aware, as you are, what is taking place in our country of the selling of america's youth across the nation. trafficking -- there's two types. i first came in contact with this issue when i was in the ukraine several years ago, more recently in central and south america. i met a girl named lily in honduras. she was 10. and she was a trafficking victim. many of those young women in the americas and other places end up in the united states. so we have international trafficking of children in the u.s. we also have the issue of american children being trafficked across the country. i'm from houston. unfortunately houston, texas, is one of the hubs in the nation for the trafficking of children

because of our location and because of our demographics. we have been working on this issue for a long time, trying to get our hands around what the problem is and what we can do about it. the problem generates of course with the trafficker. there are three entities involved in trafficking. the trafficker. i call them the slave master because that's what it is. it is modern day slavery in its worst form especially when it comes to children. then we have on the other end, the victim. of course, that is a victim, not a child prostitute and society needs to understand and especially law enforcement that when they arrest a child for child prostitution, they should not be arrested for child prostitution, they should be taken to a shelter where they are treated as a victim of criminal conduct.

because that's what they are. but we got the real issues to deal with that society has missed is the person in the middle. and that is the demand. there is a demand for trafficking in the united states. the days of boys being boys is going to be over in the united states. they are going to be treated like criminals and -- because they are criminals. and there's a demand and that's why this is all going on. so those three entities are being dealt with that we sponsored last year that passed the house. we don't agree on a lot of things, and after she and i got through the language barrier -- she's from new york. she thinks i talk funny from texas. we got through the language barrier, we worked to deal with these three entities. trafficking, slave master,

strong punishments against them. send them to the courthouse and send them to jail because that's why we build jails. treat the victims of crime. rescue them, restore them help them. statistics give you one. humane society says there's about 2,500 to 3,000 animal shelters in the united states. good. we need them. i have three dalmatians. the weapons of mass destruction as i call them. and i got one of them from operation rescue for a dalmatian. but there are only about 300 beds for child trafficking sex victims in the united states. we have to change that. provide them places to go. in all fairness to law enforcement, when they arrest a child and they know that child is not a criminal they are a victim, they don't have a place to take them. so they put them in a secure place, the juvenile justice system. so we have to change that as

well. but also the person in the middle, the demand, we're going to let the public know who they are. they're going to go to jail and they are going to pay for the crime that they have committed. hopefully when this bill comes up again this year because it's not the law yet, we're going to add a provision to make sure that those federal judges who convict these traffickers and those people involved in the demand have the option also to impose stiff fees. because a lot of these people have a lot of money. let's take their money away from them because it's money that was gained illegally. and that money then needs to go to a fund for child trafficking victims to provide them resources, shelters and attention that they need. make them pay for the crime that

they have committed and provide an avenue for victims to receive compensation and help. we're going to send this message and we're working together at a bipartisan way unanimous way an american way. thanks for y'all for being here because america's kids are not for sale. thank you. [ applause ]. thank you so much. i'm so pleased to be here with google and the mccain institute and the rights for girls. i particularly want to mention my good friend in the new york city council susan mulinari also the united states congress and her work with google. google is now its east coast headquarters is in new york and they are now hosting the first class that will be the first high-tech school just for high-tech where we will graduate

the next geniuses to go to work for google and other high-tech firms. i am so pleased to be here with representative poe. we reintroduced our bill yesterday, one of our first bills to introduce. karen brings such a great experience from her work in california as the leader of the legislature and already authored many important bills in sex trafficking. after very close observation i can say that debby wasserman schultz is a very fine person. i also wanted a chance to get to know you better. working together on all this, we're going to have a good time. really sex trafficking is the worst crime. it is the modern day form of slavery. it is such a horrible crime that you don't want to believe it exists. sometimes when i'm talking to other members about sex trafficking and why don't you go on this bill, they don't want to

believe that it happens in the united states of america. and there are startling statistics out of the state department and i was one of the legislators to rate foreign countries on how they treat trafficking whether they treat it to combat it and try to stop this terrible crime. but their numbers are roughly 600 to 800,000 around the world. we really don't have good numbers for america. it's been put in several bills that i've authored but never seems to happen. so we need to put more pressure on the justice department to come up with good data. without good data you don't get good programs. and i'm glad to hear we have 300 beds. when i did my survey three years ago, we had 50 beds to treat victims of trafficking. i have a bill in, probably with poe, but if he's not on it he should be on it that would help fund more beds for people that are trafficked.

along with our important bill that shifts the focus away from the victim and on to who is causing the crime the molester of children, this is an important step. building on that bill -- i have a bill i absolutely love. why it hasn't passed i don't understand because it's so good and costs no money, which the republicans always love it costs no money. it takes money. and what it does it gives tools to the irs to go after the traffickers and to put them in jail and to fine them and take those fines and put them into building beds for those young people who have been victimized and abused. we don't want to believe that it even happens in our country that it's trafficked into our country and the numbers are staggering about those trafficked into our country. but it happens domestically, too. oftentimes foster care children are trafficked. they are trafficked. and when they come to you and

tell you their stories, you don't want to believe them that no one to help them. their teachers their guidance counsel lors. when they showed them bruises, showed them they were advertised in books to be a child prostitute. the crime is out there. we need to work harder together to stop it. i became involved in 2000 when there was a constituent of mine in queens called big apple tours. it was norman. and he would advertise. he evened a brochures that they handed out to go to thailand to go to the philippines. you could have as many young girls or boys that you wanted. just come with me -- you want five you want ten just outrageous. so i wrote a letter to the d.a.'s in my districts and really to janet reno. all their response back was we do not have the tools to put these people in jail.

it wasn't really a federal crime. and so working together this was always a unifying issue. deborah price did a brilliant job. we used to have hearings in the financial services committee and the oversight committee. i have difficulty getting hearings now. you have to help us out here on getting these hearings. in any event, we passed a number of bills that made it a crime. now you can go to jail for 30 years for going across the world to victimize a young child. you can go to jail. and people have been put in jail because of that. the first protect law was written in 2003. it had a bill signing with the president of the united states then bush. and it has always been a strong bipartisan issue because it's such an outrage. and since then we've authored a number of bills, most recently -- named after the great leader to combat slavery, to combat this type of slavery that gave more tools in previous

bills i tried to put in the language that we have in this that is very strong. the bill we just introduced yesterday that goes after the child molesters. and it was always shot down. you could never keep it in. i think with a prosecutor we'll be able to keep that language in. it's a very tough and important bill. i feel so strongly about this issue. i wrote a book about it and had a whole chapter on it. i want to show you one picture that haunts me and inspires me to work everyday on this issue. and it is mug shots of young girls who were convicted of prostitution. when you look at the first shot, they're young and beautiful and you see their personalities, you see their strength. they are then convicted nine other times. and in each progressive shot, you can see the humanity leaving their face leaving their body and in the last picture they are a shell of a tortured destroyed person. it is haunting.

it is true. and in its own way it is inspiring for all of us to spend some of our time each day, each week working to stop this horrible crime against humanity. so i want to thank all the sponsors for bringing us together and inspiring us to work together to end and to combat child sex trafficking. so thank you very much. it's my honor to be here. [ applause ]. well, thank you for inciting me to be here and i also want to thank the sponsors. i'm going to make a confession right off the bat. i'm really nervous and i'll tell you why. i'm nervous because i'm afraid i'm not going to be able to get through this. so let me compose myself a

little bit. those pictures really threw me off. maybe some of you know my background. i know you do. i am so excited to have these people sitting on the dais with me and all of you in the audience and those viewing across the country because now we are shining a light on this where people can see our children are losing not only their dignity and their hope and their freedom but in some cases they've lost their life.

so, for those of you who don't know so i'm an old cop. people think that when they look at me i've been in congress for 40 years but i've only been here 10. i was a cop for 33 years. and 19 years was -- part of that was a 19-year effort with a great team of people to track down a killer who murdered probably 70 to 80 young girls. pled guilty to 49. we closed 51 cases. closed 51 cases. most prolific serial killer in the united states, but you don't hear much about him and i'm not going to mention his name. when i was working this case when i started i was 31 years

old. i was 6'8" 240 pounds and i had dark brown hair. this is what happens. but what i remember about that case is meeting the families and working with the families and they still call me today. one of the mothers lost a dear friend a few weeks ago and she called me on the phone to cry and just -- you know, i was there to try to console here. in the last few weeks, i just got two e-mails from young women who was working on this back in the early '80s. one happened to have the opportunity last week to meet my grandson at a church event and she is now a counselor for young women and she met caleb. and she started to cry and hug caleb because she said he looked

like me. so i don't know if that's a good thing. you poor kid you look like your grandfather. but she felt that connection and she added in her e-mail, she said i cried because i remember he cared. and i know all of you care. my focus in congress -- well let me just say this first. i was a run away. i grew up in a family of domestic violence. so i know that kind of part of the story. why people leave their homes. that's only one part of this story, domestic violence. the physical abuse the emotional abuse, the sexual abuse, the kids being driven out of their homes looking for -- i think as debby say or karen may have said that, looking for love and they find it in the wrong places on the street.

and then not knowing really what love is. and getting trapped in that life and snatched away from people who truly do love them. we have a responsibility and especially focussing on those kids who are run aways and end up in foster care. and we just passed a bill -- this is the one bill that passed last year that came out of my committee, sub committee on human resources, that focuses on foster kids because if you were to drive down the street and saw ten young children standing on a street corner, six out of ten of those would be foster kids in our system, in our states across this country that we have responsibility to take care of and we're not. we're not.

and i've talked to those kids on the street, you know you talk to a young girl one week and the next week i'm recovering her body. you give her a warning, get off the street. there's people out here who will hurt you or take your life. once they're in the life, it's hard to get them out. you all know that. i mean, all of you listening know in working in the field. the bill that we passed tries to focus on -- well, it does focus on those foster kids to try to get them out of the street, into permanent homes not bouncing from foster care home from foster home from foster home from foster home, from school district to school district to school district but to get them in a permanent, loving home. it incentivizes adoption. and it helps create an

atmosphere for kids who are in foster care to have a normal childhood where they can participate in events after school. where they can feel a part of the school community. it's hard to believe that the way the law was previously -- the laws were across the state and in some states the kids couldn't participate in athletic activities. they didn't have a way home. they could only take a ride with the foster parents. so the foster parents couldn't pick them up they can't take -- get a ride with the coach or with the music teacher or whomever, another parent. so they couldn't participate. the law also collects data in trying to find those services that really impact foster kids' lives to get them out of that lifestyle. and when we ask t and others to testify, they told their stories

and in my sub committee hearings what we try to focus on were those young girls and young women who have been through the system who knew what services worked and what services did not work. it's great to hear from all the directors of social and health services across the country and all the caseworkers. that's valuable information, but the most valuable information comes from the people who lived it. and that's what our legislation was based on. i think it's a great start and i know that karen and ted and corolyn and debby are working on additional legislation and we need to continue this battle. our goal -- i was on the domestic violence council in king county as the sheriff there. and the goal was to end domestic violence, not to reduce it to

end it. and our goal in human trafficking is not to reduce human trafficking but it's to end it. period. and i couldn't agree more with what's been said and the judge i think said it best, though and i'm right in line with that is the crooks need to go to jail. these guys are raping young girls. they need to go to jail. and they need to go to jail for a long time. we need to send a strong message -- we will not be tolerating people that take advantage of these young women and young girls and we won't tolerate the pimps either. so i thank you for the opportunity to be here today and share my story. i got a little emotional when carolyn showed the pictures.

i wrote a book also that goes to a charity called the pediatric interim care center in kent. it's called chasing the devil and it's a story about tracking down this killer, little bit about my life, but all the money goes to help drug addicted babies. and one of the things that i've always kept are the photos of all of the dead bodies, the dead young women that i collected over those years and i can close my eyes and picture those remains each and every one of them, their names and the sights and their families. that's our motivation, ladies and gentlemen. remember the faces of the young women that carolyn showed you and the faces of those young women that have died.

i thank you for having me. [ applause ]. >> thank you all so much for those powerful remarks. we began today's discussions by looking at the legislative efforts in the senate but we turn our attention now to the house, where we witnessed incredible bipartisanship and dedication to the issue of child trafficking with the passage of several bipartisan pieces of legislation. the justice for victims of trafficking act is one of those pieces of legislation and it was cosponsored by congressman po and maloney. you spoke a little bit about the provisions of this legislation. i wonder if you can tell us about its significance and the plans that you have for it in this congress. what can we expect? >> the bill was reintroduced

again yesterday. it did pass unanimously last congress, just didn't become law. it's one of the primary pieces of legislation we're pushing through the judiciary committee that i'm on. and we want to get it passed out of the house, in the senate signed in law and we think this will happen very very soon. add maybe some more provisions to make it stronger but this is an issue that both the senate and the house agree in total principle that this has to be passed, needs to be passed for all the reasons stated. i think if anything is going to pass this year, i think this will be something that actually passes out of the house, the senate and becomes law. so i'm very optimistic. >> well, i want to actually thank both of you for your remarks about -- and many of you actually mentioned the demand. i know that when we talk about combatting child sex trafficking often our attention immediately goes to the trafficker.

and oftentimes the roles of the buyers are overlooked in how they are not only fueling the sex trafficking market but also for their culpability in the crimes that they commit against children. so i thank you both for your leadership. >> can i weigh in? >> absolutely. >> i always got something to say. i'm from texas, you know? the number one criminal enterprise in the world that brings in the most filthy luker money is the drug trafficking. we all know that. but close and second behind is the sale and trafficking of people primarily women and children. why is it such a moneymaker? one, because drugs are used once. children like debby pointed out, are used hundreds of times. second, the laws don't punish

the trafficker the demand, as much as you get punished if you're a drug dealer. and third, the risk of apprehension is so much lower than it is for a drug dealer. and that's why it's ever-growing money enterprise. it deals with a lot of kids but it's all about the money. and that's why this bill we sponsored goes after the root of the evil, the child abuser who is paying for that child. >> just to follow up on what ted said. there is, as i mentioned, a really under the radar piece of this and that is the ability to

traffic and promote trafficking exponentially because of the internet. previously before you really had the internet it all really had to be done in person, you know? there was very -- it was very difficult for the buyers to get access to feed their habit. because of the internet law enforcement -- and because of our advancements in being able to identify who are the victims and actually who are the perpetrators, law enforcement has been able to identify nearly 500,000 individuals trafficking in child pornography over the internet. now, before you glaze over on child pornography, what we have to remember is that this is a different element of child trafficking because every one of those photographs is a crime scene, is a victim who is being

victimized by someone who is raping them. and then that is a whole commercial enterprise by itself, beyond the selling of children. you have the selling of the photographs of those perpetrators and -- actually one thing i want to do to interrupt myself, cindy mccain has come back in. i want to con grate late you that you and the mccain foundation have engaged in. we're here in part because of you and your leadership has been remarkable and we have made so much progress because of your involvement in it so thank you so much. thank you. [ applause ]. >> as much as we were able to realize how much of this is going on on the internet, because of resources, law enforcement is able to investigation less than 2% of these kriems. now the protect act we've been able to appropriate $185 million specifically to give the

internet crimes against children task forces the ability to investigate more, but we know that they have the ability technologically to identify and go after these perpetrators and find them online, bust up these child sexual predator crime rings and we've been able to make since the passage of the law 45,000 arrests. so ted you're absolutely right. it's amazing to hear a republican -- can you repeat that. >> you also said it's about money, which you rarely hear from an republican. oftentimes, you know we gloss over that people like to say in the appropriations -- in the legislative process, you can't throw money at it. this is one thing that if we put money into this, we're going to be able to get more criminals but the other thing that we have to put money into is the best way to deal with this we've been talking about arresting people, going after the buyers

making sure that the girls don't get arrested and instead get into services but that's all after they're trafficked. we have to invest in the vulnerable population of girls to prevent them from being trafficked in the first place because we know who they are and there are programs like the pace center for girls in my district in bro ward county. the most amazing program. we've been able to get them appropriations, grants, and what they do is they marry therapeutic services with education and other programs because they have a vulnerable population of girls that they know are the girls that would likely be trafficked. but you get them into a life and on a path towards having self worth and recognizing that they should have self esteem and that they don't have to travel down that unfortunately too well worn path and so we have to invest there, too. so i hope to be able to work with all of you to make sure

that we can do that too. >> you know, i also wanted to connect the dots because what judge poe was saying which is absolutely right in terms of most lucrative criminal activity being the drug trade and also connecting that up with child sex trafficking because there is the intersection there and one of the things that's happening around our country and certainly happening in the los angeles area is the intersection between street gangs who were selling drugs and still are selling drugs diversifying their criminal enterprises and now because of the reasons that judge poe said are now trafficking in girls. and so, if we look at it just as debby was saying, on the prevention side, we really do have to look at transforming our child welfare system because we are fueling the number of kids that are trafficked because of child welfare. i do have to say that sometimes there's also foster boys that

are involved one being trafficked but also as traffickers. and we have to stop that. we know how to prevent this. in the child welfare system, any child that is really taken from home is our responsibility. we become the parent we meaning government becomes the parent, and so we shouldn't be negligentful or abusive, we should make sure we take care of the kids on the front end. you're talking about a population of about half a million children that are involved in the child welfare system in our country. i'll give you a good example in the los angeles area, we have a court system called the star court. and the star court is a specific part of the dependency court that focuses on girls that are trafficked. and i went to star court one time and it was an amazing experience because before we went into the actual courtroom we were with social workers educators, treatment providers, child welfare folks, all sat

around the table and discussed each and every girl. so, when we went into the courtroom, the girl was not treated at all as though she were a criminal but you had everybody from all of these different agencies, all of these different sectors embracing the child. but we also do have to recognize -- and i believe that my colleague dave was mentioning that it is difficult for these girls to break out of this cycle. well, the number one reason it's difficult for them to break out of the cycle is because they have nowhere to go. judge poe referenced the fact that what happens is that we wind up incarcerating them. so 300 beds we need 300,000 beds, we certainly need the shelters and we also have to understand, too that just like an addiction the girls have to make the decision on their own. and so we have to be open in addiction you have to understand that it's a disease of relapse, well, these girls relapse, too.

they go in and they go out. we cannot give up on them. we cannot stay we gave you a chance. you didn't take advantage. so to heck with you. we have to continue to have our door open, to have those resources and to embrace these children. [ applause ]. >> i would like to -- once again thank the mccain institute and google for their work in tracking the media's partnership in this. i've been a member of many letters bipartisan letters in congress against back stage that advertises the exploitation of children, the village voice that has a whole section on it they never stop. and one young woman who is trying to get out of the profession came to me and she and her pimp -- she was drugged in a nightclub and she woke up with her pimp and any way she became a prostitute. they had their own business just running ads in newspapers where people would just call them.

so the use of the media to advance the exploitation of children is outrageous. and i heard that drugs was the worst. then i thought selling guns was the second. but now the selling of the human body over and over again usually until they die has become the second most lucrative crime. this one bill when we finally convicted al capone it was on tax evasion. and this bill uses the irs to go after johns and traffickers and pimps for their tax evasion and puts them in jail and uses the money to supply more beds. so, i think that's a good approach to move forward. but one of the problems we confront is that hollywood sometimes makes it look glamorous. a song called the pimp song won the best song of the year one

year. pretty woman makes it look like it's a pretty profession. it's anything but. it kills people. they even have a pimp ball in new york, can you believe it where the pimps get together and they have this big party. i think we should all go and demonstrate against the pimps or do something to stop this sort of glamour approach to the profession that you see sometimes in the media and in movies and other areas. it is exploitation. it is murder and it is slavery and it's horrible and we have to combat it in every way. so once again, thank you for bringing us together. >> one of the other issues that was raised by some of the panelists is a factor that's come to light in recent years and that is the fact that many, if not the majority of child sex trafficking victims in the zus have had previous involvement in the child welfare system. i know you had legislation in the last congress that would

seek to reform child welfare. can you talk about strengthing the child welfare? >> yes. it calls for training child welfare social workers to recognize this. that there was one department in my region where i called and i asked about trafficking and they actually were not aware that it was going on. but yet i had met with the fbi's innocent lost task force and they said that this particular geographic area where it was the highest. they estimated and they believed it was an undercounterthat the underage girls 60% of them were in the child welfare system. so our system as a whole needs to be prepared to deal with it. we need to train child welfare workers, but we also need to begin to have the data to actually document it. but then as i mentioned the first time we do have this problem where girls who are not abused by their parent or care giver are not cared for the in the child welfare system so we

don't have a part of our social safety net that's even prepared to deal with this population. so, that's why we have to look at it from those three areas. and then, one of the other problems in the child welfare system is that technically to access federal funding you need to break up the family. you need to remove the child from the family. what we need to do is have a more flexible way to deal with the funding so that you can actually prevent the problem from happening to begin with. now, one aspect -- one aspect of the foster care system that is the most vulnerable are girls that are in group homes because they're not even in a family setting at all, so the group homes really become targeted very specifically by pimps. they know where the group homes are and they will go and recruit specifically there and sometimes they'll get other girls to do that. the other place where girls are recruited are in juvenile detention centers where girls

will recruit each other. so, given that we know all of this information we absolutely can prevent this from happening. but we do need to fundamentally change parts of the child welfare system in order to do it. >> congressman reichert i want congratulate you on your passage of the legislation. you talked a little bit about that legislation. i wonder if there are any other plans in the committee for expanding on the amazing work that you were all able to do? >> well, i've moved on from the chairmanship of that committee to the tax committee so what i'm going -- so i'll be the chairman of the revenue sub committee on ways and means. charles will be the new chair of human resources.

he and i have already met. we talked about welfare reform and human trafficking. and what we want to do when you talk about tax reform is that you want to humanize tax reform. you want to really show people what happens when you cut this tax or you raise this tax. and when you apply it to the social services world, you cut home services -- home visits for example, which are critical in rebuilding and connecting families together, home visitations, you know, are not a new thing. they've been going on since the '70s. i started as a police officer in 1972 at 21 years old. and those home visits were critical then and they're critical today in keeping families together. so when you talk about prevention we'll be working together on that. there are plans. i want to touch on prevention. cops know a lot about

prevention. and the frustrating part for me as an old police officer in coming to congress is that there is a tendency by politicians and i experienced this in king county and working as the sheriff with the king county council members as they're called in seattle is there's this tendency to put out brush fires and there's some political expediency there and political value in that for them and immediate value in saying, look what i've done, look what i fixed but it hasn't fixed a dog gone thing. it has been spent in prevention. so when we think about how we're going to solve this problem it's already been said. but i see this so clearly from my past profession. if we can't understand that putting our money up front to address these issues, to keep

families together to find loving families for these foster kids to expedite adoption processes, and get these young kids into permanent homes, we're going to lose this battle. we will never win this battle if we don't focus on prevention. each and every one of the witnesses who came forward in the human resources sub committee testimony who were young ladies who have more than survived but they've excelled and been named, you know, most important, top 100 influential people in the country or was it the world? i don't know. it's an amazing feat to the accomplishments that they've made but if we don't understand

prevention and put our money there because at the back end what we're going to end up doing and what we are doing is we're paying for mental health counselling, we're paying for drug and alcohol abuse counselling. we're paying for traumatic what's called -- help me out -- ptsd. we're paying for those things versus paying up front and keeping kids in families. and when i was working on this case i just have to say this in the early '80s collecting body after body after body day after day, and some weeks six to eight bodies in a week i wondered who cared. you need to know cops care. in the world today where police officers are being attacked, you

know, as the people who are out there trying to hurt people, are there bad police officers, yes. but are there good police officers? there are a lot more good cops out there than there are bad cops and we need to support our police department because what they're doing out there for our young kids -- and i think if you talked to some of these foster kids and some of the young kids on the street, you'll find out, they depend on the police officers to protect them they counsel them and i just needed to say that because there are some big streetshearts out there on the street that wear the badge. >> we love officers. >> yes ma'am. so i wondered who was out there. we didn't get the support that we thought we needed. we weren't getting the budget. we weren't getting the money to investigate those cases back then. and today in congress what i

discovered and the message we can deliver across this country is that there are people who care. they're in this room. they're in the audience across the nation and they're sitting on this stage and there's a lot more support in congress and in the senate and i think the mccains for their support and involvement and leadership on this issue also. so we got to get the prevention thing. we've got to focus on helping these kids get into permanent, loving homes. the one question that was asked -- i don't know if i got around to mentioning it was, how did you make it? what made the difference? what was the one thing that you can point to that made the difference? and everyone answered this way -- somebody loved me. i had a family that loved me. so we can talk about programs

all the programs you want but these kids need love and they need a home. thanks. [ applause ]. >> well, i think that that's a really profound note to end on. i want to thank all of our panelists for joining us today. i know it's such a busy week and we really are grateful for you taking the time to be here with us. so thank you so much. i appreciate it. [ applause ]. here are a few of the comments we've recently received on the 114th congress. >> caller: my comment is nothing is going to change in washington, d.c. as the previous caller said it's too much corruption. some of these senators been there too long. it's time for them to go. give the younger ones a chance. new ideas. this country is on the wrong path. we're not going to get anywhere as long as these senators stay

in that same position. john mccain and them they've been down there. lindsey graham. it's the same old thing. it's time for changes. people are working too hard in this country, have to work two and three jobs to take care of their family and still not getting anywhere. something has to give. >> caller: i'm looking at the overall conversations that you guys have been having for the last three or four months and the congress -- the government is so huge. what can they do when they go in there today? i tell you, they could be like the leaders like they should have been. the leaders that i was raised around. the men that looked over at the communities that they lived in and said, these are our children. these are our young men and daughters. what can we do in the realistic way to make this a better place to live? anyone that is going to carry power that is going to yield the idea of wisdom in front of faces

of us who are having to work and pay for it, guys, you know, we're living a pretty good life here. let's take what you got the opportunity to do and do something right and quit playing games with, you know, what you think you're going to value in life that you're going to have to give away one day. >> caller: my question to the 114th congress that it's going to do nothing for the american people. i can't understand how is it that congressmen have become good people until they get elected. when they go to washington the lies the propaganda and it just seems disturbing to me that it seems like everything president obama does is wrong and it's sad to me because i'm a pastor and i hear these people come on colleague just came on and said that he was a christian. well, jesus said that if you do this to the least of them you have also done it to me.

and continue to let us know what you think about the programs you're watching. call us at 202-626-3400. e-mail at comments at c-span.org or send us a tweet @c-span#comments. join us on facebook. follow us on twitter. more about ending child sex trafficking in the u.s. with the the discussion on how technology has become a tool for tracking down predators. the mccain institute rights for girls and google hosted this 45-minute discussion. hey, everybody. we're going to try to come back together for our last panel. i know it's been a wonderful but long morning but this is a

wonderful part of the morning because we are able to look at what is working. so, often when we talk about technology, right, we talk actors and illicit networks have used technology to further entrench and advance the scourge of trafficking. and that is true. there is a way that the internet and technology has created more of a market place in the selling of bodies within this country and across the globe. but this panel can give voice to, if we are in the place of a modern day slavery, the efforts among these three organizations represent the underground railroad. the technology and innovation being done by each of the organizations on the panel represents the underground railroad that is saving children

and adults' lives who are being trafficked and holding accountable and finding and punishing the traffickers and the buyers. so i want to start by allowing each of the organizations to give voice to the work that they are doing. these folks are heroes to us in the work. and so craig if you can begin talking about the work that polaris has done. >> sure. thank you. and thanks to everyone for the opportunity to talk about what we're practically doing with technology and trafficking. i did have some slides prepared and it looks like they will be here. that is wonderful. so my name is craig heckman. i work as a data analyst at polar is and many of you are likely familiar with polaris. one of the largest program is operating the national human trafficking resource center hotline. i'll talk about that because of the fact that technology plays a giant role in the operation of that hotline and also in the

data collection and data analysis we're able to do with the information that we learn from the hotline. so here is some information for those of you who may not be aware or for those on the web who would like to learn more about it. the national trafficking resource centersy 24-7 government-funded hot line for people to call in to receive refer to services or report a case of trafficking they are involved in or are aware of. and as i said this is 24/7 deal. since 2007 we have had around 18,000 cases of human trafficking reported on the hotline. and so from that we are able to learn about where traffic is happening, the details of how it presents itself, who the victims are, who the traffickers are and what the trends are so that we can understand how moving forward we can better communicate with those who may be in trafficking situations.

so when i call comes through they are able to quickly understand for what is available for the local. if someone is calling from ohio we have seven different protocols for the region of ohio and the representative on the other side of the hotline can click on that region and see the relevant law enforcement contacts and the service provider contacts for that region and can connect the caller with those people in a way that is quick and efficient. and not only is this a path for someone to report their case and be referred directly to services or law enforcement but because of the fact that we gather data about these calls, metrics about the calls demographics of the victims, those type of things we're able to map out where traffic is happening and how it is presenting itself. so this gives you an exam el of a -- example of a heat map

showing the trafficking calls we've received. so this is just one example of how we can slice the data that we wouldn't otherwise know in the field which can be very incredible. and beyond that, something we're beginning to investigate and starting to work on is doing additional network analysis on high-risk industries so what i mean is business industries where we have seen trafficking cases reported to us. and so as an example with no details of course, but what we can do using information from our hotline, but then also other data sources that we're able to find on the web and elsewhere, be able to paint a larger picture of who are these traffickers and who are the people surrounding the trafficking eco-system and what can we learn about that. not only to deal with it immediately, but also to understand how we can try to stop it in the future. and so here is an example. we have a business at a certain address. and through public business records, we're able to identify who the openers of those businesses may be.

and then using all sorts of things on the web, some of them enabled by google in fact, we're able to find other businesses operating at that same address or operated at that address in the past. and then each of those people may or may not be the owner of other businesses. and those other businesses may or may not be involved in this trafficking situation as well. and so being able to understand those relationships is important. and then on the end of each of those end points we have all of these businesses operating in other addresses owned by other people and we start to see this network. and then another interesting angle that has had luck in the past with certain industries is holding landlords accountable for the behavior of thur tenants in -- for their tenants in a commercial sense.

this is something we're looking for information on the web to paint a larger picture. next piece of technology or program is the idea of doing global data sharing. so here in the u.s. we operate the national hotline but there are so many needs for other types of hotlines in other places. and so through a grant given to

us by google we are beginning to develop this global hotline network in an it -- in an attempt to replicate the success polaris had here in the united states in other places that have need. so taking our data base and sales prat form -- platform and sharing that with other ofrgss is -- organizations is incredibly useful. to find ways to, in a very protective and data privacy way share information about trafficking happening across borders because every time we add new data to our systems, we find we get an exponential increase in the amount of knowledge and lynxes between the cases. and the work we're doing in creating the mobile slavery dektory and can you find that on the our website but we map out anti-trafficking resources all over the world.

and it is a fascinate ago tempt to do that and making that then public on the web for those who may need it. so here is the information on the hotline and thank you for the opportunity to share how technology is enabling us to do our job of serving victims, connecting them with the resources that they need and i look forward to contacted people around the world to repurpose technology specifically for serving victims and identifying those who are per traiting them. thank you very much. >> thank you my nak astaca shehan from the national center for missing and exploited children and that is the division in which we operate the child sex trafficking team. i have a couple of slides that

will come up in a second. and essentially, for those of you that might not be aware the national center for missing and exploited children opened in 1984 and we are the clearing house on issues surrounding missing and exploited children. over the past 30 years, 30-plus years now. we've changed and expanded and evolved over time and we are currently authorized by congress to operate various -- or 22 specific programs and services to support and assist law enforcement, families and the professionals that serve them. and a big part is the analytical and recovery for missing children. and it is through these cases we are able to identify trends and patterns going on specifically related to child sex trafficking. now data that you are seeing up here now is from -- through 2013.

we're still working on finalizing the 2014 data. but i can tell you i've gotten a peek at some of it and it remains consistent and it is showing unfortunately an increase in a lot of these areas. what we do know, that will remain the same regardless of whether we include 2014 or not is the largest percentage of missing children in this country are endangered runaways and those are the most vulnerable and the ones being targeted at a higher rate for trafficking than any other. and can you see up here on the screen, in 2013, it was one out of seven and the year before that was one out of eight and it is quite possible looking at the preliminary data that it will be one out of six or one out of five from 2014 of the endangered

runaways we're seeing be victimized through trafficking. and through looking at the cases, as malika mentioned, the bad actors using technology to recruit and control the kids and more often than not we are able to see all of the different ways that technology is being used in a positive way to be able to combat this crime and provide services to the victims and to locate the victims and to be able to target the traffickers and the buyers of these children. now we also operate the cyber tip line which is one way in which technology is being used for good. the cyber tip line started in 1998 and it is the congressionally authorized reporting mechanism for all kinds of child exploitation and that includes child sex trafficking and child pornography, child sex tourism and online enticement that are child sexual abuse crimes that have been committed and overlapped with child sex

trafficking. and through the tip line, we've receive 3 million reports to date. last year was a banner year in terms of the reports, we received over 1 million reports in one year alone to show unfortunately this crime is not going away but we are providing a mechanism for the public and for you to be sitting here to be vigilant and make reports as for the electronic service provider community such as google and others that are actively reporting. we have analysts on staff using tools and technology every day to add value to the reports and so they are sent to law enforcement with the goal or with the hope that if there is anything there that they can utilize, they are going to possibly investigate these child sex trafficking crimes occurring throughout the united states. in 2003 we joined the fbi and the department of justice child exploitation obscenity section to create an initiative.

one of the main parts of the innocence lost initiative that may have heard about or seen the media operation is the operation across country. this has evolved over time and more and more children have been recovered over time. our role specifically, is to support the fbi as they lead this operation nationally. this past year it was one week in length 24/7 for a week in 106 cities and over 168 children were recovered and over 281 pimps were -- or traffickers were arrested. now as part of that, we're using technology to support them. as they are developing pieces of information and they ask for our assistance, we'll use that to develop it further, to provide it back to them so they can use it on the ground. technology also allows us to do this from our headquarters in alexandria, virginia and support the entire country while they are doing this 24/7. and now i want to talk about specific lip the role of technology and remembering it is

the opportunity to harness this technology and this opportunity for good, for combatting this and helping to identify victims and to support law enforcement efforts to target those that are responsible, which are the traffickers and those that are buying these kids. specifically just as an example related to the victims themselves, law enforcement and we heard this earlier, that when they are talking to these kids and encountering these children, they are not often disclosing that one, maybe their a minor or two, they are being victimized and those of us in the room know it has to do with the extreme abuse and violence that they have suffered at the hands of their traffickers and through the exploitation so it is understanding why they would not disclose this information. law enforcement, when encountering victims, will reach out and ask for our assistance. are there ways we can use information they know about the

kids, are there any physical identifiers that we can search against multiple data sets using tools donated by google and others to see if it matches a missing child known to us. are there ways we can link that to information that are other kids that are missing that may be under the same control of the same trafficker. law enforcement reach out and ask for assistance using the technology we have to further development information about the traffickers. specifically maybe they are having -- the information that is being posted publicly online starts to show a pattern of where the kids are being trafficked and where they are being controlled if there are multiple kids under the same control of one trafficker and the various tools that we have access to can help us start to piece together that information. it is like following bredad crumbs. does one phone number lead to multiple child victims come back

to one specific trafficker. and one thing we know this crime would not exist if there were not buyers. if there were not people who are willing to purchase another human being and specifically a child for sex, this crime would not exist. so attacking buyers and demand specifically is really crucial. now it may not be happening as much as we like but we definitely know and we heard the senator mention it earlier there are law enforcement agencies out there who are post posting ads sting ads the guy showed up thinking he's purchasing sex with a child and instead met the adult male law enforcement officer instead. and when these are occurring there is often little known about those buyers. so law enforcement will reach out and ask for our assistance and we use the tools that we have internally to further develop information. can you take that phone number into public records or other publicly accessible information on the internet to determine who that person might be.

and in some cases, maybe they are already a convicted and registered sex offender. so we'll use the tools we have to add information to what law enforcement knows and what they are looking for our assistance with. two specific ways we are using technology to support the victim identification as well as assisting with the law enforcement investigations into traffickers and buyers is through link analysis and image analysis trying to tie together pieces of information through very large data sets. so i 3 million cyber tip line reports. say we have a phone number or an e-mail or a screen name or a person's name and it appears in several tip lines or online ads, to be able to collect that information and tie it together to provide to law enforcement has been useful. looking at these images and seeing how photos are a big part of this crime and how it is takes place on the int -- taking place on the internet and how the internet is being misused to

sell the kids, we are using that information and technology tools to further digest those photos look to see if there is multiple victims and pictures and look to see if there is image identifiers that can be linked back and then provide that information. i'm not going to talk too much about the last two but i do want to point out that technology is being used in amazing ways to relate it to education. today this is being live screamed so even more people are aware of this and what is going on and are more current on it. but also threw prevention education. we though that the tools and the internet is being used to recruit and control. but we can use that same technology to empower kids with the information they need and the tools they need to be able to avoid and to thwart this victimization. so i did want to point out the education and prevention positives. i thank both google, the mccain institute and rights 4 girls for

putting together this event today. i really appreciate being part of the discussion. i've been at the national center now for over 15 years and i can honestly say that i see technology being used every day more for good than being misused for bad and i look forward to being part of this discussion as it continues to evolve in the future. thank you. [ applause ] . >> i want us to imagine how reality plays a role in trafficking. so tonight, in a hotel room here in washington, d.c. let's take it out of the national problem and say it is here within probably a mile of where we are sitting.

>> it is a child that two years ago did not imagine where they would be. but they probably had a hard life and in and out of foster care and may have chosen to run or to take the offer from someone who said they could give them a better life. and that person is either in the room with them, or in the parking lot, and has told this girl she needs to make a quota tonight. and so just like any of us, who have ever marketed something, she's going to go online and she's going to post her ad on back page or another site and when it slips too far down on the page below the fold, she's going to go online and re-up it. and maybe her trafficker is doing that for her, but very likely she may be responsible for doing it herself because she doesn't want to get beaten when she comes home.

and she will do that maybe half an hour an hour between her customers to make the money she needs to make to be safe when she goes home at night. so that is how technology is playing a role in the marketing of this child who will be victimized again and gep tonight and it will -- again and again tonight. and it will happen tonight. but that child also probably had that same experience a few nights ago. a few weeks prior. and that may have happened in d.c., or it may have happened in virginia, or it may have happened in another state. now, what we look at at thorn is technology is playing obviously a negative role in the exploitation of trafficking, but what it is also doing is giving visibility to a crime that before we may not have had that depth of visibility to. so how do we take that data to

be more proactive in finding that child quicker and connecting her with help. at one time an officer would see the ad at this point in time. and what is the experience of the child over the past year. where have they been and how has the phone number changed and we know she's not using her real age. because had been escort can't be under 18. may not be using her real picture. if she is, maybe not showing her face. so the question of the role of technology is kind of the the hot phrase of the day, big data. well there is a lot of data. and our role at thorn is how do you take that data and make it actionable so that the response to these children is quick and

fierce. we know that often times these children will come in and out of the life multiple times before they are able to find a safe place to stay and rebuild their lives. and what we say when we use technology is how do we use data and technology to make those points in time quicker. let's not make five seven times touch points with help over a year and a half. let's make that within just a few months. the minute they go back on the street because they have nowhere else to go, we find them and get them connected back with help. so that is a project we're working on right now with the support of the mccain institute and with google, is using all of the available data in a more protective and intelligent manner to find the children more quickly and connect them with help. a second area of focus for us at thorn is the role of deterrence in both child sex

trafficking as well as child pornography. and i'm happy to say we work with both of these organizations very quickly -- or very closely. our mission at thorn is to drive technology innovation to fight child sexual exploitation so we consider ourselves experts in technology and we partner with the experts on the front lines of the issue to deploy it in a manner that is helpful. but when you look at how companies can use advertising or other online means to change our behaviors i don't know if any of you shop online the minute i hit a site, i can't get away from that site. they know exactly what product i looked at, they know when i was on that site and i can't get away. well, then why don't we know who is shopping for young girls nine? why don't we know who is looking for child pornography

and make sure they can't get away either. and that is the strategy of our organization. a program that we've had up and rubbing for three -- running for three years now. through our child pornography deterrence program we have reached over a million people and created 17,000 instances of people seeking help for what they know is bad activity online and seeking help to get counseling and stop those actions. and that type of program will then move on into john deterrence as well. we know ending demand is a big aspect of this and i'm not saying online is the only tool. it is one tool in a tool kit. but if target can reach me everywhere i go i don't believe that people who are looking to buy a child victim for a night should be able to be free from that either. and so that is a second area of

focus for us. the third area of focus for us is the work we do through our technology task force. so we run a technology task force that includes 25 companies, including google who has been a founding member for four years now. and the idea of that is channels the best minds to think about this issue and to collaborate further. so the publishing of a sound practices guide for learning from the expertise of top companies and making sure the start-up companies moving so quickly that often they don't think about child safety have tools in their tool kit from the beginning to implement practices that can reduce the likelihood that their platforms will be used for trafficking and child exploitation. and then the fourth and final area is the research we do.

making sure that we understand directly from victims and survivors what their experience was with technology. we run the largest national survey of child sex trafficking survivors and to hear what the role of technology was in their exploitation and it was a few years ago that brad from polaris came to us and said, hey, we are thinking about how to expand the hotline to have great er greater reach for victims and it was the same time that we were hearing from our survey that most of the children are primary texting. they text with the trafficker they text with their john that is how they set up appointments and just logically kids text right? so when we talked to them about calling a hotline. they said i wouldn't call a hotline. for a variety of reasons. the most obvious being my

trafficker is standing over my shoulder. and so we worked with polaris to launch the be free text short code which was a way for victims and anyone who wanted to interact with the national human trafficking hotline to text instead of call. and what we're excited to see is that we are achieving -- i won't say we have achieved because i believe there is more work to be done. but we are achieving what we originally set out to achieve which is give victims a more direct and accessible way to reach out for help. so we know that about 9% of the calls that come into the hotline are victims themselves and 20% of the texts are from victims themselves. our objective this year with efforts we're undertaking is to increase that percentage and launch marketing programs that speak directly to the victims themselves and get that number in their hands. so those are just a few of the

ways that we think about the role of technology and combatting trafficking and child exploitation over all. i think both of you said, we fundamentally believe -- technology is agnostic. it is not good or bad. it is whose hands it is in, in which it realizes its potential. and we always say, again because our mission is drive technology and innovation to fight child sexual exploitation. you educate more of the brightest minds in technology about these issues and about the way the bad people are using technology and you will have an army of good fighting against it. and that is what we aim to do. and put great tools in the hands of people on the frnt lines like -- front lines like malika and staca and the team at polaris. so thank you for having us here today to the mccain ins toot --

institute and to google to be part of this conversation. it is a hard topic that we all work on but i think our team often says we get motivated and inspired by the potential we see in what can be done when you motivate forces and kind of the brains and talent in this room and in technology in general. [ applause ] >> thank you so much. you know, i just want to drill down a little bit more on what each of you has presented. and craig i guess one question i have for you is that in light of how we are able to collect and unearth all of this data, what are we learning? and in particular, what are we learning about child trafficking in the united states? and the networks of buyers and traffickers operating within our borders? >> sure. great question. so polaris has been dedicated

to collecting information about this and making it as publicly available as we can while keeping in check all of the privacy considerations. but we do publish regular reports regarding the statistics of our hotline. and so if we want specific details and specific numbers those are the best sources for that rather than me try to throw off and memorize figures. but one of the most interesting ones that i think is the big difference as julie mentioned of the number of calls relevant to a specific trafficking situation versus the number of texts relevant to a very specific trafficking situation it is really interesting. we can slice and dice the data according to however many dozen of different fields we track to get new interesting things. but my recommendation would be to reference those reports specifically to get the best data. >> so first i need to just say

that the -- we started out this morning by talking about the no-such-thing campaign, no such thing as a child prostitute but i want to acknowledge that the national center for missing and exploited children on day one of its existence recognized that these children were not children who were prostitutes these children were victims and survivors. i often tell the story of having a meeting between nick mcand childcare workers where carolyn davis was in that meeting and these were good people, who cared about children and they kept referring to the girls as delinquents, as bad girls. and carolyn said, no, these girls are victims of crime. and so i just think it is important that we come full circle today in it recognizing where nick mic insisted we

about years ago and where we are trying to be today. i just want to ask you, staca often when we talk about the need to go after demand and the buyers the response is -- but it's so hard to go after the buyers. it is much easier to go after the traffickers, from a technology perspective and law enforcement perspective. and if you could just talk about that a little. if you could debunk for us how in fact, technology if harness correctly, does allow us to effectively go after buyers? >> i think technology, when we are talking about going after demand and buyers specifically has been a game-changer. the way that this crime has evolved and the way technology is being integrated into this crime has opened up the opportunity for it to be more public, and it to be more

accessible for law enforcement, for analysts, for everyone to play a role in highlighting the instigator of this crime, which is the buyers. and when this crime is taking place, via julie and craig mentioned, sometimes sort conversations, text messages between the victims and the buyer themselves, technology is being used to have that conversation. which then provides an avenue for law enforcement to have that information about what took place. and in the instance of making and debunking a little bit of the idea of going after buyers and targeting demand being too difficult, we're seeing -- and many of you have seen probably news articles about it being public that law enforcement is conducting stings. they are seeing the positive ways that technology can be used to go after this. so to debunk it technology is

really the key and it has been the game-changer. what we've been able to do and to help support law enforcement efforts with that is to again use technology. they often don't know who this person is they might be meeting with. the buyer thinks they are about to meet a 14 or 15-year-old girl or boy and the law enforcement officer may only have a phone number to go on at that point. they may reach out and ask for our assistance and what are we going to turn to, and that is technology. to further develop that piece of information to develop info on who that person might be in real life. i mentioned earlier, it is about following the bread crumbs. maybe some online social networking websites or a piece of information from our internal systems and a piece of information from public records and when you tie that altogether, you are able to have a much more comprehensive idea of who law enforcement will be interacting with that

evening. >> so, julie because you are so wonderful, i'm going to ask you two questions. the first is could you just talk a little bit about the difference in using technology to go after demand for child porn, versus demand for child sex? and then also, part of what i'm excited in the work you are getting started to do is around child welfare. so if you could just talk a little bit about the work that is ahead of thorn in looking at this intersection between child welfare and child trafficking? >> so i should actually correct myself. in the reference to child pornography and staca is -- so similar to the effort you are launching to change the term from child prostitute to a child victim, there is an effort to change the reference to child pornography. because it is not pornography it is child sexual abuse

content. it is the documentation of violent abuse of a child. so it is very different. and that is why our child sexual abuse deterrence program has been under way for three years and our john deterrence is just getting started. because it is more black and white with child sexual abuse content. and when you are online, you need -- when you work online, you have to indicators right? you need to know key words or behaviors and with child sexual abuse content it is very clear. there are certain words that mean certain things and that allows you to target and reach people and intercept them more clearly. when it comes to child trafficking and child victims it is massed in this perceived legal framework. and the escort industry. and so trying to find and communicate with people who are seeking children or even

participating in that and you want to communicate with them and educate with them the realities of the sex trade and how children are involved, you need -- it is more complex. and you have to have a deeper understanding of the language that is used and how -- what online behaviors are. and so that is -- it has taken a bit more care and more time to understand that. but i would also say, it is -- i think with john -- reducing demand and deterrence there is a cultural shift that has to happen. i think most people will say buying sex from a child is wrong. i don't think everyone will say buying sex is wrong. and so we have to as a country, kind of have an open dialogue and discussion about the fact that children are caught up in this. and this person who presents as

19 is probably 15. and that is where it is about kind of a cultural shift of a dialogue in our country about what the realities are. and some of the people are adults. we are talking about children here. and so i think kind of john deterrence, you have to have more of an open dialogue in our society about the realities of what is happening and who these children are and how it presents not on face value of what it actually is. and that gets into what the messaging is online. so your message to someone who you encounter through a demand effort is very different than the message you have -- you're giving to someone looking for child pornography because that is a direct -- you need to get help now before you harm someone. and so those are the differences. to your second question, about foster care and vulnerable

youth. so we have started to explore this topic as an organization. we all know that children in the foster care system or who have been part of the foster care system are at much higher risk for trafficking than the general population. and so we are convening a group early this year of leaders in the technology community with leaders in -- including malika in foster care and vulnerable children to talk about what could the role be in creating a stronger safety net for kids. you know, again, there are ways where you can either educate people who are supporting these children and create a stronger network of people nationally that allows a stronger safety net. there are ways where you can provide technology tools to the kids themselves so that they have a way to reach out for

help similar to be free. what is that way when the kids are ready to reach out for help, they can reach out and it can be quick and direct. i also think -- just when you hear the statistics, there are some countries that have done studies and 90% of the kids coming in from trafficking are coming out of the foster care system. this is just shocking. and so there has to be a role there to create kind of greater transparency, greater connections. i think also if you have data around these children, like their phone numbers or other digital information, and you marry that with what is happening on escort pages, it speaks to my original point of being much more -- being much more strategic and finding the children when they run and get into a vulnerable and bad situation. so it is an area of exploration for us. many people have been doing a

lot of work on this front outside of technology for a while and what we're trying to do is bring these two worlds together and have a discussion to see where the tech community can be a part of that as well. >> a needed conversation. and know that the child welfare community is really excited that there is a conversation around technology and too many of our child welfare children who have become our lost children. i want to thank each of you for the tremendous work you all are doing and for being part of this panel. i think it is a great way to end the day, to be able to have hope about the work that is being done in technology to harness the technology for good. and i would also like to ask mrs. mccain and susan if you could come up and close us all out. [ applause ] >> i'm going to let cindy make the final statement here. i just want to thank everybody

who has been here. who puts in the time and the trouble and there has been some great moments and moments to take away. i had somebody from google who was sitting in here who caught me outside and said oh my gosh i've never been in something that has impacted me as much as listening to this panel so thank you so much for really forcing us to stop in the course of a day to wrap our hearts and our minds around those young children. and so these are my two heroes. but i have one other hero and i want to thank lee dunn from google helping to put) gñ this together. so lee thank you very much. [ applause ] >> and to the rest of my googlers. and here, cindy. that is all i want to say. >> no, thank you. oh, my gosh. thank you very much, susan. this was -- a remarkable morning. and know for those of that you are in the trenches every day, i want to thank you.

this is a difficult job and it is a difficult task that we face. but we can do this. and with great minds and as you see the country is beginning to get together on this and there is a swing now. people are hearing it, they are seeing it and understanding it. that is the job we have been able to do now but we have a lot more to do on the horizon. malika, you are amazing. oh, my gosh, talk about a trench worker. you're my hero too. thank you so much for being here and being a part of this. and to all of you, please come back. we're going to be doing some more of these and we have some -- we're going to have some more ideas, particularly with the data we glean from the super bowl events during january. so thank you. thanks for coming. with live coverage of the u.s. house on cspan and the senate on cspan 2, here on cspan3 we complement that coverage by showing you the most public affairs events.

and then on weekends, cspan is the home to american history tv with programs that tell our nation's story, including the civil wars 150th anniversary. visiting battlefields and key events. american artifacts, touring museums and historic sites to discover what artifacts reveal about america's past. history bookshelf with the best known american history writers, the presidentially looking at the policies of our commanders in chief, elect ushs in history with top college professors delving into america's past and our new series real america featuring films from the 1930s through the '70s. c-span 3, funded by your local provider. like us on facebook and follow us on twitter. military veterans gathered at the u.s. navy memorial in washington, d.c. in november for a conference honoring their service. among the speakers were medal of honor recipients from the

vietnam war along with veterans of world war ii from the tuskegee airmen aviation air unit all of which you can see at cspan.org. right now we'll show you several portions. first we'll hear about the vietnam war by steve riching, talking about an all-out effort to rescue a comrade. [ applause ] . >> thank you. thank you raymond. where did you go? >> yes. >> thank you, ladies and gentlemen. jim, admiral. can i say, john because i have trouble with your last name. thank you for hosting us. now i kaulz get a little -- i always get mixed up.

we're here in the navy facility. is the navy part of the marines? actually, one of your marine colleagues here today told me the marines represent the men's department of the navy. you know that person, right? well, my mother did a nice job on that video, don't you think? i wish she had lived to see that. she would have believed every word of it. now my dad who was in patton's third army in world war ii, i'm not so sure about dad. but mom certainly would have. and raymond, i want to thank you for not telling the score of that air force carolina football game in the gator bowl of '63. i've been trying to forget it for 50 years. 50 years. last december 28th. can it possibly be? i was a half back out at the academy and this last game took place against a home state

team university of north carolina. and i just thought that would be the great thing in the world in the organized football. and after the game they had a little football watch with an alligator on it and every time i looked at mine it read 35-0. so i don't blame you for not laughing. no that was the score of the ball game. we didn't think it was too funny either. now, that season was not a total loss. we don't have any nebraska fans here that would admit it, do we? any big red fans? well, that's good because you'll like this story. we meaning this little air force team travelled to lincoln, nebraska the fall of '63 mid-october, and nebraska was nationally ranked. we were unranked. we didn't have a chance of being ranked. we are outweighed by 50 pounds

per person and we won that. to bead t beat -- to beat the big red when they are in a top ten. we had to get out of town in a hurry. they beat auburn if the orange bowl and ended up number five in the nation and we denied them the national championship. some people like to applaud at this point. [ applause ] so you see, the impossible is sometimes possible right? there was no way -- we had absolutely no chance it was totally impossible, and somehow we did it. the impossible is sometimes possible. and of course, we've been proving that especially our military, throughout all of our history. and you are going to have to prove it as we go forward into the future. because it has never ever been more important.

another reason i'm happy to be here here, april of 1972, i shouldn't have made it. and my very first mission over hanoi, 16 april '72 and there were three sams, a surface to air missing about the size of a telephone pole and accelerated at our airplanes about 1600 1700 miles per hour and they would be lethal and deadly within about 150 feet. and on my very first mission, three of them came within 100 feet of our airplane and failed to go off. failed to detonate. thank goodness for that soviet quality control. won't you agree? but there were many other times that had it not been for thousands and thousands of people and the entire military and civilian support community that were proud of their work. they performed at a professional outstanding manner. steve richie would not be a

fighter and i would probably not be alive. so as you can imagine, i'm pretty thankful, pretty grateful. i feel very fortunate to receive so much of the credit that belongs to so many who helped make it all possible. there are many fighter pilots who could have done what i did, but we had a unique opportunity in the air combat arena and there were reasons for our success at the time given our opportunity and you know what they are. reparation, team work, discipline dedication, education, training, communication, enthusiasm -- enthusiasm! [ applause ] >> it is after lunch isn't it? attitude attitude attitude. determination, integrity and

surely most will agree those are the elements the ingredients and the keys that go into the makeup of what? success. achievement, quality excellence, top-gun performance. and anything that we do personal or professional. so in the final analysis, it is people and a wide array of support functions who are trained and motivated and ready and willing to do the job who ultimately make it possible for us to win rather than to lose. to succeed rather than to fail. and sometimes -- sometimes to live rather tanhan to die and that gets to be pretty important, doesn't it? general patton said we fight with machinery but we win with people. we win with people. and i really am convinced that people can and will do great things, they'll reach for the stars when motivated by inspired leadership. i like to tell you for just a

few minutes about three of the great leaders that i had the wonderful privilege to fly with and work for. the wing commander at thailand in 1972 was a young colonel named charlie gabriel. ten years later he was chief of the air force. the vice commander was jerry o'malley. he was commander of pacific air forces an then commander of tactical air command when he was killed in the spring of 1985. he would shire by the -- he would surely be the chief. there was only one star with whom we worked. again his career in the enlisted ranks of the minnesota national guard became chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, general jack bessy. these three people, these three individuals had that -- i don't know what you call it. i talk about it so much i don't know what to call it.

it requires excellence for everyone they are around. do you know people like that? we would have done anything for o'malley and jack bessy. and people find this next statement hard to understand. maybe some of you will understand it, maybe you know it to be true. i would have died for them. so would many of my colleagues. and some did. some did. that is a pretty special brand of loyalty isn't it? because i'll tell you what there are a lot of people i don't feel that way about. a whole lot of people. what is it? have you thought about it very much? what is it that commands such loyalty? well a part of it is we admired them. we respected them. we loved them. we did. and we would have done almost anything for them. and yet maybe more important than anything else we knew

that loyalty cut both ways. we knew when things got tight and when we got into a jam or in a bind we could count on them just as much as they knew they could count on us. that loyalty cut both ways. and it is so important for us to think about, what is it in others that inspired us to do our best and be our best. and then try to be that way for those who look to us for leadership and guidance and counsel and inspiration. it is kind of like the author who wrote a love, you not only for what you are, but for what i am when i'm around you. for what i am when i'm around you. don't you see? we were better people when we were around charlie gabriel o'malley bessy. we worked harder and were more productive

productive. and you know what else? we had a heck of a lot more fun. because it is fun to work for people like that, isn't it? those of us in leadership and management and supervisory positions have such important responsibilities because we have positive or mediocre or negative affect on people. and the lives of people. performance, productivity creativity, communication. bottom line, mission accomplishment. and it is more important today than it ever has been, isn't it? when we need to be as productive and most cases now with fewer resources. it is never more important. bill danforth the founder of ralston pureina challenged the people in his company to stand tall, to think tall and to live tall. these are the kind of people we have in the room here today? why? because you're up. you are proud you are happy and courteous and creative and

commune better and you like to work. i know it is a new concept in many quarters these days, isn't it? unfortunately, you like to work. and that spirit that spirit is contagious. and the score for vagabond king wrote give me ten who are stout hearted and soon i'll give you 10,000 more. that spirit is contagious. now many ask about the 8th of july, 1972 when we downed two migs in 1:29. because it was how all the team comes together to produce a victory. last thing that happened that morning before we taxied they let me know we didn't have my film in the camera. most of the time i was in the d model without a gun camera.

what mean there is no film? he said there is no film on base. and i thought that about for a moment. and i said, i guess it's okay. i doubt we'll see migs today any way. we never know, do we? we never know what is just around the corner. we never know what is just over the horizon. and that is why it is sort important to be as prepared as we can possibly be in every area in our lives because we never know and we need it be ready. and that is why we're here today. that is why you're in school. is to prepare, because we never know and we need to be ready in every area in our lives. and today is probably more critical than at any time in our history. think about the fact that millions and millions of young people all over the world as we

speak right now are being taught to hate us and to kill us. to convert us or to eliminate us. ladies and gentlemen, we must not fail. and whether we like it or not, whether the main media likes it or not, whether the republicans and democrats and conservatives and liberals like it or not or whether high school teachers and college professors like it or not we're in combat. we're in combat. and it is a war of good versus evil. right, versus wrong. freedom versus slavery. civilization versus chaos. and we must not fail. in my opinion, free people and free institutions all over the world have never been

threatened more. we must not fail more importantly, you must not fail. now let me spend just let me spend just a few more minutes, then we'll get to the best part of our program. let me spend a few more minutes and tell you about the most thrilling and exciting and heart felt mission i ever flew. for an even greater team effort resulted in a much grater victory. roger was shot down on the 10th of may in 1972 and for 22 days there was no word. the survival rate here, one on each side lofts extra batteries, because there is no way it make that rescue without the communication link. proper communication, so

important in every single thing we do all day long. think about the problems caused, time, money, effort resources wasted by miscommunication. it's unbelievable. we went back in that afternoon and called and called on the radio. there was no answer. for days after there was never any reply. we finally decided that he, he must have been killed or captured. that he never came out on a captured list that the north vietnamese like to publish every few days. 22 days later, we were flying in the same area, a break in the radio chatter. 20 or 30 people all on the same frequency, all trying to talk at the same time, particularly when they are shooting at you. get a little busy, would you guess? anyway, a break in the radio chatter. call came over the air.

any allied aircraft sh 1-0-bravo. i remember thinking, we don't have an oyster call sign today. and then we realized, that's roger locher. we answered it. that's exactly what he said. he said guys, i've been down here a long time. any chance of picking me up. pretty cool, huh? i don't believe i would have been that cool after 22 days, do you? we said, you bet. you bet. went back to our respective bases that afternoon and quickly planned a rescue mission. came back in. he was five miles off the end of the runway. some 60 miles northwest of hanoi. the deepest rescue ever attempted. but the ground power was so heavy that we had to back off.

we couldn't get him out. went home that night as you can imagine. pretty down. pretty frustrated. this is our friend. this is someone most of you -- most of us knew very well. he was on his third combat tour over 400 combat missions. not only did we admire and respect him greatly, but he was one of the neatest young men that many of us ever met. now we found him. after all this time now we knew where he was, we couldn't get him out. of course now they knew where he was. and very soon he would be captured. well the next morning, and one of the great examples, in my opinion, of courageous combat leadership general john vogt, seven air force in saigon, in consultation with general fred

wayian army command cancelled cancelled, the entire strike mission to hanoi and dedicated every single resource, including over150 airplanes, to the rescue of roger locher. we went in for about two hours. we made sure that guns at the airfield were silenced. then the young 27-year-old captain bill sul veil class of '67 commanded the lead of two jolly green giant helicopters. i'm so proud to tell this story. you see, dale was a freshman when i was a senior at the air force academy. you guessed it, i had a little do -- i had a lot to do, with his summer training the first year. kale dale commanded the lead of those two jolly greens.

went down through a heavy canopy of trees and snatched locher as he was about to be captured. pulled him out of jungle in the helicopter. they headed out, we flew cover. c-130 refueling tankers as they made their way out of north vietnam. brought him all the way back it thailand. general vogt flew up from saigon. the first of several hundred of us to meet him. as he stepped off that chopper after 23 days. the flight surgeon doctors nurses medics chaplins quickly took him off to the hospital. but they did say he could come to the club that night. 1900 hours 7:00 p.m. for 30 minutes and the word spread. and the club was totally jam-packed. and at 7:00 p.m. roger locher washed, fed, shaven and dressed in uniform that we used to call

our party suit,. walked in the front door. applause broke out. that lasted for over 20 minutes. as he made his way through the crowd, shaking hands, with friends. a magnificent experience of human emotion. an incredible victory, a total force joint rescue victory against all odds with no losses. and when we think about that and analyze it and compare the theme of that movie, platoon, it is suggested that we shoot each other in the back and then we come to fully understand the efforts of which we will go. the resources we will commit. the risk that well take.

to rescue one crew member one american, one ally. isn't it a very powerful statement about what kind of people we are. about the value that we place on life, on freedom, and on the individual. and about the marketplace in which we all operate. which is defined by tremendous respect for the individual. and for economic freedom. and of course, as you know by now, without economic freedom we also may lose all other freedoms. you see, jim this is what i think it's about. the real mission yours and mine, business, government civilian military, is to protect and preserve an environment, a climate a system a way of life. where people can be free to reach their full potential. as our friends in the army used

to say, be all that they can be. as you can imagine i can go on and on. when you give a fighter pilot a microphone, jim, it's hard to limit it to 30 or 45 minutes. we are sort of like italians and romanians. as long as we can use our hands we can just keep on going. but this is by far the best part for the next 10 or 15 minutes, mariana is going to tell you what it was like to grow up 20 years under communism, growing up under a brutal communist dictator dreaming of america dreaming of the american flag dreaming of the american way of life. and hoping that some day the american military would come to rescue her. [ applause ]

>> thank you. at first sight, i'm just a gentle little wife. but beyond that, i'm the oppressed that you rescued and the american who fights along side you to keep our freedom from slipping through our fingers p. while american children are learning to love and trust themselves, we learn to hate, trust no one. control every word we said. because our life depended on it. we waited in line for hours for a piece of bread. sometimes even days. the communist believe in spreading the wealth. take from the ones who have and give to the poor. that paralyzed the economy because the ones who had didn't want to work any more when it was all taken away from them. the poor didn't want to work because they were getting

something for nothing. and that was only until they ran out of other people's money. guns were illegal because unarmed people are easier to owe press and control. knowing that my grandfather was a priest threatened with all kind of things for going to church. and that only made me go to church more. and it was not courage, it was dedespair. i wanted them to come and kill me and get it over with. god was not allowed if school. we were not allowed to say merry christmas. we today sayhad to say happy holidays. we could not say christmas trees. we had to call them holiday trees. the socialist health care killed