns, but we're not, as of now, we're not going to let that happen. that's good. we need to make sure that never happen, period. i don't know if we have to do something legislative to codify that. next question. what's the mood of our young ncos serving in afghanistan in the last decade, or i know some may be on their second or third tour. some on their first. some of them trying to get into the action before it's over. i understand how young military minds think. just overall short opinion. >> i asked my sergeant major, his view, and his view is that the morale is high. these troops are focused on a mission. this conflict, they are as professional as we've ever seen, the non-commissioned officers of our armed forces, in particular the u.s. army and the united states

marine corps who have on a day-to-day basis been in close contact with the enemy. where the benefits or where the real advantage that ultimatel l crews us small unit non-commission and junior officer leadership and they're magnificent, frankly. and amp this long in this conflict to see the morale as high as it is the professionalism as high as it is sand as you say, the desire to continue to serve really speaks well for the young men and women of our united states. >> all right. thank you. my time's expired. >> thank you. general allen, one final question. there are many detainees currently held in the u.s. detention facilities in afghanistan whom the u.s. forces identified as enduring security threats. threats to the united states. some of these detainees are afghans. some are third country

nationals. the recent memo of understanding regarding the transition of detention operations in afghanistan does not provide a separate plan for afghan detainees who pulls an extraordinarily high threat. the ammo requires the united states to transition all afghan detainees to the custody of afghanistan within six months. the mou states afghanistan will continue favorably u.s. input regarding whether to release a particular detainee, but given the current pos color posture o afghan government this is not very reassuring. i'm concerned about history repeating itself here. in iraq we waited until the last minute to deal with this issue and that particular example is not one we should be seeking to repeat. in light of the new mou, what is your plan regarding the handling of high-value detainee, both afghans and third country nationals, to ensure that these individuals will not pose a threat to the united states in the future?

>> and i'll defer to dr. milner a moment. but should there be a disagreement with the afghans, should there be an intention expressed to release one of the detainees, ultimately that they control, we express our desire that they not. they will give it favorable consideration, if, in fact, they continue to desire to release that detainee that question will then go a bilateral commission, which has been established within that memorandum of understanding. the chair on the u.s. side and the chair on the afghanistan side the bilateral commission is where we will have the conversation all miltly about whether that individual should be released or not. so i believe we will ultimately be able to resolve this to our benefit within the bilateral commission, if they don't take our initial desire to be their

decision ultimately. with respect to third country nationals that remains to be determined. we have not yet draddressed tha chairman, and we will do that in the future. >> mr. chairman, could i add, just everything that general allen said is exactly right. i just want to add to it. and that is that in addition to the transition effort that is under way, being led by -- being led by general allen, there is an inner agency task force that's focused on this question included on third country nationals and how to deal with high-value detainees and we are working very closely with the team that is in theater and understand that we -- these issues need to be addressed, and we freed to come up and have a conversation, sir, with you and your colleagues as well. it's -- it's relatively at the front end but we know that six months is not that much time. so we look forward to having that conversation as this work progresses.

>> very good. the concern we have is that released have returned to the fight, and we've found that they have -- a fairly high percentage have gone back to killing americans, and that's -- we really want to make sure that we avoid that. thank you very much for being here today. i think we've cleared up a lot of questions. i hope this has been beneficial. i think it will be to the american people to understand more clearly what's happening in afghanistan and the progress we're making there. thank you very much, and this committee stands adjourned.

congress this week continues to assess the president's 2013 budget request. up next, a house hearing on the fcc's budget. the president is asking for almost $347 million way push for a expanding access to the internet and rural areas and making broadband space available for increasing use ever mobile devices. monday the house operations committee heard from fcc chair and the commissioner robert mcdowell. this is about two hours. the hearing is going to come to order.

and i'd like to welcome our two witnesses, chairman jankowski and commissioner mcdowell from the federal communications commission. thank you so much for being here today and for testifying on the fcc's fiscal 2013 budget request. while the fcc is funded by these congressional oversight over your budget is an important check on agency activities. this committee is committeed to fiscal responsibility and we intend to make sure that all agencies under the subcommittees jurisdiction are operating both efficiently and effectively. the fcc is an agency that places an important role on our country's telekman kegs television and cable industries. critical to american communication and business, and with technology changing faster and faster, and the fact that you all have to keep up, it's amazing that you can do so

without hindering innovation. over-re lation of american communication systems hurts our economy at economy at a time when we're still coming out of a recession and i will say and the chairman knows this that i still have serious concerns about the net neutrality order as well oz the proposed disclosure of broadcaster's file. while i appreciate the agency's eagerness, i think in many cases it would be helpful to slow down and consider the ramifications of rule making. i should note that you made some inroads in reforming the universal service fund. however, i think there are some serious concerns about the fund that have yet to be addressed and just so you all know, i heard a lot about this while i was home last week. we do appreciate the job that both you and your staffs do and once again, i welcome you and i

look forward to your testimony. now i'd like to recognize my friend and colleague joe for his opening statement. >> thank you, so much, madam chair. you should know that whenever we meet here the first thing we discuss quietly here is baseball. but today we're discussing the fact that both of our district plans for our future political districts are in the federal courts and we have no idea what we're running this year. >> actually, i think ours in the supreme court have been in the federal courts and state courts. the state supreme court back to the federal court. and i'm not sure that most judges undertake their judicial responsibilities thinking they're going to draw congressional lines at the same time. i sort of know where my district is. >> thank you. >> missouri was actually third done and then we had a lawsuit filed very late. >> we measured twice, cut once

in arkansas. thank you, madam chair. i would like to join you. i shouldn't have started that. i would like to join you in welcoming the commissioners. like many agencies the fcc plays a vital role in our everyday lives even though much of its important work takes place behind the scenes. the role of the fcc grows in scope as technology becomes more affordable and as more people have access to the internets through a variety of devices. i will be interested in hearing with those rapid innovations that you have the resources to make sure consumers are protected in the marketplace. as inproouchlts and technology give more people access, that mean that resources move online and therefore internet access has become vital to being able to get a good education, find a job or connect with family around the world.

therefore i'm interested in the steps you're taking to broaden access and make sure that everyone who wants access to can get. one way to accs to broad band is by allowing more that purpose. i know in the upcoming year the goal is to increase the available spectrum for broad band uses to congressionally mandated spectrum auctions. i look forward to hearing more details about how you plan on conducting these auctions and what your expected results of them to be. we will have time to discuss these issues as well and other questions during the question period. now i want to thank youfor your service and for appearing before us today and make sure that my new ipad works properly. make sure nothing interferes. thank you. >> you have the new, new one? oh, pass it over.

now recognize the chairman. if you could try to limit your opening remarks to five minutes that will give us more time for questions, thanks. >> thank you very much. i appreciate the opportunity to appear before you on the fcc 2013 budget. i'm proud to say that few if any federal agencies deliver a higher return on investment than the fcc. spectrum auctions have raised more than $50 billion for the u.s. treasury in the past two decades. economists regard the economic value created by auctions as being about ten times that number about $500 million in value. a few weeks ago, congress authorized the fcc to duct voluntary incentive auctions. a new market based mechanism to repurpose spectrum for flexible use such as mobile broad band. incentive auctions which i'm

proud to say were originally suggested by the fcc two years ago are a sunt to unleash vitally needed addition spectrum and create tremendous value for american consumers while raising billions of dollars for deficit reduction. at the fcc we're focused on faithfully implementing the incentive auction provisions and maximizing the opportunities of the new law for the economy and all americans it's a privilege for the fcc to be entrusted with this responsibility which of course will require a great deal of work and effort by the agency. incentive auctions are unpress depted. the u.s. will be the first country in the world to conduct them. it will be a multifaceted task affecting major parts of our economy involving many challenging questions of economics and engineering. fcc staff is analyzing the complex incentive auctions law. it's well over 100 pages. assessing the challenges ahead and developing a plan for emp men tags. incentive auctions are part of our overall agenda to unleash

the opportunities of modern communications technology to benefit our economy and all americans. we focused the agent ji on broad band communications wired and wireless. together with my colleagues at the fcc we've made tremendous progress in the past three years taking many steps to unleash investment innovation and job creation. these include freeing spectrum licensed and unlicensed use. and removing barriers to broad band build out. indeed private investment, innovation and job creation are up across the broad band economy. these metrics which are outlined in my written statement are up both when looking at broad band applications and services and looking at broad band providers and network infrastructure. in to 11 the u.s. information and communications sector grew three times faster than the overall economy. broad band is helping create new jobs all across the country and

not just for engineers, although it's vitally important that we lead the world in engineering talent. but also for sales people, construction workers and small business owners increasingly using the internet to boost sales and lower costs. we're also now ahead of the world in deploying 4 g mobile broad band at scale with 64 percent of the world's 4 glte subscribers here in the u.s. in the next generation networks are projected to add $150 billion in gdp growth over the next four years created an estimated 770,000 new american jobs in. today's hyper connected flat world, the success of american companies as well as global prosperity depends on a dynamic and open global internet. and so we're working to preserve is internet as a free market globally and oppose international proposals that could stifle innovation.

the health of our broad band economy would be enhanced by closing broad band gaps. today millions of rural americans live in areas with no broad band infrastructure. our plan adopted in october to modernize the universal fund will spur build out to hundreds of thousands of rural homes in the near term and puts us on the path to universal broad band by the end of the decade while keeping it be fund on a budget. together with my colleagues we drafted a set of reforms that will drive efficiency and help bring broad band to rural america. in addition to the deployment gap we're making strides on the broad band adoption gap. nearly wirds of americans, 100 million people haven't adopted broad band, the connect to compete initiative enlists government and nonprofit sectors to tackle the barriers to adoption, one of several public private initiatives to promote solutions to major challenges. public safety is a core mission for the fcc and the agency is

working to harness the power of communications to make our communities safer. we're working with multiple stake holders to advance next generation 911. we accelerated the launch of wireless emergency alerts that allows local state and federal authorities to send targeted alerts to mobile devices in an emergency. the fcc also provides value by protecting and empowering consumers. working with wireless providers. we found a common sense solution to bill shock. a problem that has caused consumers unexpected charges. working with private sector, public and nonprofit partners we developed a small business cyber planner to help small businesses guard against cyber attacks which are estimated to cost small businesses who are targeted an average of $200,000 in damages for each attack. our work on sign cyber security continues. i'm hopeful that working with private and public stake holders on our