embodies the public/private partnership in service to the nation that is the core of each of us as professionals who have served the nation in many capacities. in the government, you're looking at a deputy twice, twice deputy u.s. attorney. what may be less known to you is while in the eastern district of new york, he was the lead prosecutor on the you towers bombing. i think that is less known about our esteemed speaker. you're also look at a former deputy attorney general, that was when i had the personal privilege of working with director comey when we were at the early stages of building the intelligence intra structure for the fbi. director comey is no stranger to industry. he served as lockheed martin for five years as a senior vice president and general counsel. and what is most remarkable and

also less known about you also is the work you've done in academia. while you were an adjunct at the richmond law school or whether you were at the columbia law school as a senior research scholar. this is it a row fou profoundly fascinating career and i think when you were sworn in, i couldn't improve on the word, a proven leader and faithful advocate for the american people. and with that welcome, thank you for being here. we look forward to hearing from you. >> thank you so much. and hang you, ladies and gentlemen. i don't know if i got the short straw or the long straw getting the friday afternoon key note

event. i will try to be brief and then i'd love to have a conversation with you about whatever you'd like to talk about. and i'll just avoid anything i don't want to talk about. what i thought i would do is give he yyou a sketch of where e the fbi and where i see myself on the things i need to focus on at the close of 12 months in this wonderful job. i have eight years and 52 weeks left on this job just having finished about 12 months. i've been somebody who has known the fbi my whole adult life. i've worked with the bureau since i was a federal prosecutor in manhattan in 1987 and i know it well. but when i became director, i also knew that i didn't know it well enough to be effective as director. and so i've spent a lot of time trying to go and see the fbi, only a portion of which i can see from my office on the 7th floor at fb chlt headquarters because my force is deployed in

56 field offices, 400 sub offices off of those field offices, now approaching 100 offices around the world. so i've spent the last 12 months doing a lot of traveling. i've visited 44 of my field offices here in the united states, 45 when i hit albany, and i've been to 14 of our legal attache offices around the country. and when i go, the most important part is the conversation with them where i introduce to mifyself, talk to them about what do you need kme to focus on. after about nine months, i spetd an e-mail to my entire workforce. and they discovered that i write my own e-mails. send it out to 35,000 people an. but after all that traveling and

talking, i want to share with you what i told them was my saying for the fbi. the fbi i believe can be captured in a single sentence. we are a national security and law enforcement organization that uses, collects and shares intelligence in everything that we do. that is the fbi. i was one of those who fought against dividing the fbi into an mi-5 and scotland yard after 9/11. i thought even though some thoughtful people on the other side had different views, i thought it would be a mistake. i thought there were great strengths from having those authorities and those responsibilities of the national security side and the criminal enforcement side in the same place. i also thought it was very important that any national security organization that focused here in the states be chalk full of a culture of a adherence of the rule of law. so i think one of the things that the commission for the right is that the bureau should

not be split up and instead the bureau should work to transform itself to be better at accomplishing especially the national security mission, but all of its missions. so that is my picture of the fbi today. i inherit an fbi about bob mueller worked very hard to begin a number of missions. so i believe we are the best in the world and i've told them that i'm not a fan of either the miami heat or the cleveland cavaliers, but i'm an admirer of lebron james because he is the best basketball player playing in the world today, i don't want to say ever because then i get into the whole michael jordan thing. and yet every offseason, he finds a part of his game to try to improve. and then he works on that. and that seems crazy because he's already better than everybody else. but what i admire about james is

he does that because he's not measuring himself against others, he's measuring himself against himself. he knows that the journey to excellence is actually one without any end. so i've said to the fbi i believe we are great. i don't think there is anybody as good. i believe we're not good enough in a lot of respects. and so i've told my work face i'm going to focus on three things as my personal priorities and i have to listen to you in order because i can't speak all three at once, but they're tied for first. they are leadership, cyber and intelligence. and a few brief words about why i chose those. the fbi has extraordinary leadership. i believe fbi should be the leadership factory of the united states government and it's not there yet. i have a lot of admiration for the men and women in uniform who produce tremendous leaders for this country who go on to leadership in riprivate tech ts. i think we should be better than

they. i think they should hire them to lead private enterprise because they have had such amazing training in a civilian organization in the united states. i learned from two different roles with two different leading company, one in aerospace and commence and one in finance that the best companies in the world obsess about leadership. they treat it as money. the ceo of lockheed martin would lock us, the senior leadership team, in a room for hours and hours at a time to review leaders five levels down. where is she, what is her potential, how are we developing her, who is mentoring her, where is that guy, what is flnext for him. someone had to be accountable for growing that money. leadership is money. because i want to try to drive that kind of culture. so that we obsess over

leadership talent. we recruit for it we select, we promote, we evaluate and drive a focus on leadership into everything., we select, we promote, we evaluate and drive a focus on leadership into everything. it becomes a perpetual motion machine. i've inherited from bob mueller a fabulous leadership development program and i intend to give that lots of life. second, cyber. should be obvious to this audience as to why that is one of my three priorities. i fry to explain to people who know the world of cyber less than you that cyber touches everything i'm responsible for. counterterrorism, counterintelligence and all of our criminal responsibilities manifest in cyber because it's not a thing, it's just a way. it's a vector. it's a way that bad people do

things because we as a people have connected our entire lives to the internet. it's where my children play, where i bank, where my nation's critical interdictifrastructure is where everything is in this country and around the world. that vector change touches everything i'm responsible for. i was recently in indiana and the local sheriff gave me a bullet fired from john dillinger dillinger's sub machine gun. and it occurred for me that a great vector change gave nibirt to the modern fbi. suddenly criminals could commit crimes across unheard of distances, two states, three states in the same day, moving at speeds that were

unimaginable, 40 miles an hour downhill, 50 miles an hour. county lines were not relevant. state lines were not relevant and a national force was needed to respond to that vector change and there was the first director of the fbi, j. edgar hoover, and the modern fbi was born. so as i stared at the bullet, it occurred to me that dillinger could not do 1,000 robberies in all 50 states in the same day in his pajamas from halfway around the world. that's what today's vector change represents. the unheard of distances of dillinger and his ilk, the speed of dillinger and his ilk are infinitely smaller and more narrow than the threat moves today. the internet moves at 186,000

miles per second. the speed of light. the notion of county lines, state line, international lines, normal concepts of venue and space and time are blown up by this threat. i was in indianapolis. shanghai is next to indianapolis on the internet. space and time movement of the threat on the internet has shrunk the world to the size of a pin. so if we're going to be effective at the fbi, we have to be able to operate effectively in cyberspace. so i have to be able to recruit, retain, train, equip and deploy against that threat. i was asked at a hearing earlier this week where i was sitting with jeh johnson how i was going to recruit cyber talent and i said i don't want to say because i don't want jeh to know my tricks, but the primary trick is

that the fbi is a cooler place to work. but an enormous challenge. and just as the threat blows up normal concepts in space and time, i think it has to stretch the way we think about recruiting, training, deploying. one thing we'll did in the do the fbi, we'll assign threats to a particular office.in the do te fbi, we'll assign threats to a particular office. space and time and venue really doesn't make any sense. so we'll figure out where the expertise lies and assign it around the country without regard to where the particular threat may be manifesting in the united states so that we develop expertise and then coordinate from headquarters among other field offices who touch that threat. i have no high confidence as to what the world will look like that i'm responsible for will in nine years when i leave. ic this i think this is a transformation that human history has never seen, so it would be arrogant for me to say

i can say what it should look like. we have a variety of plans that we position aosition think are e and we'll try to execute while constantly be open to learning. and we'll try to execute while constantly be open to learning. and the last tied for first s intelligence. as i said, bob mueller began transformation right after nichbl. to 9/11. to me, intelligence is are information relative to decision making. i think the fbi as always, always been in the intelligence business. what are we great at? we're great at interacting with other human beings especially and getting stuff from them. for 106, that's a core confidence. our ability to react, connect with other people, get

information from them, and bring it back. we didn't know it at the time, maybe 50 years ago, that was intelligence we were collecting. to me the transformation is simply about getting better at that, getting wider at that getting deeper at that. let me say a few words about what i mean by that. the fbi has on which beften bab of working its inbox that fairly or unfairly, we would work things where we had a el relationship or existing sourcer unfairly, we would work things where we had a relationship or existing source. part of the transformation bob began is getting more thoughtful. he said threat based and intelligence driven. what i've inherited from bob is an organization that tries not to work its inbox, but to step back, first from washington, and ask this question.

what are all a tthe bad things t could happen to the united states and its citizens that the fbi might conceivably do something about? what are all the bad things that could happen? who is doing things to try to mitigate those threats and given that, our assess the of the threat and the mitigation going on now against it, what should be our priorities across all of our responsibilities? ghich all the threats and the way we assess themnd and who is doing what, what should be our priority list? so we spend a lot of time thinking about that from a headquarters perspective and then we ask each of our field offices to engage in the same exercise and ask the same questions about omaha, miami or san antonio. what are all the bad things that could happen here that we might do something about. who else is looking to mitigate

those threats. how would we in omaha or san antonio or miami rank those threats. and then we take the national and local pictures and mash them together in messy debates involving lots of smart people and at the end of that process, each year every single threat office has a list of threats agreed upon with headquarters and might be measures to see w they're making progress. that is a process we call the threat review and prioritization process. you can see it's an intelligence driven process. what do we know, what don't we know, what are the gaps. given that picture, how do we assign weight to these threats. that's the first thing we do. and then constantly throughout the year, we're looking to gather information to understand the threats better and to share information throughout the fbi to understand threats and mitigate them better and we

measure how we're doing at collecting the information and reducing the threats. one of my worries in communicating with my workforce is that sometimes especially with people who have been around a while, when they hear words like domain, requirement, gaps, the terms of art of the intelligence profession, sometimes for people who aren't familiar with them, it sounds a little bit foreign. i just described the entire thing to you without using those words. what i've said to the special agents of the fbi, the fbi transformation oversimplified is simply this. the core of the fbi is the at of the spibl agent to interact with other human beings and ged stuff. what we're trying to do is get more thoughtful. what stuff do we need to do. how are we going to find that stuff out and the stuff we find out, who needs to know that and how does it connect to the other stuff we know. to get that done, i need to wrap that ghift in a did he nut of equally talented people who think about that all day long.

to surround that gift which is my special agents, over simplified, but that's how i conceive of it. the transformation bob mueller began and that i'll continue is simply trying to make sure that that doughnut of smart thinking, of creates differenive thinkingg everything the fbi does. so whether working a criminal case, cyber, counter intelligence, counter terrorism, or training, recruit, positioning about the budget, everything the fbi does, all of those activities are subfused with the same thinking.about the fbi does, all of those activities are subfused with the same thinking. it simply makes us better.

i tell the special agents to me this is about using the gift for the broader benefit of our country so that you find things out. if you're interviewing a doctor from a foreign country in a medicare fraud case, i know you'll get amazing stuff about the billing and partnership structure that will help us understand the fraud. i want to equip you to find out other stuff. who has been traveling to that country? what do you know who went back there some w there? get me lots of stuff. bring it back and smart people will figure out what we'll do with that. because i believe this has to be part of everything the fbi does, i've taken the intelligence directorate out from under the national security branch. the moment i walked in the door, i said that doesn't make sense. if i'm trying to drive this integration into everything we did, what is that doing sitting under the national security branch. i want it part of criminal, part of cyber, part of everything we do here. so i took it and created with

congress' permission an intelligence branch. we last had an intelligence branch when mo baginski was running it and it may be fair to say the bureau wasn't ready for it then. it is ready for it now. our approach has matured in a way that i think we're ready for that. and so i've asked eric velez have a lar to be the first. and i've told our workforce, this is another practical reason i want to do that. i want for stair at eric velez valar every single morning and say how is it going. how is the transformation going. i think sometimes the combination of operations and intelligence is a bit like an arranged marriage. i'm told some arranged marriages result in crowds of grandchildren and life long life. and others don't and so i want to know how is the marriage.

how are we driving to make it better. in the meantime, i'm going to have the kids date at quantico. met metaphor really doesn't work. but i started chasing my wife when i was 19, so i was one of those dating marriages that has lasted and works. so with our new class of agents, we've designed a core curriculum that is integrated. they're majoring in very different things. i don't need the intelligence analysts to know how to shoot well, but i need them to sit in the same classroom when they're studying fourth amendment, writing, bureau policy, basics of intelligence trade craft. all those things that are the common core curriculum that you had in college, i want them sitting next to each other in the same classroom to knit them together and before they leave, i want them to run practical exercises. i want them to replicate counter

i i i in-tell against quads just like for raids and take downs and undercover moves. so when those kids hit the field, they have dated in totally appropriate ways and the marriage is made much easier. we have made tremendous progress. like any huge cultural change, it's a generational change. and so it's something we'll work on and continue to work on. so leadership, cyber and intelligence. those are my three priorities tied for first. i believe the fbi is a remarkable organization doing all kinds of things all over the country. and 13 years on, i believe even more strongly now it would have been a mistake to split it. there is tremendous benefit from us coming to the challenge of counter terrorism, counter

intelligence and criminal of all sorts with all of those authorities in the same place for a bunch of reasons. so i believe i have the greatest job in the world. i believe, though, that for the fbi to do everything that it accomplishes, we must be believed by the american people. whether this courtroom or congress or are a cookout, when my folks speak, they must be believed. despite what my be loved mother told me, i care what other people think of us. you have to in my business because the trust of the american people is the bedrock of the fbi. i especially focus on that today. one of my real worries in the post-snowden world is that a healthy skepticism can bleed over into cynicism. i believe the american people should be deeply suspicious of government power. i think our founders were. and it's the reason they guidw d

divided power among three brunches because you can't trust people in power. you can't. i say i think i'm a good person, i think i will honor my obligation, but don't trust me. you can't. i'm a human being and i'm in a powerful position. instead ask how is the genius design of the founders lay on top of this guy. where is interests set against interests. how is he overseen, how is he restrained, how is he checked. there is an angel in those details. the fbi's life is chalk full of the design of the founders. one of my frustrations today is people ask lots of good questions. it's hard to find the space and time to give the answers. i find good people nodding at cookouts or other places when someone says isn't it terrible the government wants to break encryption on the internet. no, it's not. with lawful authority, overseen by the third branch of

government, i need to be able to do that. if i show a probable cause and go to a federal judge and get a warrant, i will save children that way. i will fight organized crime that way. i will fight terrorism that way in a way that makes sense. took me 60 seconds just to say that. finding that 60 seconds in american lch todife camtoday is difficult acti difficult, but we have the burden to have that conversation. i reject the framework of tradeoff. of balance. between security and liberty. i reject that tradeoff because i believe the most effective security is that which enhances liberty. if i imagine in my mind e's eye city park where gang-bangers are hanging out in a way that allows them to dominate the park but not to allow children or grandparents to use that park and the city responds by putting

a police officer in that park, liberty and security have both been enhanced. that's when we're both at our best. so people talk about the internet. i believe the internet today is one of the most dangerous neighborhoods imaginable. i simply must be able to offer security in that environment in a way that enhances liberty. but it requires a dialogue and conversation. there is great danger when you're in any position of authority that you'll fall in love with the sound of your own voice. i think john adams said this a letter to thomas jefferson that power always believes it has a pure soul. but the best antidote is to have a conversation. what is the authority i use. what do you think? i think that's extraordinarily healthy. it's also good for the fbi because it enhances people's vision of us and with that vision i believe comes trust.

so i am i believe one of the luckiest people in the world to have the job that i have. i don't want to be thinking else. i want to help the fbi be what it is which is a truly great national security and law enforcement organization that uses, collects and shares intelligence this everything that we do and constantly look to improve that. so i look forward to our conversation. i thank you for your support, for your advice, for your push back, for your debate. and i hope we'll continue this conversation years to come. thank you very much. [ applause ] >> thank you very much. and i have a number of questions and i've tried to lump them into broad categories. the first actually is really focused on what the intelligence

reform and terrorism reveppreve act mandated of the fbi. so as we approach the 10th anniversary, how would you assess the fbi not just -- will its progress and not just integrating intelligence and operations internally, but taken grating into the larger -- i don't want to be too flip, but the doughnut is on the table. >> i think the answer is great, not good enough. as someone who left in 2005 and came back a year ago, to me it's strike being t striking the transformation. i joke we went from people who sat at the corner tail in the high school cafeteria and no one talked to us, maybe we're not quite at the cool kids' table, but i guess it's a long table.

we're sitting at the same table. because i think people have come to know us. the bureau is a bit of astrange -- not strange, but vapgstrang. so people see what we produce. i had a visit there commanders to tell me that they worry people of the fbi don't realize how much the stuff we find out flows to the war fighter. so i think we have become part of it in a very good way. i think there is room for improvement. i'm somebody who thinks there is always room for improvement. but i'd say much better. i think we have room to grow. >> so in that respect, which would you say is stronger now, the fbi's integration of intelligence community into its operations or the fbi's service

to the larger ic in roying information or the larger national security community in providing information to them that furthers their information. or are they both good? >> i don't know that i would materially distinguish between the two. i think they're both pretty darn good. and again as with the familiarity with our work product grows, that acceptance grows with it. i'd say they're about the same. both pretty good. >> and a series of questions about people. you put a big focus on people especially your intelligence professional cadre. so again, we're coming up on ten years of the reform bill and the fbi got a very long section devoted to it. and one of the mandates was that fbi create an intelligence career service.

you talked about began quantico training. hunger to find out what is your assess the of the progress building that cadre and is there a place where you think work remains or your work in it? >> great log has been made. i'm eager to have outside eyes give me a sense of how much it is. i think it's actually pretty darn good. but we now have a commission that is taking a look. and i think we've reached an inflection point. we've hired a tremendous a talented people and now the question is to where are they going. are they going in to the in-telling against program leadership roles in my field

offices, and why isn't eric velez valar an intelligence professional. and i've talked about that with the workforce. success will be when the ead for intelligence and all the leaders down through the program are people who came up through the intelligence career service, the analytical pipe, if you will. it's a confession of immaturity and a little witness that abit special agent. i don't have the talent thmatur and senior enough to put in that role. but before i leave, i need that. where all the way up they are people who trained and grew and developed as our intelligence cadre. >> so in that spirit, i will ask a couple of questions all pretty much written the same way by the same element of that career service which are intelligence

analysts. is that a particular area that needs more work, less work some do you have a vision for the role of an intelligence analyst in the fbi doughnut that yyou described? >> that's sort of at the top level a critical, critical partner in that doughnut with the special agent because it only works with both being robust and as i said, i think we're in a very good place. but an inflection point. i've now done 44 visits and they're excited, hungry, though, to see what their future looks like. will i be able to advance into an asac type position and grow up to be an assistant director in the fbi and maybe some day be that executive assistant director. they're hungry to see us deliver there.

or aim going to hit a glass ceiling. and i told them to my last breath you will not hit a glass ceiling. my goal is to pull you up to lead the entire enterprise. >> and there is an adjunct to this. and i'm just representing the questions. so there is a culture, and i experienced this personally, but there is a culture of agents in the f bchlfbi and everyone else. that's not good or bad. that just is. sometimes it is did tickfficult you're the everyone else. so one of the questions here is how do you feel -- how do you describe the people that run the i.t. systems, is there a

cultural reason to start talking about it differently other than calling them support staff? >> labels matter.termss. i tend to think of three buckets. special agent, intelligence staff and professional staff. some people combine professional staff and intelligence staff. i break them out in those three groups because i find the issues they want to ask me about break down in those three buckets. no todoubt that the special age is a central role. what i've told people is part of this transformation is just making sure the center holds more than one kind of person. because to be truly great, we need a symbiotic relationship between those gifted special agents and the gifted intelligence analysts. and where the marriage is best

is where leadership is a conscious effort to make sure the two roles know each other. because in the front seats of cars on the way to meetings or interview, special agents discover how smart intelligence analysts are. that's how human culture changes. best definition i've ever heard is the way things are really done around here no matter what they tell in you training. and so you can't by definition train your way to a change in culture.you in training. and so you can't by definition train your way to a change in culture. it requires one person at a time. i describe it as a zipper. i need both sides blended together about and i see tremendous progress. as i said, to me it's not good enough. but that's to be understood. >> and are you onyou are only t

director in a 100 plus-year-old organization. so cultures change slowly. we can move off the people questions and into some cyber questions. and this one is i think an important informational one for this audience. when should a company approach the fbi if they suspect a cyber attack? >> i would wait six or eight weeks. put your pillow over your head, hope it goes away. yesterday is the answer. >> and their field office or their -- >> sure that's where they should start. any significant private enterprise should know the folks at the my field office. the strength of the fbi, we're in every community in the country.

there are only two kinds of companies. those who have been hacked and those who don't know they have been hacked. so you need that relationship with us. even if you don't know you need it, you will know you need it soon. and i was general counsel at two companies. so i fully understand, i can remember yelling at my people why doesn't the government tell us more and faster and what are they going to do with the stuff we give them. how do we know it won't be used against us in a competition or we'll get sued over this. i totally get that. which is doctor why we do need from congress in giving clear rules of the road to those general counsels so they can have those questions answered. but it is an enormous mistake to think that you can handle it yourself, self help in some way will get you there. we need to talk quickly. we're working very hard to try and change the value equation for private enter rise. we've long had something that a

malware database into which we put every piece of malware we encounter. when an agent opens a case, they query the database and it connects to this and that. we will make that database available to private enterprise so they can sit down, a trusted partner can sit down at a keyboard and type in their own information and get a report in seconds, maybe minutes as to what that connects to. there is value in that for me because it fosters corporate. but there is tremendous value for the private sector. these are the kind of things that will get us out of -- we're sort of responding at dillinger speed at a threat moving at the speed of light. >> the fbi has a very important counter intelligence mission and

has forever had a very important counter intelligence commission. can you give us your top counter intelligence threats within the confines of an unclassified symposium that you think that we're facing? >> i can't really other than tell you it's the usually suspects. nation states, a tendency for people to position that he is pea imagi espionage is an old fashioned deal. it is more aggressive by the vector change. your need to meet shall be after drawing on a box is halfway around the world. so responding to the ci threat in that cyber vector isbe after drawing on a box is halfway around the world. so responding to the ci threat in that cyber vector is november

go nonnegotiable. >> have you also launched and reinvigorated or strengthening of an insider threat program? >> yes, very much so. the bureau through hard lessons learned has long had a pretty aggressive insider threat detection and prevention program given the nature of the threat and especially again given the vector change. people don't need to stuff documents in to their pants because they have so many exfill abilities that i think we need to -- we can't ever be confident that we have it. so we've done a up 1/2 changes to change the way we're approaching it. we've set up an insider threat center to bring together every single responsibility in the bureau that touches insider threat. i think that keep s a focus on

it. i can fall in love with the sound of my own voice. an institution can fall in love with its own virtue. we're trying to foster some of that by having an interdisciplinary threat center. >> switching gears. an interesting thing that is on the top of it, it says fbi versus dhs, which i know is not the case any longer. but a great question and we had a homeland intelligence panel that was very, very powerful. so dhs has vast amounts of unique information. the question is, if you can characterize your relationship with dhs intelligence and how you you interact to ensure dhs

can perform both its departmental and national intelligence mission. >> on the intelligence front, it's fabulous thanks to people like john cohen. structures matter, but the nature of the people operating the structures matters more. so we have it knit together in a sway th way that is very good. we bump into areas that are primarily law enforcement areas. and i have no patience for turf battles. i don't think the american people have patience for turf bottles. i sometimes hear folks say is this agency or that agency encroaching on our traditional. >> joseph turow: turf and my reaction is that reminds me of a wide receiver saying the quarterback is not throwing to me enough. my response is run great routes. get open and every time you get

the ball, score a touchdown. you will get the ball. my message is be excellent. and any other bumps, we're working them out. i've known jeh johnson since i was a baby federal prosecutor. we're already in a good place on cyber and cell responsibiliti c responsibilities. >> do you feel that we have a good picture what we would call a common rating picture but a good consolidated threat picture of threat it is to the homeland that you can look at, that dhs can look at and people can know like that where the threat vectors are as a community, i guess i should say? >> i think so. but again, that's one of the ones that i never want to answer with high confidence because i'm constantly worried about what don't i know. and the threat vectors are by their nature -- let's take home

grown violent extremists. by their nation oure opaque. it's in its basement in pajamas being radicalized by isil to emerge with a window for us to identify that particular part of the threat vector and mitigate that threat. so i think we have a good picture of the threats we takes. within a lot of those threat, it's very hard to say. >> okay. great. both dhs and the fbi have in the past not been thought of as branded technical organizations. incredibly capable organizations, but it's that change you were talking about. are there core capabilities and skills that you need to grow in

order to make this shift with you on the technical side? >> yes. >> will you buy it or will you make it? >> i will try whenever possible not to make it a custom bureau product. software, hardware. people i like to make. across those dimensions, i feel pretty good about us from a software perspective. we as you know from having worked there, we failed to invest as an organization 20 years ago in the infrastructure that was needed. and my friend bob mueller has played catchup and i've inherited a lot of that. we still have progress to make. one of the reasons that i told congress i needed sequestration to end is i've got to invest in equipment. the bureau really only had three

things. i have no aircraft carriers or satellites. i have people doing great stuff. so i need people, training and technology. and as i said, a big part of that is investing in things like the pipes to move enormous amounts of data to be effective. so we've made great progress. but not good enough and we'll continue to work on it. >> back to larger maybe more global questions about intelligence in general. and this is a thoughtful question about the sort of freighted nature of the term domestic intelligence. it is something we in fact made a conscious sdedecision not to write into the law. there still is just foreign encounter. it's the operations at least. so we don't have such a thing. but it does make people uncomfortable. the use of the term. so can you describe the role of

the bureau in sort of bridging that divide? you speak the intel and then you interact with state, local, tribal, where that term -- it frankly does make people uncomfortable. and how would you assess the progress there and what are your views about the term domestic intelligence. is there another word or should we not care? >> i think we have to care. words can illuminate or an secure and i think that that word obscures and concerns people which is why i use stuff instead of intelligence. but again the reason it would have been a mistake to split the bureau is so much of the information that we get that is useful to the war fighter, to our policymakers, is stuff that is learned by deputy sheriffs in an encounter, police officers,

someone at the border. and what i want from them is stuff is probably -- i could probably be a little fancier. but i need facts, i need information. what did you see, what did you hear, what did you find. and then -- so anyhow, i think it ob skuscures. it freaks people for good reason. some dark overtones. what we're in is the information business, the stuff business, and we use to be better. people said is the director creating some new aggressive effort on the criminal side. no. i hope we're already being pretty aggressive in trying to find crime and stop it. what i'm trying to make sure we do is be more thoughtful about so what are we learning in our criminal matters that could be useful in the other things that we do and can be useful to our partners. that's why i want that intelligence professional looking across the entire

enterprise on make sure we're getting better at figuring out so what stuff do we know, what have we learned in these drug cases or child pornography cases that might be of use to us uses elsewhere. >> excellent. so, another sort of cosmic intel related. you have spoken eloquently about your desire to -- your recreation of the aeda position and the messages because of the importance to the fbi's mission and also to national security in general. so, probably not a fair question, but one of these, can you tell us -- when you talk about integration of intel and ops, the d.o.d. crowd, we grew up with that. grew up with that in my blood. it's combat support agency. i get it. can you help us understand, if you're successful, what would success look like to you from

the fbi world? and how will you know? >> that's actually a great question, and one i'm working on right now to figure out, so what are the -- what measurements will i use to tell me whether i have achieved success and what's my vision of success. the highest level way to describe my vision, it may sound odd and backwards, is when no one talks about integration anymore. it's just that you've -- i say to the new intelligence analyst at quantico, i said, i'm successful but you forgot i raised this. it's part of your dn. of course, i'm constantly interacting, just as in intelligence. we're the same team. that's what success will feel like. the challenge s how do i measure -- what are the peterme i use? that's one of my charges to eric

velez valar. >> on the sib you are side -- ike going to try to do five in one question. but there's a lot of questions surrounding public/private partnership in general, but i think it might be more interesting if you could describe it relative to the cyber domain. i mean, do you have a view of what that would look like? >> yeah, that's a good one. let me start with why it matters. without public/private partnership on the cyber side, the metaphor i use is i'm left patrolling a street with 50-foot high solid walls on the side. i can tell you the street looks mighty safe, ma'am, but 85% of the world where people are is on the other side of those walls. and so we have to devise a way for me as the cop on the beat to be able to in some fashion be able to see through those walls and receive -- and pass

information through those walls and receive information from those walls. or else i can't protect the neighborhood. because 85% of the internet's in private hands. and so we have to figure out a way to do this consistent with civil liberties, addressing people's concerns about effectiveness and liability and whatnot. success will look like a machine speed sharing of information from the government, all parts of the government, of indicators we see, of warning signs of danger and machine speed information from the private sector of the same data. somehow we have to find a way to achieve that that's consistent with our values and the dispirit interest on both sides. we in the government have made great progress, in my view. i'm a little rip van winkle. i left nine years ago and came back. and when i left, cyber was -- i used to call it 4-year-old soccer. that i have five children so i've watched a lot of 4-year-old

soccer. they follow the ball in a clump. 2005 when i left, cyber was the cool thing so everybody's following the ball. where we are now is kind of seventh grade soccer. we understand the need to spread out on the field and pass to each other. we're doing that. but the bad guys are playing at world cup level, so we have to to improve the speed of our game and the effectiveness with which we pass. some of the things that have been developed since i left that are materially aiding that are the ncijtf. genius idea, right? over 15 federal agencies, who would otherwise be in that clump chasing the ball, sitting together, visualizing what's coming in, where the threat is, and dividing it up. dividing it up. passing to each other in a way so that we're not following each other in a clump. that's a great start. maybe that's high school level soccer. there are lots of ways that smart people, i think, smarter than i, can figure out how to get us to a world cup level among ourselves and with the private sector.

>> do you think that -- do you have lanes in the road squared away with dhs with critical infrastructure? we had a number of questions about the role of the fbi and protecting critical infrastructure. is that something that's evolving or do you pretty much have a sense of how your team will cooperate or is that the ngt -- >> no, that's one of the -- ncjtif has been a tool to hammer out that relationship. there's a natural -- even if we describe dhs's role as prevention, recovery, assuring the resiliency and investigate intrusi intrusion. they sound like different words but they overlap and and a great agency with dhs and secret service. it feels to me like it's in a pretty good place.

but again, it actually depends -- we think we have it mapped out in a good way. we have the right structures. as i said, structures only work if the people are right in them, so it depends upon people literally talking to each other. i think we've come a tremendously long way. jay and i both think we can make it even better. he and i meet privately with mike rogers from nsa on a regular basis to talk b how is it going? we have a chart that divides up our three responsibilities but as low tech as it seems, we find great benefit sitting together saying, what problems are you hearing? that does two things. helps us solve problems and sends a message to our folks that we want this worked out. that all three of us, our heads will explode if we find out there's a turf battle. plenty of work to go around. plenty of work. >> we have time for one more question. and the one that's really on the minds -- this is this many of our audience's. if you could just tell us how do you see the isil threat and the

fbi's role in protecting the terrorist of the united states from that threat? >> i think you've -- i think the best way to describe it is i see the isil threat as an element of a threat that i've been talking about since the day i got this job. which is the terrorist threat that's manifesting in the safe haven supplied by the syria/iraq region. isil is most prominent among them, so it's a subject of great focus of ours. there are other groups in that same area, the al nusra front in particular and others throughout the lightly governed or governed spaces in north africa and gulf of mediterranean we worry about. the threat has metastasized since i left government. the primary tumor has shrunk, but the progeny of al qaeda -- al isil is no longer a progeny

the metastasize has made it dangerous. the bureau and nsa try to understand any presentation or connection they have in the united states. especially who's traveling. i'm very concerned about the travelers. going there is very concerning. far more concerning is the inevitable coming. they will come back. and so you've just seen in the news australia acting against a threat isil-connected. i also worry very much about the way it intersects with the homegrown extremist threat i mentioned. the vector change cyber has made it change for isil and other groups to train and inspire people to do their work wot ever having met the people. troubled soul seeking meaning in some weird way in their basement could become the soldier of groups like that. so, the bureau is about trying to understand who's going, who's coming and who's connected to those groups that is in the united states. >> thank you. this has been an absolutely

phenomenal session for us, director comey. i can only say thank you on behalf of the audience. >> thank you all. thank you., all. thank you. thanks, mo. later today on c-span2 a discussion on the visa waiver program, which allows citizens of other countries to travel to the u.s. for up to 90 days without a visa. former homeland security secretary michael chertoff talks about security concerns and whether it helps intelligence-gathering efforts. hosted by the heritage foundation. that's live at 12 p.m. eastern on c-span2. this afternoon watch c-span's campaign 2014 coverage from arkansas where former president bill clinton attends a rally for senator mike pryor. the two-term senator is running for re-election in a race that's listed as a toss-up by the cook political report.

we'll have live coverage at 1:30 p.m. eastern on c-span. with live coverage of the u.s. house on c-span and the senate on c-span2, here on c-span3 we complement that coverage by showing you the most relevant congressional hearings and public affairs events. and then on weekends, c-span3 is the home to american history tv. with programs that tell our nation's story, including six unique series. the civil war's 150th anniversary, visiting battlefields and key events. american artifacts, touring museums and historic sites to see what artifacts reveal will america's past. history bookshelf. the presidency looking at the policies and legacies of our nation's commanders in chief. electric you are tours in history with top college professors delving into america's past. our new series, real america, featuring ar kooifl government and educational film from the 1930s to through the '70s.

c-span3 created by cable tv industry. watch us in hd, "like" us on facebook and follow us on twitter. the president and publisher of the des moines register, rick green, looks at the future of newspapers and talks to students about iowa's role in national politics. he also answers questions about journalism ethics, social media and the job market. this is a little over an hour. i'm here to introduce rick green. rick green is the present publish of "the register" company, which is of course the power house news organization here in iowa. i can say it's a powerhouse because it's one of our competitors of "sioux city journal." he has promoted from editor in -- last year and now oversees the gwinnett publications in sioux falls, st. cloud and iowa

city. he was in california, editor of the cincinnati enquirer. rick is an ohio native. his first job was for the keysaqton. well, correction. we'll run a correction tomorrow. where he started as high school sophomore. please join me in welcoming rick green. >> congratulations on that baby. >> thank you very much. >> appreciate the welcome. >> well, good evening. how are you? am i okay here, mickey? am i okay here? boy, it's nice to see everybody. how is everybody tonight? i got to tell you how flattered and humbled i am, incredibly kind. chris, thank you for breaking away from that two-week-old baby. i'm sure your wife is pleasant and happy you're here tonight.

i specifically want to thank you, margie chamberllin and your dead husband. starting this program, the legacy you leave and getting a chance to be here and be a part of this great program. journalism is so important. it's more than just today, tomorrow, but generations, and programs like this make it possible. so thank you very much for a very successful program. i wish my father, back in eastern ohio, could be here tonight. my dad was never a big fan of this whole journalism thing. when i was a kid, he advised me -- he said, i want you to be an engineer, a lawyer. get in the family coal mining business even. i gist don't want you to be a journalist. and i finally said to him -- i think it was between my junior and senior year. said, dad, i kind of decided where i wanted to go to school and what i want to be. i said, i want to be a reporter.

ultimately, i want to be an editor. maybe even some day a publisher. my dad was a little disapproving. and he said to me -- and my father didn't offer too many gems, words of wisdom but he offered this one that stuck with me today. he said, rick -- he actually called me ricky -- there's no sin in being poor, it comes mighty unhandy when you're hungry. my father didn't see a future in newspapers, but i hope by tonight's -- by the end of tonight, my dad sees what i'm going to share with you. that there is, indeed, a future in newspapers here. just a quick opening observation and then a confession of sorts. i've never fancied myself a lecturer. spoon and folks in the hamilton hall certainly know that. i'm more comfortable with a good conversation and exchange of questions and great dialogue, but i'm going to share a few remarks and observations about this industry of yours -- of ours and tackle your questions afterwards, or until mickey turns out that light.

about that confession. i'm a pretty spontaneous communicator. i'm not big on notes. i certainly am not big on elaborate multimedia presentations. i just like to have a really good conversation. but especially at 8:00 on a tuesday night, we think you need to think a little bit. my first mentor in high school was a sports editor of my hometown newspaper. incredibly comfortable in front of crowds and he said, just speak from the heart. you may fumble but do it with unrehearsed conviction and passion. two things happened. first came when mickey gave me a call. listen, tremendous opportunity and honor. we want to you be chamberlin lecturer and present your thoughts about this industry and where we're going. i have great passion and respect. when i first got in town, this is one of the first institutions i developed a relationship. they're treasured relationships. i'm grateful, margie, for being here. second came in an e-mail last week.

this is when i started to get worried. michael morane, "the register's" arts and entertainment reporter. appears here often in the lecture program. his e-mail to me was very, very simple. he said, uh-oh, rick, you better step up your game next tuesday, students are getting extra credit. so, frank, god bless you. just so i know, i've scribbled down a few notes tonight. i spent a lot of time in hamilton hall and have a great appreciation and respect for the students of this great school and program. particularly the staff of the iowa state daily. mick y you kind of stole my thunder but mickey from our days back in ohio and getting a chance to work with mark and your great staff and laura and everybody who's been part of this. i have great respect and tremendous -- tremendous passion for where it is you're going. i know several of the greenly students are here tonight. i know you're here for extra credit. a chance to put me on the grill

here. there was a luke warm applause. we're going to do this again. if you're in the greenly program and studying this great craft of ours, will you please stand and let me salute you with a big round of applause from everybody, please. now, sit down, take notes because we're talking about your future. the call came just before lunch on my first day on the job. january 2011. i think i was in hour six, maybe hour seven. as editor of "the des moines register". just 72 hours before i piled out of my prius, overloaded with clothes and boxes and books, had driven from palm springs, california, across the rockies, through colorado, nebraska and iowa, for my new home. 60-degree difference between palm springs and des moines at

that time. but an entirely different world as well. my head was spinning in a very positive way. i felt sort of like that rookie pitcher who's brought up from aaa to pitch in the big leagues. a chance, you know, walking around, looking at the staff and the placards. i was leading iowa's largest news room. the place that trumpets on page one every day, the battle cry of our news room. we deliver the news iowa dmends on. dream job. i accepted it before christmas of 2010. had never been to des moines. had driven through iowa one time. first time i had been to des moines was the weekend i started. it was how much i wanted to be part of this rock star staff that i had. i was inheriting. also to be in a state that treasures newspapers. chris -- where's chris? where did you go? you know that passion which the state has for newspapers. but getting back to that call that i took. i don't recall her name.

i regret that i probably didn't ask it and i certainly don't remember it, but i vividly recall, she was from a little town in iowa. about an hour south of des moines called new virginia, iowa. is anybody from new virginia, iowa? warren county. anybody know where that is? i see a hand. are you from there? >> ten minutes south. >> ten minutes south. about 500 households. a relatively small speckle on the map, right? yep. but it's home. it's home. mr. green, she said, very kind, very kind voice, welcome to iowa. with however whole iowa nice charm and full throttle -- we know about this iowa nice concept -- she offered a few tips to the new guy from california who landed in iowa just a few days before. she proceeded to tell me where to shop for groceries. now, i have my hy-vee, but i prefer meat at fairway, she says. when you go to find the best

pork tenderloin, smitty's, south side of des moines. and you need to know, great passion for political process in this state. this state helps prepare candidates for the white house, she said. we had a good exchange, good conversation. she turns serious and her voice changed. still had the iowa nice. but i can still hear it in my mind and i really kind of channeled her whenever mickey gave me this call about the chance to be here tonight, margie. rick, i've grown up "the register" and i can't imagine my day starting without it. but i see the headlines. i've read about cutbacks. i know this is a time of great challenge in your business. and this woman who i, unfortunately, have never gotten a chance to reconnect with. she didn't leave her number, no name, didn't have an e-mail. i've called her new virginia all these years in my mind when i've shared this story with people. she says to me in one pivotal

question, is there a future for "the register"? it was and remains an important question in a state that cherishes its newspapers. chris, iowa's home to, what, more than 300 newspapers? powerful, powerful. one of the highest per capita in the entire country. for a newspaper guy like me who grew up just reading every single newspaper he could get his hands on and knew this is what he wanted to be when he was in seventh grade, to come to iowa where the tapestry of the state is to find by the quality of newspapers from sioux city to des moines to all corners of the state. i was ecstatic about being here. these newspapers, of course, captured some of our state's greatest moments of hope, unfortunately some tragedy, controversies, celebrations, of crooked politicians and hometown heroes who have fought our wars, defended our most vulnerable

residents, been leaders in state capitals and gone off to bigger things in washington, d.c. these newspapers, these media sites have stitched the very fabric of our communities and the idea of public engagement. in a state that cherishes its role of ensuring good government and preparing the white house. these newspapers have told the story of us, of iowa. sadly we stand here tonight, september of 2014, they're under attack. we have all seen the headlines. we know the challenges that are there. it's easy to use the word victims whenever you start talking a little about where journalism is. newspapers in particular. where things might be going in some people's mind. words like victim of an unforgiving economy. these are things that i read in stories and conversationsi inco right. victims is used a lot perform victims of new reader habits that might not need the morning

newspaper. victims of new technologies where an entire world of information is shared on smartphones and tablets. everybody see the big announcement last week of apple? where the entire world is going to be on your wrist. incredible. incredible ramifications for us. i would probably add something else to that whole conversation. newspapers have been the victims, unfortunately, of some of their leaders' own egos for too long have resisted the transformative changes that must be made to not only survive, to flourish but to serve its primary mission. to serve its readers, advertisers and subscribers. too many egos. too many old ways of thinking about the way in which it used to be and not understanding it's a new way and requires new ways in which we have to tell stories and operate. i'm con frofronted every mornin with a quote. a friend sent it to me as i was assuming reins of publisher at

"the register" last august. i was surprised by the opportunity. i was editor here. it's incredibly rare for editors to rise through the ranks of publisher. they're usually advertising wizards and sales marketer. i was an editor and i have a great passion for the con text and how that intersects. a friend knew about my -- i guess my trepidation. a little anxiety. it came from an irish playwrite, george bernard shaw. i've got it taped to my computer. it reads. it's really important to kind of listen. progress is impossible without change. and those who cannot change their minds, cannot change anything. so, think about that. talk about change and relate to the massive transformation unfolding in this industry of ou ours. the register, sioux cities, we've become news rooms of

storytellers and watch dogs. social media experts, individual graefs, interpreters of analytics and big data. think, spoon, five years ago, i know i wasn't talking about my news room. i know that you weren't talking about it here, but are you today, just like i am, right? and somewhere in between all of that in des moines, we're still producing two print editions, touching readers in all kinds of ways and our sunday paper is reaching more than 400,000 readers in this great state. it's a remarkable time to be a journalist. i'm proud of the things we're accomplishing. we have the seventh best reach as it relates to combined print and digital in the entire country based on scarborough. that's great. here's something else that's even greater. is that change is a mandate. if you are in this school, if you are studying this business, anything related to communications, be prepared, strap it on, change is a mandate. it's nonnegotiable. i've shared that with my staff and folks who have their arms crossed may want to go back to

their alleged glory days and remember the way it used to be. i'm a guy who has great respect and grew up as a kid in news rooms back in ohio. bri went to college i remember those days but i know things have changed. if you hate change, i tell that staff, stick around, because you're really going to love extinction. shaw was so very right. progress is impossible without change. now, folks have asked me, and it will probably come up tonight, the whole idea of print. do i see print going away any time soon. several of you have asked me that before i even came up tonight. no, i don't. i'll be real honest with you. clearly things have changed as it relates to full access on all platforms and a multitude of ways in which we engage readers. print, i'm convinced is a staple and will still be part of our portfolio of what it is we offer. chris, you're probably battling the same thicks in terms of finding that audience and device and platform they want.

will our print readership shrink, continue to decline? sure, absolutely. just as i know my mobile traffic and everything electronically and digital will continue to soar. again, as i said, someone has to react to the fact that we're able to literally get news on our wrist. it's not just that we can get it on our smartphone anymore. that's not enough. now we have to get it on our wrist. yet, there's this one constant in this whole sea of change, if you will. something that hasn't changed in all the many years that i've been in news rooms going back to when i was 14, back in ohio, to larger news rooms in cincinnati and here in des moines, to a midsize operation in southern california. i have talked to thousands of readers. new virginia is one of them. talked to countless editors and other alleged experts and folks who follow this. and i have learned three simple words that define what it is we have to zero in on.

yesterday, today, tomorrow. three simple words. content is king. let me say it again. three simple words. content is king. there was a time not that long ago where the success of the newspaper industry was defined exclusively with that ink on paper experience. the morning daily, the 5:30 thump on the door step, and for some folks the after daily that greeted you after work. there's now a realization that if we're to survive, and we will, but it's going to require adaptation, we have to do it in a different way. we have to be more of an all platforms approach. spoon, how many times have we had time together with your staff talking about the fact, what are you doing for your readers today? not just in print. what are awe doing throughout the entire ga on all different aspects? this is more than generating exclusive content. that content has to be essential. it's our crying need. what i see is there's a fancy with all things on the tech front and we've taken our eye

off the ball. the idea of essential content. that's what's king. and it comes at a time of unprecedented competition. from bloggers in their mom's basement, right, they've got an iphone and they think they're a journalist. guess what? they are. to media groups like politico who want to come in and just dominate the political scene. al jazeera, relatively new player here in the u.s. doing some amazing work. even unsuspecting sites like tmz, right? tmz, known for the celebrity quick videos. their persistent reporting has shaken the nfl to its core, very core. because of the video it had last week of ray rice in that elevator scene with his fiancee, there's a very, very good chance an nfl commissioner might lose his job. that's where we are today. smartphone has made everyone a journalist and it's more than dancing cat videos. i'm proud, despite those

challenges, despite those changes, "the register" hasn't retreated. we not a state-of-the-art video where we produce 12 shows a week on everything from entertainment to business to politics. all access, all digital, on demand. we're rolling out new apps and new partnerships. things we'll talk about here in a minute or two. next week we're introducing a restructure in our news room that will add five new reporters to our staff and on the streets. really an important time for all of us. the thing that is so critical here is that chris, where you are, where i am and across the state, we have to think about that consumer nonstop. it's an essential, essential charge for any of us and every media site. we can still do the high-quality journalism we're known for in a new era, new environment. we got a really big kudo although the end of the political caucus cycle last cycle in 2012. amy walter, the politics editor for abc, who is a competitor of ours on the broadcast front, at

the end of the caucus she had a blog that talked about the top five winners and losers of the iowa caucus. she said, coming in number two, right behind rick santorum and that sweater vest of his, if you remember 2012, was "the des moines register" and she said it proved local papers can not only survive but thrive. they combine good, old fashioned, shoe leather reporting with an understanding and aptitude for the technical and digital world. when i took the reins of the publisher's job 13 months ago my vision was a very simple one and it's going to be elevated even more. we have to protect the content at all costs. if you are a student editor, if you're in the greenlee school, working for all the media sites, have you to protect that content. it's the life blood of our success. it's a very, very simple form la, all right? i'm just a news guy who came up through the editing ranks but i know how it works. that great content that we produce on all platforms

generates a very engaged, passionate audience. it's that passionate audience that wants to align itself with that content. those are the eyeballs of advertisers, the hy-vees, the fairways. they to want align themselves with content. it's imperative, our entire news staff obviously knows it, our entire staff knows, content is king. wherever we are, wherever our readers are, we have to find them, make it easy so that content intersects with their world. there are some in my business who have ballyhoo'd the dd. we have to be digital first operation. some have defined the success by the number of facebook friends they have or the number of twitter followers they might have. and i would say, yes, yes, absolutely, we have to think and we have to own the digital space. we've got to live it.

we've got to breathe it. we've got to dominate it. it doesn't mean a damn thing if you don't have great, powerful, accurate, balanced, context actual journalism shared on all platforms. content is essential to the community service we are to provide. it's our number one mission and our core to what we do. we have to make a difference in the place we call home. that content has to defend the first amendment. it's nonnegotiable. we won't survive without that great content. it's something that's very, very important for you to know but great content alone cannot save the day. to me, when i reflect on all the interacti interaction, my years of experience and where things are going, there are five really important trends i see unfolding that, frankly, are giving me great confidence that there is a future, not only for full-blown media sites like "the register," including print newspapers, and to so many others across iowa.

very quickly, five of them. number one, we're not as slow and clumsy and reluctant to embrace change as we once were. 15 years ago in some pockets of my business there was an arrogant belief by some that this new-fangled worldwide web, right, was a passing fad. and whenever the tech boom happened in the early 2000s, even greater affirmation. this was just a passing fancy. how could it ever still profit, how could it ever steal business from the all-powerful morning daily? has anyone seen craigslist recently? yeah, that's where my classified advertising has gone. new rules were needed. now we're talking in a different language in our advertising and marketing staffs. we're talking about search campaigns and digital marketing. we're producing individual yoez for advertisers and strategizing ways to help them grow their business through multiplatform

strategies and scam pains. we're so much more than a 4 by 10 ad of page b-4 of your morning newspaper. digital marketing, new ways to help readers grow and businesses grow. it's so important. that mind set has changed. with it has come new analytics where we are actually watching real time what's unfolding for our readers and what it is they're clicking on. it has meant new forms of storytelling, new structures, new strategies, new positions. and it's a willingness, i think, to leverage the skills of some nontraditional hires from never before needed areas or things we didn't even really understand before. in march we got some nice attention from editor and publisher that talked about there are ten news rooms around the country that were doing it right. i was very, very proud of our staff. we were one of them. they said "the register" has grown into storytelling and reader educated device. reporters, videographies are stepping on camera and talking

directly to readers and advertisers. it's the idea we have to be more customer-facing than ever before. number two, we're talking about what gives me hope, we're embracing, we're pursuing, developing, unveiling new technology and the ability to tell stories in new ways. i mentioned smartphones and that video function and how it's changing the entire landscape. i can tell you, if you haven't already noticed, video is this new powerful story telling media and we've got to deliver it. i'll give you an example of the recognition and transformation, speaking directly from "the register," our news room and shop. when i got there in 2011. we produced as a staff about 550 videos. reporters with smartphones and photographers with cameras. they generated about 741,000 video views. when we ended in 2013, our team had shot, produced and posted 4,778 videos. all right? so, we went from 582 videos to 4,778. and that number of videos in

2013 earned 2.4 million video views. the audience is changing, right? we have to be in that space. we have to dominate it. this year we're on track to produce 5,000 videos with an anticipated audience of 4 million video views. unbelievable transformation. to me, that speaks volumes. the other thing that spoke volumes is that on saturday night in minneapolis, "the register" staff won three multimedia emmys. photographers -- dennis, you understand what this is about -- shooting emmys thvideos that wo regional emmys. third, new partnerships and relationships. sometimes with competitors. on sunday, september 28th the register tag teamed with kcci. kcci is one of the largest if not the largest cbs affiliate in the country. when it comes time for competitors i worry about two. the time that readers have to spend time with "the register"

and also kcci. we're tag-teaming with them on a debate. bringing the u.s. senate candidates together, bruce brayly as well as joanie ernst. we're doing things we've never done before with a xet store like kcci. you'll hear about a new partnership "the register "county is forming with high powered media company with roots in new york city. we're very excited about that. don't to want show my cards too much. again, thinking of new ways we have to engage. the old days are gone. structures have to change. relationships have to change. we have to pursue new ways for us to reach read ezers. the fourth thing why i feel confident about the future in newspapers. there's a new-found passion for innovation. new products that will ensure the intersection of readers lives and great content can happen. i'll give you a fantastic, exciting venture we're getting ready to be a part of. next week the register is getting ready to roll out a

five-day series focusing on a family farm in paige county, iowa. it's a farm that's been in the family for generations. it's one that talks about kind of an illustrative model of family dealing with aging and climate change new conditions with genl lags, modified crops. that's the type of story you would expect to read in iowa. we tag-teamed in the past four months with bright digital minds at our corporate headquarters in virginia. we went out and hired a gamer, folks specializing in the gaming industry, 360-degree videos as well as and we're creating a 3-d game interaction and literally 360-degree video that's going to accompany this. occulus rift, the headset you can experience things in new way. that's the technology we're using for this. it's the first time we've been able to do something and we think it's the first in the industry. new innovation. that passion has to fuel where

we become and where we're headed. the fifth and final reason i think the future for newspapers is incredibly bright. we remain incredibly relevant. relevance is the heart of what it is that we do. and at a time when news consumption and media consumption is soaring, there are more people consuming more news and more information from a multitude of sites than ever before. newspapers, sioux city, quad city times, des moines register, becoming more and more relevant. our mission is a public service. i don't care what anybody says. i believe no one can do it better than a newspaper. i believe there's a great conviction for defending that first amendment, for delivering the news that truly matters and makes a difference and protecting the most vulnerable in our states. we've got to resolve this issue of folks prematurely writing our editorials -- i'm sorry, our obituaries, right? if you remember some folks, and if you haven't seen this movie in netflix, you all need to see

it, 1976, "the network," the producer has a terrible day and he stands up and he says, i'm mad although hell and i'm not going to take it anymore! right? there are days i feel. i'm so tired about reading obituaries about the death and demise of newspapers. there's a bright future, a great opportunity for us to be able to leverage our traditional skills and convictions and the defense of the first amendment, protecting those who have no one else to protect them. we just have to do it in new ways. new structures. new technologies. new strategies. a chance for us to truly make a difference in the place we call home. because i don't think anybody can do it as well as we can. we're going to fight back. i refuse to lament the demise of this great industry. i really do. i'm not blind, though. i don't have a rearview mirror in my office. that's something i've told my staff repeatedly.

i don't try to go back and rekindle all the days and the way it used to be. we used to have this and these resources. i can't live my operation, i can't as news editor and i certainly don't as publisher, but i know we've lost a lot of friends in this business. folks with long-time contributors, folks with great promise. i don't romanticize what it is we're up against, but i miss my friends. i do. and it's been a difficult journey for anyone who has had to make tough decisions about downsizing. progress, as george bernard shaw spoke, is not easy. reinvention comes with a heavy tool sometimes. i think about good friends who are no longer in in business or they reinvented themselves and have done great things in their careers. i'll very happy and proud of them but i still miss them. readers want results. okay? readers want results. the technology, the demands of those many fas sets of life,

readers in which we serve, they have to change. we have to change. and we will. i promise you that. we will. a couple final points. i was driving home late last week. i think it was same day that the president had his news conference, his announcement from the white house about what was unfolding in the middle east. i was listening to npr. there was a fascinating interview with a guy named david greenway. he is one of the most noted foreign correspondents of this country. he worked for the boston globe, "time" magazine, washington post, was in vietnam at a time before a lot of correspondents were in vietnam when things were really ugly there and violent. and he had unbelievable access to the battle scene and talking to the soldiers and painted a portrait that had been often ignored and just not understood by everybody back in the u.s.

first tv war we had seen. greenway wrote a book. just came out called "foreign correspondent" and i've not yet read it. i've read about it. i'm getting ready to get it. but i listened to him on npr. and greenway, fantastic journalist by all accounts, was lamenting the newspaper industry and the glory days of what it used to be and the fact that staffs aren't as large as what they once were and budgets just aren't as ambitious as what they once were. and the old cranky editor, his definition, i believe, is just not as present as what it used to be. and i'm driving home, and i'm thinking about tonight. i'll be real honest with you, thinking, man, this guy is depressing the hell out of me. and i got to get up and tell everybody, there's a bright future for newspapers. follow me. trust me. but as i was listening to this, and it was kind of on a downer, the host of the npr show said, well, listen, david, it's been a pleasure having you. god, loved your stories.

looking forward to talking more about the book. we can continue this conversation online. we've got to end our show now but if you want to go online and continue the conversation, go to our site. we'll talk a little more about it. or you can follow us on facebook. here's our twitter handle. and here are all the ways in which you can comment on the story and interact with us. and it hit me, right, it hit me, this is it. in a 30-second span, i'm hearing the ringing of hands, the lamentations of this great business of mine and the npr host says, wait, wait, the conversation's going to continue, but just at a different platform. and it just crystalized for me. that is actually what's unfolding. there are still a place, there will be a long-standing place for the print edition. the one that hits your door step bright and early in the morning. but we have to broaden the conversation. right? it's going to be something as complex as a watch on your wrist or on facebook or on twitter.

and technology we can't even envision yet. we have to be prepared for it. there's a role for it. i'm convinced that newspapers are the right place to be able to get it done. it's easy for a journalist, particularly when you've been doing this as long as i have. i started when i was 14 back home. been doing it for 35 years. journalists, we're not good with math but i'll let you figure out the age. it's easy for a long-time journalist to turn into a cynic. i'm not. i'm not. i'm excited. i'm bullish. i'm really optimistic about the future. i want to be the guy on the train that's leading the change as opposeded to poor sucker tied up on the railroads looking for the train to run over him. i don't have a place for that. i don't have patience for that. i have so many friends and so many colleagues and mentors who i respect so much. i recognize the roll we play,

the integral part of the fabric of america that newspapers play. don't give up hope for it. those students who stood up, you're studying this wonderful profession, you want to tell stories, you want to make a difference, come talk to me. i'll find you a job. we'll figure out how to get you in this great fraternity called newspapers. it's one i believe in with my entire heart. i really, truly do. so, i go back and end this story, the way in which i started it. i don't have any regrets about where things are heading and the excitement and the future of it. i don't have regrets over my long career and what i hope is a continuation of it. still young guys, spoon. i still got some time. but i go back without one regret to the person i didn't get a chance to get her name. i wish she could be here tonight. i really do. i think about new virginia as i was planning this.

with apologies to the new york sun and famed editorial from 18 97, yes, new virginia, there is a future for newspapers. and it's a bright one. thank you all for your time. i appreciate it. mick y i feel like paul rhoads with two seconds left on the clock. i'm a little warm. i'm going to get a glass of wat water. we have questions. i understand ethics students you're getting extra credit for putting me on the grill, so fire away. >> don't be shy. somebody break the ice. do you have a question? you're a reporter, have you to have -- >> yes. >> grab a microphone. where's danielle? how are you?

>> hi, mr. green. >> first question would happen to be -- >> what's your name? >> nick phraser. >> where are you from, nick? >> ackley, iowa. >> what are you studying? >> speech communication and advertising. >> what do you want to do, nick? >> not a clue. >> stay away from my father. my father will tell you to stay away from journalism. what have you got? >> well, the question would be, i know for myself, i enjoy shooting a little photography and there's been a big talk as to where that fits in the news room. i know there was a big thing two, three years ago with the -- and chicago newspapers were cutting their staffers and were essentially shooting with iphones. what's your opinion on that as far as journalism moving forward because a lot of people want videographies and video being out there, and then the picture aspect is almost getting lost, or the two are being combined. where do you see that? >> i have been blessed in my career working with unbelievably

talented photographers who have made this incredible adjustment in their skill sets and expertise. and they've become multimedia artists. they tell stories on a wide variety of platforms. they can knock your socks off with a killer image on page 1, but they can give you a 20-minute documentary about the anniversary of field of dreams, up the road in diersville, iowa, one of our emmy award winning stories we won on saturday night. i will tell you, there are stories to be told. just as reporters have had to learn new skills, photographers, video graphe videoographieier videoographiers. there is a great for great video graphers. i'm seeing the fusion of those skills. if you're passionate about telling stories and being able to convey emotion and really capture the heartbeat of a story, there's a place for you. >> thank you. >> you bet. good luck, nick. >> well, he kind of stole the

thunder with my question, but i guess we're all in here to get better at -- excuse me. we're all here to get better at journalism and kind of learn what we can do with it and we're all looking for jobs. i guess, what is the job market look like to you for us coming into this industry and what can we be doing now to prepare for that? >> so, i will tell you, i am often on university campuses throughout my career, different places at different times. and it's been interesting to hear students like yourself who have come to me. i'll give you a great example. they'll come in, polished, looking great. rick, i'm ready to work for "the des moines register" or the desert sun, cincinnati enquirer. danielle, that's great. why are you ready to work for me at the des moines register. >> because i know social media. great. social media is important. talk about that. i know how to facebook. and i have 575 followers on twitter. and i can shoot video and i can

edit it and produce and post it. i can take photos and build gal ris. i understand all as speblts of social media. i will tell them, that's great. how do you develop sources that are going to tell you things that they are not supposed to tell you? how are you going to know which public records to go track down in an old dusty basement of a government building? how are you going to know the heart beat of your community or your beat or your topic of coverage because you've developed this incredible network of sources? and they'll look at me. their face will get white. and they'll say, i can facebook. i can tweet. here's what i tell you. go back to those three words i said are so critical. content is king. you've got to know how to report. you have to know how to write. have you to understand relationships. you have to understand how to find the story. find the means in which you can tell the story and then by all means, we're going to distribute on every single platform. we're going to facebook it and tweet it, we're going to do

things in which we haven't even imagined yet. i don't know about the job market long term as it relates to those folks who don't have the ability to know how to find stories. right? everybody thinks that the bright shiny object and social media is a silver bullet. it's not. it's not. it's got to be part of the recipe. it comes down to the ability to find great content that makes a difference. i believe that today. i believed it 35 years ago when i was a kid. i'll believe it till the day i retire. okay? >> awesome. thank you. >> you bet. >> hi, mr. green. my question for you would be, what has always been the number one principle you've abided by throughout your career? >> my number one principle as it relates to ethics? as it relateses to -- you know, the power in which i feel, the conviction with content. i have a -- i have a great

mentor. someone who i'd walk on fire for him if the room caught on fire. do the right thing. and do the right thing means so many different things, but to me it's -- the heart of it is great ethics. of doing meaningful work that makes a difference but you do it in a fair way, a balanced way, in a nonopinionated way. we have blurred, i think, that whole line of commentary in reporting and blame it on msnbc, blame it on fox, whoever you want. newspapers have been the same problem. and the digital space has encouraged that. and i think that we have got to be incredibly thoughtful about doing the right thing for our readsers as it relates to a content. ethics, my north star. you can't be a credible journalist. you can't be editor of a publication and know there are flaws in your news room if people aren't doing the right thing. and i think it really, truly starts with having a good,

strong foundation in ethics. that's why what mickey is teaching is so critical. thanks for being here today. >> well, i'm not getting extra credit for this, but i wanted to just ask you to speak on the idea of the -- over the years you've seen the contraction in the news rooms and so you have you're very optimistic on the newspapers themselves but i'd like to hear you speak about being opt mikic on the role of the journalist itself, es sprlly in the idea of loss of institutional knowledge, entire beats being sacrificed. >> toughest part of the beat, toughest part. gig. it's a time where if we could look at every fte in a news room, every hire, every person who's working for our staff, they're a precious gem and you want to hold onto them as much as you can.

i, unfortunately, have had to oversee tough situations that involved retractions. in our case, for our readers and advertisers and subscribers. i have to believe that we'll still find our way without some of that institutional knowledge. we're hiring kids -- i apologize for saying kids -- younger people coming out of these colleges. spoon's program in particular, where i've got a chance to work with him, where the skill sets are so incredibly high and contributions are so great. the toughest thing in the entire world, when you're in my position, editor's position, hr position in this business, is to tell somebody we've gone a different direction. sometimes it's not in your control. what you've done, nothing wrong. you continue to be a great, loyal and hard working person. we've had to make some tough

decisions. that's a painful conversation. and so, yeah, am i worried about the loss of institutional? yeah, i am. means you have to work harder. guys like me, our editors, have to be as engaged as they possibly can in the community. nothing stays the same. other than that commitment to strong quality and making a difference in our communities. it's the toughest part of the job right now. i won't lie to you. that help? thanks. that was a tough question. >> mr. green, first of all, i wanted to thank you for coming to iowa state. >> you bet. what's your name? >> my name is kyrie. >> where are you from? >> mt. pleasant. >> great. >> and like any good 20-year-old, i want to be a bureaucrat when i grow up. >> you want to be a what? >> bureaucrat. >> a bureaucrat, good. >> my question actually concerns -- you talked about relevance, which is awesome coming from "the register." how much do you think the register's relevance comes from

caucus, and notable senators, just generally good government in our state? second part of that question is, do you think that relevance extends to all aspects of our politics where you've seen the rise of craig robinson, the iowa republican, and how that's promoted as news for republicans as compared to "the register"? can you once again talk about the relevance wholistically of "the register" and politics. >> the first iowa caucus was in 1972. unbelievable exposure for george mcgovern,fy remember my history correctly. 1976, though, was the caucus that really put iowa on the map. unknown governor from georgia came traipsing through the great state of iowa for about a year before that first caucus. and that really catapulted not only the caucus but also jimmy kaert, who became president. politics is the heartbeat, it's part of the dna of "the des moines register."

are we relevant with or without a harken steak fry and hillary clinton coming here to flirt about what her plans are going to be for 2016? yes, absolutely. is politics the only thing we write about? no, not at all. is it an important thing that reflects the dynamics of this state and what our readers find so fascinating about living? and i'm going to take it even further about the relevancy of it. i'm convinced -- chris and i have had this conversation. and i know that you feel the same way in your market. i'm getting all fired up about this. i'm getting fired up about this. there is an undeniable link, i'm convinced, in this wonderful state between the strong coverage, the sophisticated coverage of the political process and how it aligns with how iowan interact on that level. iowans take their role so seriously in terms of defining who might have a shot at the white house. those candidates come here. they spend months and months and months on end.

they go from the pizza ranch to the hy-vee market grill, they go traipsing across the state for pancake breakfasts and sunday morning church services talking about their relevancy related to the candidates. we cover that. we cover everything aspect of that. critically, critically important. now, you talk about craig and the republican website that he's got. craig is a great journalist. craig has a very specific viewpoint. he's speaking to a very specific audience. i'd like to think i'm also speaking to that audience, but i'm doing it in a way that isn't showing my republican or my democratic leanings. it's much like what we're seeing in cable tv. now, you can watch the president have a statement about what's going to unfold or what he might think is going to unfold in the middle east related to isil and the nation's response to it. and i don't know if you have done this or not, but i have, where you have your clicker, and there's what msnbc's take is on what that speech said, and, boom, here is fox's take on that

speech and it's the same address, the same place, the same words, the same president, totally different takes. i'm seeing the same thing unfold in the digital space. i respect craig. craig has on important role to play for his constituency. i do, too, with my constituency, and i'm convinced if politics picked up and left iowa and there was a decision we would no longer do the caucus and we lost it, i'm still going to be relevant, it's just going to be different topics. that help? thank you. >> rick, i have a question for you and then -- >> i'm sorry, who are you? so everybody gets a chance to ask you their question, you know, you could tweet 140 characters so we're going to speed it up and get everybody in here, but i'm a little surprised at you. you know, i didn't hear anything about done lampert, anything about drew riley everts, anything about hugh culverson, anything about the post. i'm rather heart broken.

how can you fix this? >> don't be heart broken. four of the best years of my young life were spent at ohio university. the scripps school, some of the best memories, some of the best relationships, some of the best experiences. i was fortunate, i had incredible opportunities when i was a high school sophomore to work for a daily newspaper in ohio, and i'm proud of that and that prepared me to go to college and prepared me for where i wanted to go. i know that the successes i have had wouldn't have happened without ou. i know that. >> speed question. >> lightning round. what's your name? >> robbie. >> where are you from? >> i'm from illinois. >> excellent. >> so there's a lot of talk about how there's an oversaturation of news with social media especially and there's just a lot of headlines coming out at all times of the day. i want to know how this impacts newspapers or like if stories need to be just more specific and less of because there's just

this like over abundance of stories in general that can be accessed from the internet. >> never enough news. never enough headlines. never enough information. information is what makes this democracy so great. does it mean that we have to work even harder? absolutely. we're updating our website, our social media, all platforms nonstop. what i will tell you very quickly, sensitive to the lightning round, accuracy is more important than urgency, okay? we talked about over here about our code of ethics and what we believed in. in this digital era, preaching to the spoons class, urgency gets you in trouble if you're reckless. i would much rather be the last guy in town reporting a story that everybody else had and i was sure that i had it right than if i was first and i was wrong because readers remember that. and you continue to do that, they're not going to come back to you. this speaks to your relevancy, your credibility, and your ethics.

not enough headlines, not enough news, man. keep it coming. >> thank you. >> you bet. >> hello. i'm evan howe and i know you said earlier that you do believe that the printed newspaper will survive. but the way that social media is skyrocketing, i'm curious how much of an impact that social media will have on the printed newspaper. >> tons, tons. it's demographics and it's technology and it's readers' needs. so readers' expectations, their demands, what it is they expect of a media source like mine is different today than it was just a short three years ago and certainly a heck of a lot different five years ago, eight years ago, ten years ago. i am convinced that print is a long-standing part of the portfolio, okay? the offerings that a place like "the des moines register" is going to have. there are plenty of readers, and i'll tell what you we're seeing. we're seeing it across the country. i know you're seeing it, too. folks who still get the paper, lands on their doorstep, they'll read it, they get to work and they go on the desktop and see

what's changed. then year on the smartphone in quizno's waiting for lunch. they're looking through their smartphone. now i'm going to of them sitting in meetings looking at their watch when stories and headlines come across on their watch. man, i'm telling you, who knows where it's going to be in another three or five years. print still speaks to a certain demographic, still speaks to folks who love that ink on paper experience. sometimes it's exclusive, but what i'm finding more and more, it's part of their consumption of news. my morning newspaper is different than what i put on the website the day before and certainly going to be different than what's on the website when they get to work and throughout their day. it's a different type of analysis, more explanatory, more of an in depth here is what happened yesterday that we told you about on our website on our desktop and our smartphone and tablet. here is what it might mean. just a different type of pursuit of content. so do i see print sticking around for a long, long time? yes, i do. do i see print readership starting to continue to decline?

yes, i do. do i think it will be vanished in a state like iowa? no, not anytime soon. >> thank you. >> good seeing you. thanks. >> hi. my question is kind of about you talked about how with social media and everyone having an iphone, everybody is a journalist nowadays, my question is how have you seen ethics -- ethical journalism change over the years. where do you think it might be going an what's your opinion on this? >> i think, and i mentioned it just a second ago, the pursuit to get the story first is the trumping in so many different newsrooms their ethical standards. >> i'm kind of more wondering about like you see now the people of the state fair, people of walmart, like i wouldn't really call that journalism but do you think that the ethics mind journalism -- >> so let's talk about that. let's use your example. so let's go back to august and the iowa state fair. let's say that you've got a family from west des moines that's got their iphone and

they're taking video, people smiling and mugging for the camera and taking just a family video, and then sky glide, the sky ride across midway crashes to the ground and it's captured on video and that person who is taking video of their family has it all. are they a journalist or are they not a journalist? they're capturing news. it's complicated. it's a really, really good question because if i'm just an average consumer and using my smartphone and now i'm now taking photos of the weather and storm chasing or unintended accidents, what's that collision? it really has to come down to making sure that you've got in the right leadership positions in your news organizations people who have got the strong conviction of doing the right thing. i really believe that. but it's -- i'll tell you, it has now caused much deeper conversations about the origins of the information, what's the motivation of sharing it. it's conflicted.

it can be. it's complex. it's a good question. >> thank you. >> hi there. i'm louie. so my question is that are you familiar with native advertising? >> sure. >> okay. like i've been reading about it. it's come to be like an ethically gray area of journalism. what's your opinion? do you think it's ethically okay? >> as long as it's properly labeled as advertising, i think it's a brand new strategy and a new vehicle and a new avenue for media sites to pursue and certainly for advertisers to express themselves in a new forum from a marketing standpoint. it's got to be very thoughtful and recognize that this is advertising and label it so, you know, readers aren't confused by what the story is about and what is its content and why is the register, "the new york times,"

"the washington post," whatever organization it might be, why are they write being it? well, it's not. special content created online from that advertiser. now, i think it's a very important new line of revenue, it's a new marketing strategy for those advertisers, and you would be i think totally remiss by not trying to pursue it and understanding it, making it happen. >> thank you. >> hi, rick. i'm lisa and my question actually also has to do with native advertising. >> yes. >> so as journalists when we go out into the job market to look for a jobs, what are some of the things that you think we should keep in mind, especially, you know, as the job market is shifting and there's more and mornay tie native advertising. >> as it relates to producing native advertising or as a journalist? >> to finding jobs. >> here is kind of the reality of it. i know that newspaper industry has just taken it on the chin as a relates to the number of jobs in newsrooms versus where it once was and where it's going.

at the same time that that has happened though, there's just been this explosion of alternative media sites, digitally and cable and native advertising. if you've got great skills and great passion, the things that i talked about earlier in terms of content is king and making sure you know how to produce it and you love to tell stories, you're going to find a job. i really believe that. it might be tougher to get in certain newspapers just by virtue of where things are headed with staffing levels, but, you know, mark and mikey, it's just a big, big market in a lot of different places that are just nontraditional that are exploding here. again, everybody wants to talk about the demise of newspaper content. well, you go to so many websites and social media in particular, that's content that we are funneling there. it's found on facebook. it's on twitter, in all those different places. you have great passion for story telling, great commitment to