conduct an inquiry which in turn put the credibility and good will of the government at risk. cso sent an expert from the justice department and our civilian response core who assured the investigation was on track. lie brierian investigators interviewed 70 or 80 people and found a 15 second slice of video of the demonstration that showed specific police firing on the crowd. it actually happened in three different ways. one of the liberian investigators first saw a plain clothed person in a rather exotic shirt with a heavy arm band firing into the crowd. actually the video showed a pop, a little bit of a smoke and you could hear the noise. and still photography confirmed who that person was it turned

out it was a high ranking member of the presidential guard. that same clip was shown to the department of justice investigator who then saw another police man in the same frame shooting this one in uniform. he then showed the same commission clip to the liberian commission members and one of them saw the same person in the same clip. that became the critical evidence. it also shows who we are and how we work are as important as what we're trying to do.

our third goal is to work in a more agile and innovative way. part of that is developing a model for expeditionary diplomacy in the field and part is working as an antedote to the bureaucracy in washington. as we know, the bureaucracy can move like an elephant. it is powerful, but very large and so you can reasonably predict where it's going and be sure not to be underfoot. our goal is to work in a more nimble, speedy fashion, which means more help from our partners. i used to ask audiences would you rather spend $500 million on the largest u.s. embassy in the world in a place like baghdad or would you rather spend $500 million to train 500 americans,

$1 million for each of them so they would be capable of working in a place like baghdad. how many of you would favor the embassy? we pretty much agree almost unanimously. since i started asking this question they built the embassy and it cost a lot more than $500 million. we're trying to figure out what to do with it. so we have got to find a way to to things differently. violent conflict has unofficially dominated u.s. foreign policy for years. so we need to expand the community of people who recognize its centrality and can address it head on.

i want to take a moment to address the tension that we feel in nongovernment groups when governments find themes in the same space. and those are not always the same thing. i think the key is to be very honest about when our interests are in sync and when we might need a little space. we should feel like we can help each other, but also keep our distance when necessary without it being a snub. good open communications should make that possible. with that, i want to offer you a challenge. when went to measure progress in afghanistan for the first time almost everyone i spoke to was telling us what they were doing was working while the larger

enterprise was not going well. we had a situation where we heard 100 success stories that somehow added up to one very questionable effort. there's no mathematical equation that allows 1 hundred pluses to equal a negative. of course, almost everybody had an explanation. are you working in places that really matter. is the larger situation getting any better as a result of your involvement. even if you're doing brilliant work, what's happening on the broader scale.

these are the questions of our time. in the rawest form. people are actually killing each other because they can't figure it out. there is nothing more profound in human life than people killing each other because they can't figure it out. so the most fascinating, the most delicate, most demanding, most responsible moment imaginable, and we're trying to say, is there some way the

united states can help so it doesn't lead to something much more tragic. we need your help. if you ever hear me say we're on top of this, we've got it under control, give me a call or send me an email. because we need all the help we can get. there is plenty to be done. we need to continue the momentum for the work in congress. elsewhere in government and with the partners of all stripes. we need to expand the base of people who believe in this work and as i said, it can't be business as usual. thank you very much. [ applause ]

>> rick has kindly offered to take some questions if there are questions from the audience. i do have to ask a question myself, will somebody be handing around the microphones or do people go to the side? >> handing them out. >> please, raise your hand so that the hander can see you. stand up and introduce yourself. there's a question down here. >> i'm bob burg. i'm wondering if this more

complicated world we're in, the question you'll raise are asked in a lot of governments. i'm wondering if counterparts and other governments and nato and so forth, your questions are resonating well. >> i've always wanted to give at least one mike mansfield answer. i'm already likely to go on than be as succinct as he is. the answer is yes. whether we're talking to the command leaders here in the u.s. government or the uk government or even the colleagues that i had a chance to work with when i was in the u.s. u.n. in new york. i think there's a great recognition that we've really

got to go in a much more creative fashion. one of the thins i've noticed is we tend to be most of us tend to be influenced by our most recent experience. and different from the 1980s where many of us were mostly shaped by bosnia, although there were other catastrophes going on. i think part of it is to make sure we have accumulated the nomg is to make sure we've got it. for me one of the things that's more fascinating is i never know where i'm going to get the parallel experience.

i was surprised to find many the congo that there was more haiti than i expected and in angola there was more serbia than i would have thought. but normally we would put regional experts or -- so it's part of what we want to do is to have an intellectcally challenging enough environment that there's a creative tension within the state department and so we don't end up rushing to a consensus view within the u.s. government that this is the way to do something. but really make it a more rigorous test. that involves kind of a give and take with regional bureaus in particular that's going to be -- have to be more dynamic than it probably has been in some time. that's one of our significant challenges. but the other thing i would say about these counterparts and other governments just kept more specifically to your question is that we're still all relatively small boutiques. we're still all kind of fighting our space within our larger

bureaucracies. and so nobody -- so we have to come together when i was working at oti i always used to say it's nice for us to be doing what we're doing. we can't be a professional team that just practices all the time. we have to be in a league. there's got to -- you have to have people you can go out. so competition and creative tension should be part of this model and so that's why you almost never hear me use the word coordination, although i believe that we really have to work as well together as a fine textile. let me go back here by the microphone. this gentleman back there. >> thank you. i'm from american university and the center for international

relations. i am from greece. i found myself working on the support that i wasn't expecting a little lifetime to do. it has to do with the greece as a failed state. and the liability regional -- many terms of regional security. in case greece becomes a failed state, so the question that i have is how many steps ahead can usip be around the world in cases like greece and others that are not there yet but they are close to becoming. so considering the limited capacities, in terms of money and resources, how many steps can usip be before things get bad.

>> i would hope that many of you would be well ahead of us. that would mean some greater sense of confidence on top of this. one of the things that worries me is i'm quite sure in some places and cases i don't think this is true in the case of greece, but the u.s. military oftentimes has war plans for all matter of places on earth. it strikes me as a minimum requirement that we comparable civilian thinking. all of us need to do that kind of foreign thinking. it doesn't matter who gets to write the first op-ed piece or draw our attention to it. for any of us who spent any time in bosnia, the trip zurich to

zag rev that one and a half-hour flight seemed like a pretty sudden way to go from europe, heaven and europe to hell. it certainly gave me just that very raw introduction the very front end to never be arrogant about what you have. so we should be anxious about these places because the little bit of anxiety is what prevents disasters. since most of you are in the prevention business, you recognize that, it's not a great feeling. worrying about stuff doesn't make you feel great. it's better to be worried about it so see the eventually. i think that places like greece we should be alert to. probably for cso our focus is going to be in three kinds of cases. hot spots. too big to fail, and long standing conflicts that don't

seem to be breaking loose. and you can see what kinds of places fall into each of those. then what we do in each of those might be very different. we might have a fall scale operation in the invitation to really be trying to push the u.s. government to make sure that the assistance there is focused and another place we might be doing advanced strategic planning or advising an embassy even. there's certainly the model that we've been building upon. this woman right here. my name is mindy riser. i'm representing global peace services u.s. the u.s. government and parts of it that may not have been involved in collaboration, the peace corp. as its own identity and is at a distance from intelligence gathering. but certainly the people on the ground have such insight and

such commitment to the well being of their countries, is there any way their insights can be fed into this process? and also the fulbright program. there are now many people from all parts of the world in the united states and americans overseas, they have insights. they have knowledge that others don't, is there a way to tap into this extraordinary intellectual resource? >> sure. i think an awful lot of the processes that aye seen at cso are invite that kind of broader participation. my feeling always when i was at oti was that everything we were doing was basically in an overt space. and being np an overt space meant that we were transparent about the information we were collecting so we would -- we

should be sharing it with anybody. if the intelligence community or whatever else wanted to know what we were thinking that was fine because it was public information. and i feel that that's one way to get around this sort of worry that people have about their insights being misused by the official world is what i do is open. so i'm sharing it with anybody who has an interest in promoting peace in the place. i think that's the easier formula for people like the peace corp. rather than there being seen as information gat r gatherers for the u.s. policy apparatus. on the other hand, one of my favorite sayings ever is a retired intelligence offer who was living in princeton when i was teaching there and he stood up one day and he said, i found after i retired that i had an advantage that none of my former cloogs had. i had open and free access to

open information. i think actually it's interesting now. we get some analysis data from the intelligence community that's based on totally available information. sorry for missing the rest of you. >> thank you. my name is beatrice camp. i'm a state department foreign service officer on detail to smithsonian. >> doing what? >> on detail to the smithsonian. >> great. >> i want to ask if any part of your office is working on cultural recovery issues? smithsonian did a lot of work in haiti after the earthquake. but in addition i was thinking we had a briefing and discussion yesterday with ambassador derek mitchell about what the smithsonian is doing in burma

this kind of environmental and conservation research there which for the last 20 years has been building a foundation that can be helpful now. particularly on the cultural artifacts issue? thank you. >> the answer is, not specifically, no. but i would like to be able to say, and i think we're working on this, to really understand these cases you better not approach them as from just a political optic or economical optic. i met more than on any other place on earth when i was working there. or as a sociologist. when you get the convergence of violence in a society and it breaks down to this extent it's usually a witches' brew. you need all of the participants in play. that's part of what we're trying to build and i hope that our

talent to be respected and trusted, it's going to have to have that breadth of understanding. whether the cultural issue would rise to be one of the two or three top priorities in the place is difficult to say, but it's possible, and shouldn't be excluded any more than it should be the -- sort of the default position that we take. so i'm really hoping we'll have the freshness of analysis that will be sensitive to those kinds of opportunities, but not be captive of any one when it gets there. well, thank you all very much. really appreciate it. [ applause ] today's white house briefing comes up in about ten minutes. 2:00 p.m. eastern, with national security adviser tom donilon.

we're planning to bring that to you live. we'll we wait a sdrudiscussion the republicans in congress from today's "washington journal." >> joining us, representative steve king a republican from iowa. mr. king, if we could start with the speaker boehner, president obama meeting at the white house yesterday. do you agree with speaker boehner's comments that any new debt reduction or any new debt ceiling talk has to be accompanied by debt reduction? spending cuts? >> i absolutely agree with that and i think we need have drawn the line. we need to hold it strongly that this country is watching as america spends money, spends money and we're going into deeper and deeper debt. we've got to draw a bright line. we look at greece and if we go through another term of barack obama and the kind of spending we've had with his proposed $1.33 trillion deficit, add that up year by year, our little granddaughter born a year and a half ago, share of the debt

$44,000. today it's $51,000 if she become as taxpayer. she better. double that. only half the people have federal income tax liability. $102,000 per individual in america that is peii ipaying ta. we have to draw a bright line and do it now. >> i've been hearing a lot of republicans saying, and tell me if this is a theme that the republicans have come up with, which is everybody should participate by paying some tax, because, like you said, about 50% do not pay in tax at this point. is that a republican strategy to broaden the tax base? >> i can't say that that's a republican strategy. it is my strategy. and i have long advocated for going to a national sales tax. the fair tax. and if we do that, first thing we can do is untax the poor. we can give people a prebate and the sales tax up to the poverty

level, to that standard of living. living wait to the poverty level. the ones that spends the most pay ps the highest tax. if we do that, that brings everybody in the tax paying realm including those living in the black market. people selling illegal drugs. prostitutes and pimps on the streets. tourists that come into america and the people that found their tax exemptions and loopholes. everybody consumes. if we tax consumption we take the punishment off production and get a lot more production in america. that's where i think we should go. >> congressman king did you support paul ryan's reconciliation bill that came up a week or so back? >> yes, sir,did. >> what was the agreement the house passed, what was the point of bringing that up again this ye year? well, of changing that agreement. >> to bring that to the -- really point was, force deep, deep cuts in our national

defense. and there's a national security concern that's pervasive throughout this congress and it exists within the obama administration, and we needed to take a step to at least, whether harry reid picks it up or not, i never expected he would, at least send a message that republicans are going to be strong on national defense, but there's one thing can you extend unemployment benefits out 99 weeks and beyond, but what happens with that is, are the skills of our work force atrophy. if we spend that money instead on national defense, america's security increases and we keep the skill leveling of our workers up. one way of comparing it but i think it's a good idea and i supported that package. >> do you foresee a debt ceiling or debt reduction debate, heavy debate, before november? >> you know, i look at that and i think, does either side gain a political advantage if they do? one side will push nofor that.

y i don't think barack obama does. i think he will delay and r that and tim geithner made it clear there is the tools to extend it sometime beyond and perhaps into next year. that's what i think will happen. on the other side of this i don't think john boehner wants to see that debate either. >> abc news recently, an iowa endorsement for romney. five months after caucus. talking about you endorsing mitt romney. what's your enthusiasm level? >> you know, it's picking up week by week, and i said that i will enthusiastically support our eventual nominee. and i never had reserve acheses about that. my reservations was that these candidates didn't separate themselves clearly enough that i had the deep, deep conviction to make a recommendation to the rest of the state before the caucus. and if i'd come to that conviction i would have made that endorsement. if i had picked someone and made the endorsement without that conviction, it wouldn't have been genuine. i like mayor romney.

i've worked with him for five years. he's done a great job in iowa and he's been, he is a better candidate today than he was five years ago. he's developed his policies. developed his presentation. i'm enthusiastic about it and seeing this country come together behind mitt romney as an example would be yesterday when a group of tea party leaders from across the country came together and you know in a more perfect union endeavor to send that message and in the center was herman cain who made the endorsement yesterday. i see conservatives it of all stripe, tea party people, project 910 people, conservative and moderate republicans all coming together behind mitt romney. is happening. >> representative king, how much help will you have time to give to mitt romney? you've got kind of a tough race yourself. don't you? running against kristy vilsack, the former governor's the

agriculture secretary's wife? >> you look up through the chain of command through my opponent kristy vilsack, at least three super pacs lined up to go against me, her husband on the cabinet, secretary of agriculture. he and i served in the iowa senate together, and then, of course, i'm seated in a reasonable seniority position on the house committee, marking up a farm bill this summer. there's those tensions involved then all of the force of the obama campaign sitting across the river in chicago. president obama has to win iowa if he's going to win america. but i will have time to help mitt romney and i hope he has a little time to help me. we can do this together, peter. >> from april 20th, and then we'll go to calls after we talk about this issue. an associated press story. u.s. secretary of agriculture tom vilsack said that the days of government payments to grow corn and soybeans are nush numb due to record farm numbers and

budget constraints. >> i think that's accurate. the caution i would put that that statement is, if we saw markets just fall out of bed, and that could happen. we've seen it happen in the past, and we had that discussion yesterday in the hearing. what if corn dropped down to $3 and stayed there five years. what would we have? not a lot of safety net. on balance, that statement is accurate. i wouldn't disagree. a good go in agriculture in the corn belt in the last few years. the best years in my lifetime and maybe ever coupled by renewable energy and value adding in many, many big ways. we've kept that wealth within the corn belt area as close to the cornstalk as we can, peter. >> representative steve king is our guest in his fifth term representing the fifth district of iowa. he sits on the agriculture committee, the judiciary committee, small business committee and a member of the republican study committee. numbers are on the screen and we'll begin with a bl