airlines? >> next question. >> i'll look for the tweet on that one. you were a student at george washington university and ran for student association president. what did you learn from that experience? >> well, i lost, so i learned o to, you know, when you draw the posters, draw more neatly. draw the graphic design as a key component of electropolitics. you know, i was in school and i went to school here and was an intern on the hill for jerry ambro, the congressman back then on long island where i'm from. and jerry ambro, i didn't get to

see him very much because the interns that were there, we worked eight hours, 12 hours, and most of these guys were all of the interns i've worked with, they were all just alcoholics in training. they'd have all the parties in all the houses senate office buildings and i came in and i was like gomer pile, what are y'all doing now? what y'all wanna do after work? and they have a list of all the national association of carpet shampooers meeting, the national association of q-tip weaver meeting. and all of these organizations meeting and these guys i worked with, they knew the skinny on all of them in terms of food and booze. they'd say remember that reception with the q-tip people? they had great food, they had lobster there. and i'm sitting there going, well, i guess we best go over

and say howdy to the q-tip people. and you know, we would -- i would go and all they would do is party. and we did a bit of that. but i also had a guy say to me, do you want to work on a project other than opening constituent mail. which was before the internet, obviously. this is '77 i think i did this. and the guy said to me -- he said what do you want -- he said i've got a project for you. returning vietnam veterans. no greater love back then. he nodded. thank you. jerry ambro, the guy who worked for jerry said we're going to put you in charge. no greater love wants each of the members of congress to select the most well reacclimated vietnam veteran. we're going to take submissions, you're going to call pastors and priests and we're going contact

them and ask them for submissions. i do this project for a couple of weeks and i come in and say, well, i've got my report for you. and the guy who was a young staffer says, well, come on, we're going to have a meeting with the congressman. i think i met him hello, good-bye twice. he was never there paying attention to me. i was in a room. and they bring me in and say, congressman, you know mr. baldwin, alec baldwin. and who is the person? i said ron kovik who was the subject of born on the fourth of july. the guy in this big anti-war film. and this is working class kind of boilerplate long island. there's a long pause and he goes, are you out of your mind? and shuts down my whole program. he's like, if we're going to give baldwin -- you're off the case now. we'll get someone else to take care of this. but i loved washington worked at the fcc and worked at a law firm

and worked all this other stuff. i was given the opportunity to audition for and i got into the acting program. and to be honest with you, i started working right away and never looked back. that's what i wound up doing. >> is it true when you turned 40, you stopped wearing jeans? and if this was held after 6:00, would you have worn a tuxedo? >> i might have. i don't see anything wrong with that. someone asked me earlier, have you become more like your character? and i'm like, yeah, well, when you do a show -- that is one thing. when you do wear -- you're in washington, this is a suit and tie crowd and i'm in new york and that's pretty much a suit and tie crowd. i used to spend a lot more time in l.a. which is not a suit and tie crowd as a rule. but i play a guy in a suit and tie every day and it does wear off on you. i do get a little bit of this kind of thurston howell attitude. thank you to those who remember

that reference. he was my roommate in college. i do have a little bit -- i'll see someone and i'll be like, you can't wear that. you can't wear brown shoes with a gray suit, my good man. what on earth are you thinking? the rigidity of my character has worn off on me. but your other question was about -- i don't wear jeans. i don't. and i don't want to say why i don't wear jeans because that would be to offend all of the men in this room who do wear jeans when you're over 40. >> you can tell me after. >> okay. great. >> what person in history would you most like to portray? >> who would i most like to portray? that's a great question. who would i like to portray? you know, i don't -- i don't know if i want to portray him because i don't really think about that way. i'd like to see this person portrayed in some way. and i don't know how you could dramatize. sometimes these things are the

purview of literature for a reason. and they don't really make great films. but as we live in the world we live in today and we live in a world that i think is increasingly shaped, i don't want to say recklessly. but i should say the word is kind of struggling. you're all writers, help me out here. a world that is being shaped kind of surreptitiously by the supreme court. i would like to see something that would bring to a new generation a biography of film or otherwise of the life of william o'douglas. >> do you plan to run for public office? >> i have a very important announcement to make to you all today. i'm glad you're all here. it is today with great humility and a sense of pride and a great love of my country that i

announce that i'm running for the east hampton library historical society treasurer's position. and i would hope all of you will read my literature. i'm going to have a table with some literature outside. thank you. >> we're almost out of tile, but before i get to ask the last question, i would like to remind you of some upcoming luncheon speakers on april 24th, we have secretary ken salazar, the u.s. department of interior, jay rizzo, and on may 9th, billy gene king. next, i would like to present this coffee mug. and my last question for you, what is in your wallet? >> i'll give you an insight into my wallet. when i did make the deal with capital one, they insisted obviously i had to carry capital

one credit cards and destroy my other credit cards. i had to be a customer of theirs, i do have capital one credit cards. and another thing i saved my daughter when she was a little child she made for me, made us both license to veterinarians to the state of california. i have drawn with her by hand when she was 5 years old, my license as veterinarian in the state of california. that and my capital one. >> do you practice? >> yes. >> how about a round of applause for our speaker today? [ applause ] thank you for coming. >> thank you. >> i'd also like to thank the national press club staff. including journalism institute and broadcast center for organizing today's event. finally, here's a reminder you can find more information about the national press club on our website. also, if you'd like to get a copy of today's program, please check out our website at www.press.org. thank you all for coming and

we're adjourned. u. up next on c-span 3, that conversation on u.s. dependence on foreign oil. then a panel discussion with business leaders on ways to increase u.s. exports. thursday, defense secretary leon panetta and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff general martin dempsey testify before the house armed service committee about the security situation in syria. watch live coverage at 10:00 a.m. eastern here on c-span 3.

jury selection began this week in the retrial of former major league pitcher roger clemens charged by federal prosecutors with knowingly lying to congress on performance enhancing drug use and baseball. >> let me read to you what his wife said in her affidavit. i, laura petit, do depose and state in 1999 or 2000, andy told me he had had a conversation with roger clemens in which roger admitted to him using human growth hormones. mr. clemens, i again remind you you're under oath. you have said your conversation with mr. petit never happened. if that was true, why would laura petit remember andy telling her about the conversation? >> once again, i think he misremembers the conversation that we had. andy and i's relationship was close enough to know that if i would have known that he was -- he had done hgh, which i now

know, if he was knowingly knowing i had taken hgh, we would've talked about the subject. he would've come to me to ask me about the effects of it. >> watch his 2008 testimony online at the c-span video library. with over over 1/4 century of american politics and public affairs on your computer. next, a conversation on ways to reduce u.s. dependence on foreign oil. we'll hear from the president and ceo at fedex, fred smith, plus a number of retired military officials hosted by the hudson institute. this is about 90 minutes. >> well, good afternoon and welcome. i'm ken weinstein, on behalf of

hudson institute and our partner for today's event, securing america's future energy, i'd like to welcome everyone to the betsy and walter stern conference center here at hudson. let me extend a special welcome to our c-span viewing audience and to those watching online at hudson.org. now before we get underway, let me make the standard announcement to ask everyone to kindly turn down the ringers on your cell phones, let me say a few words about hudson institute. hudson institute is a future oriented, market oriented international policy research organization that was founded in 1961 by the late herman caan. central to our research agenda, our natural resources, especially oil, and the role resources play in the global economy. our view today is that innovation and human ingenuity when properly guided can

overcome resource scarcity and provide alternatives that enable us to be prudently optimistic about the future of america and the world. we are co-hosting today's event with securing america's future energy. safe was launched as an action-oriented non-partisan organization by educating policy makers and advocating for comprehensive energy reform. safe has done extraordinary work in getting the energy security agenda on energy security issue on the public agenda. thanks in part to its dynamic and strategic founder, safe's president, ceo, robby diamond who is with us today. in 2006 under robby's leadership, formed the leadership council. committed to reducing u.s. oil dependence. the very distinguished leaders on the energy security leadership council includes four men who are with us today. all are former marines who care deeply about our country and its

future, both are national security and are energy security. and i'll introduce them by order in which they're seated. frederick w. smith, chairman and ceo of the fedex corporation and co-chairman of securing future energy security leadership council. fedex, fred smith needs no introduction in washington neither does fedex, but let me do that nonetheless. fedex is a $32 billion transportation and logistics company serving 222 countries with 260,000 employees, 70,000 vehicles to handle more than 6 million shipments per business day. fred smith is known as a proponent of free markets and free trade and serves on the board of our sister organization. you can say the kato institute among other organizations. bob lutz, the former vice chairman of the general motors.

the 47-year career made him a legend largely focused on project developments that included senior leadership positions at general motors, ford, chrysler, and bmw and culminating and being the vice chairman of general motors. general james conway, retired, a 34th commandant of the united states marine corps. commandant in the culmination of a 40-year distinguished career in active duty. under his lich, the marine corps grew to personnel which he was responsible for organizing, equipping, and training and known for bringing in next-generation weapon systems into the marine corps. lastly, general px kelly, the 28th commandant on the u.s. marine corps and the co-chairman of the leadership council. and general kelly's extraordinarily distinguished 37-year military career which ended in 1987.

he commanded the marine corps organizations at every echelon through many platoon, division, and also served as a member of the joint chiefs. gentlemen, all four of you have been leaders all your lives. and we're particularly honored to continue to be leaders, taking up the future national security of our country in a new way. following the opening remarks which will come in the form of responses to questions, these four individuals -- distinguished individuals have graciously agreed to take questions from the audience. as moderator, i will begin by asking some questions of our panelists before turning it over to our conference center audience here for questions and answers. you can also submit questions via twitter. please send them to us at hudson institute. now, one last note by way of introduction. i should note lastly how pleased we are to be working with safe and hudson. very different kinds of organizations, but i think it is significant today we are working

together to promote dialogue on energy and public policy. safe is a policy organization dedicated to u.s. energy security and has produced a number of constructive proposals to address those challenges. and you can learn more about safe and secure energy.org. a future in research organization with some diversity of viewpoints on energy policy to put it in the least. so our scholars are unanimous in supporting various forms of deregulation to support further energy exploration, does not take institutional positions and our scholars' views differ. support on attacks of imported oil and a significant number of the economic externalties associated with oil are already captured by the current gas tax. and chris sands looks at industrial policy in the auto industry and why it has not yet solved our energy problems sustain bli. new papers on energy are

available at hudson.org and chris's paper is forthcoming. by way of introduction, and let me turn it first now over to fred smith. this is a very distinguished group of individuals we have up here. all of whom have come together to talk about improving our nation's energy security. fred, how would you say our nation's energy is insecure today? >> ken, first let me update a couple of numbers there. fedex, i think earlier about $43 billion, a company that operates about 95,000 trucks. and the reason i emphasize the number of vehicles that we operate and, of course, your figure on the airplanes are pretty close, but what's happened is they've gotten bigger over time. it's the biggest wide body fleet in the world. we came to this issue a long

time ago. when fedex was first beginning operations in 1973, in short order, we were faced with the first embargo in the fall of 1973. wherein in response to u.s. actions in the middle east to support israel, oil was withheld from the market and the united states had begun to be a significant importer of oil. and the government had to allocate oil to individual users. so we were almost killed in our cradle by the first -- for 40 years, we've watched it and the significance is over this period of time that every single major economic contraction or recession in the united states is experienced including the

subprime meltdown was either coincidence with or precipitated by a significant run-up in fuel prices. beginning in the 21st century, however, the landscape changed the landscape changed as a result of the united states' imports of its petroleum needs reaching almost 60% at the zenith and the emergence of china and india as increasing users of petroleum as they had large percentages of their population moving into the middle class and wanting to have the same lifestyle that we did. so, it has become over the last several years after nuclear proliferation and the weapons of mass destruction issue, the

largest single national security and a national economic risk that the united states faces. the energy security leadership council is an organization, as you note d, that's composed of four star generals and admirals and ceos of companies like fedex and using a great deal of energy. we use over 1 billion 500 million gallons a year to put that into perspective. and we felt that the united states did not have a strategic policy regarding energy and the failure to have a strategic policy could lead the united states into a significant confrontation. and we came up with five recommendations which i'll recount and turn the floor back over to you to set the stage, as to what the united states should

do to reduce its dependence on imported petroleum, for which we paid last year representing 58% of the u.s. balance of payments deficit and many of those dollars went to countries which wish us ill, whose values are not the same in the united states, but who controlled all the oil markets through a cartel. our recommendations transcend political labels. number one was to maximize united states oil and gas production in whatever matter feasible. number two was to diversify transportation powered by electrifying as rapidly as possible short haul and light

duty transportation with the vast improvements of lithium battery technology. three, to utilize natural gas as a power supply for heavy duty, over the road and central fuel vehicles. four, to reinstitute fuel efficiency standards for automobiles which was done in 2007 under the bush administration and, last continue biofuel and research to come up with cost effective scaleable biofuel. so that sets the stage i think for the recommendations in the lc that you may want to discuss. >> before we get the recommendations, let's go back for a moment to the national security issue and then we'll turn back to the recommendati s

recommendations. let me ask general conway about how he would characterize the national security on our depe dependence on oil, particularly the military's role of producing global oil supplies. >> let me answer your question by giving you just a brief history of our evolution. in 1936, united states produced 99% of its oil requirement. by 1986, when i was a young major and visited the middle east for the first time with one of our chairmen, the joint chiefs of staff, we went aboard the commandship. at that point, the commander in the middle east was a navy two-star and he and his staff were embarked aboard the "uss la salle." at that point, our requirement was about 27%. today, as fred mentioned, it's somewhere between 50% and 60%.

and it's that impact on our nation and particularly our nation's economy, our nation's decision making that puts us at risk. the problem is our enemies recognize that and it is the strategy, the philosophy, of extremists who would attack our country and will continue to do so. they believe that they cannot beat us in the field, but that they can bring us to our knees through manipulation. control, destruction, having impact on the oil supply and the cost on this nation. to the degree they can bankrupt us, that would then make us unavailable to react. i'm not just talking about us but western europe. so it is that potential for manipulation that causes us concern from a national security perspective and i can assure you, because i've been there, when the joint chiefs of staff sit around the table and talk about various options in any scenario these days, it involves

the middle east high on considerations as you look at courses of action. our impact on our national economic picture. that has never been the case before. previously, that's always been sort of a side concern we would have as military men. someone else will worry ability those factors. but today, it is front and center. now, you should cover i guess the problem without at least offering a recommendation and in addition to the things that fred has talked about, i think as americans, we've got to demand that our country, our national legislators come together with a national energy strategy. policies in my mind live as long as the policymakers. i think it has to be a uniform strategy that all sides of the issue can agree on. that we can agree upon and will take us through the next 10 or 20 years. it's got to transcend in

administrations and until that happens, i think we'll bounce around with a few policies, but we don't get to where we need to be in this transition period. >> if we do get to the energy security that we, that is so desired, can we really abandon missions that we have in terms of protecting global commerce? >> i don't think we'll ever do that. we are a global power. we will continue i think as the primary, at protecting the sea legs and international commerce. it's in the best interest of the world to do that. it's a responsibility that we have evolved to over time since the end of world war ii. i don't think that's going to change much and i don't think our country would want it to change much. i know certainly american business is very comfortable with us being there. it also brings aboard a lot of other values i think that come with it, not least of which is just the presence and the engagement with our friends and

allies across the globe. so the united states military will always be a global military and i think it's the price we're going to have to pay with that kind of inference. >> let me ask you, you were critical to the creation of centcom and saw something decades ago that others didn't. would you care to say something about the creation of centcom and your role in it? >> well, that's a good question. as some of you may recall when we were considering sun com, it started when harold brown realized we did not have a world force. a force that did not go floeblly as a crisis developed. it's so narrowed down because of circumstances going on in the world today. it's so narrowed down to the middle east. but meanwhile, in searching for

a commander in central command after a lot of due diligence in the pentagon in one story that i do like to tell when my name was mentioned to the chairman of the joint chiefs, he didn't know me and said he'd like to meet me. i went over on a sunday morning and his secretary was there in his office and i told her i was here to see the chairman and she said, well, he's over in the white house. i said, well, how long is he going to be there? she said, well, i really don't know. why? do you have a problem? i said, quite frankly, i do. she said would you mind telling me what it is? i said, not really, i promised by granddaughter i was going to take her to see snow white and the seven dwarfs at 2:00 and, by