them and i grabbed his arm and that's when it turned on me. >> allison stinger discuss as violent protest on a campis last march following a lecture by charles murray. watch at 8:eastern on c-span's q & a. remarks now from french defense minister lawrence parlay about european security. also french president emmanuel macron's proposal for a joint european union defense force. welcome to the center for strategic and international studies. my name is heather conley. i'm season vice president here

at csis with the great privilege of leading our europe research. we are absolutely delighted to be able to welcome her excellency florence parlay, minister for the armed forces of france. the minister accepted her responsibilities on june 21st of this year. so four months into the job. and as she arrives here in washington, france has produced its strategic review of defense and national security, a document that i certainly encourage all to read because as one of america's closest military security and foreign policy partners, this document really articulates some of the great challenges of our time. and france's priorities, and how to focus on those. before i welcome the minister to the podium, the minister has had such a distinguished career in

public service serving as a senior budget adviser to prime minister joe span, but also holding very senior positions at air france and france's state owned railroad company, sncf. the minister knows logistics and brings that skill set to the ministry. before i turn this over to her, i just want to pause for a moment and reflect over the events of the last few weeks. on october the 4th, many americans awoke to the news that we had u.s. forces in niger, that they were on a counter-terrorism operation in great and strong cooperation with france and its counter-terrorism operations in mali and in the sahell. we learned that the tragic death of four green beret sold prers lost. the first aircraft on the scene

from french military helicopters and aircraft. i think this is a moment in time to reflect that it is our greatest allies and partners that are there when we need them the most just as much as french aircraft flew over the skies after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. these are moments to reflect. and this is why this conversation is so important, why it's so important that minister parlay is here to help us understand france's strategic defense and national security priorities. so with that, on this beautiful fall day, please join me in welcoming minister parlay. [ applause ] >> thank you for the -- to the csis for hosting me today. sorry for my voice, which is not completely back, but better than

yesterday. your institution is one of the most highly regarded in a city that has many. i'm well aware that for the past six years csis has been named the world's number one think tank for international security by the go-to think tank index. and your analysis is couple pulsery reading in paris. i should also add as a statement of interest that we have a fantastic operation with you, with some french diplomats serving as temporary fellows at csis. and this sort of cross fertilization between administration and academia, which is not so -- back in france s of immense value. so in a word, thank you for being so good.

think tanks have a particular relevance today, as just said. when i look at the world today i see the middle east on fire. widespread terror. refugee crisis. tensions in the east. and the occasional nuclear test or ballistic missile flashing by. so i see a lot of tank but not much think. our world is transitioning to an unknown place. it's difficult to read. and your work is more important than ever. now being a practitioner rather than an analyst, i will spare you a lengthy introduction, but i would like to say a few words about what i have in mind coming

here to d.c. as a new minister for the armed forces of france. first, we have an all-weather friendship with america. we have been friends for a long time, and we will remain. yesterday was marking the 236th anniversary of the yorktown vick tree. our friendship is one of the heart and of the mind. of the heart because the french will never forget what america did for us when we were in distress. of the mind because for nations like ours, with democratic values and shared interests in

increasingly unstable world it's necessary to cooperate. commentators may well expand on whether france agrees with the current administration on climate, on unesco or the like. the bottom line is there has scarcely been a time when our two nations have been closer in military terms. we are engaged side by side in the fight against terrorism in many regions. i've seen this with my own eyes in iraq, africa, and elsewhere. we are also engaged together in all the visible and not so

visible reassurance and deterrence activities on nato's eastern flank. all this attests that france is a serious, capable, and committed ally. at the core of our partnership is the awareness that france and the united states share both similar security interests and common threads. and that we can best confront them together. it is true today. and will be as true, if not more so, tomorrow. france has indeed the intention to remain a serious and capable

ally. under president macron's guidance my ministry is starting an enduring financial and capability buildup that will ensure just that. inherited from the past, the strong bilateral alliance we enjoy today must be maintained into the future, which will require the commitment of our two great nations. and i have no doubt that it will be the case. and i will work as much as i can to develop it further. second, i'm particularly honored to be here and to meet, as you know, secretary mattis. i've talked with him on a few occasions recently, and i have been impressed by his authority,

his charisma, and his depth of vision. this trip has also been the occasion to meet with general mcmaster, some members of congress, and to visit institutions of special interest to me, such as darpa and the sco as i place particular emphasis on innovation in my own ministry. third, it's fascinating to come here as the representative of a new french administration an administration of a new kind that we have not seen for a long time in our country. our president is the youngest head of state since napoleon.

most of the government comes from civil society rather than from professional politics. gender is balanced. and the president is set to reform the country thoroughly from labor law to taxation and beyond. he's very strong on defense. and he will increase our budget to 2% gdp by 2025. he has a very special interest in foreign affairs with ambitions -- ambitious plans for the eu, belief in norms, and the power of diplomacy. and he places enormous value on the transatlantic friendship.

so i believe you will see a lot of us international affairs in the coming months. coming to substance, i would like to give a few thoughts about my priorities coming here tod today. the first is how to defeat terror. we have an excellent cooperation at all levels with the u.s. on this. we have made tremendous headway recently. raqqah fell this week. but the challenges are daupgt, too. in iraq, we need to support the iraqi government in consolidating its victory against isis and moving away from sectarian politics. this will take time, but we can see encouraging signs.

we must also work to deescalate current tensions with the kurds. in syria, by far one of the most intractable issues today, there is much to do. we need to eradicate isis from its hideout in the middle euphrates river valley. there will come a time when the caliphate is no longer a geographic expression but only an intention to kill. this will not be the end of the story in syria. we will still have critical issues to address before considering a redeployment. we should make sure not to leave too much of a mess behind. this means avoiding at least

four things. first, a war with the kurds. second, a war involving israel and lebanon. third, an unpunished use of chemical weapons. and lastly, a governance that will fuel terror, whether from sunni or shia groups. so i know it sounds simple like this, but in fact it's not. in la salle, france is redeploying 4,000 military in a high intensity environment with tremendous support from the united states. and we are immensely grateful for that support. there have been strong

achievements. we've saved many from the jaws of al qaeda. terror groups are under pressure but much more needs to be done. we can't be and don't want to be reper torians of south african countries. they must be able to defeat terror on their own. the joint force of the t-5 cell is meant for that. it will start its first operations soon. and it needs definitely support. the u.n. wants to give its support. and i hope that everyone can become convinced that robust u.s. assistance is necessary. killed and be happy if you all could help us spread the word in

the beltway. beyond these theaters of war we have also an intense cooperation with the u.s. on terror and intelligence. i hope it will be strengthened. bun day, perhaps, all the untold stories of this cooperation will be told. and on that day we will have reasons to be proud. our lives would be dull if there was only terror. fortunately, there is also proliferation. two places come to mind. iran and north korea. on iran, we have noted president --'s statement.

the leaders of france, germany, and the uk have reiterated both their ajunkt recommendation to stick to the gcpoa and their being willingness to address iran's ballistic missile program and regional activities. we need the gcpoa. scrapping out would be a gift to iran's hardliners and a first step towards future wars. but we should also be extremely serious about the destabilizing ballistic and regional activities. we are working on it. the issue is now in congress. france has no desire to be embroiled in u.s. democrat stom

politics but our position on the agreement is clear. on north korea, we share u.s. concern with recent developments. france has long been the european leader on sanctions against the dprk. we were instrumental in passing the latest package of eu measures. more pressure is necessary for any future -- to be meaningful. the question though is do sanctions come too late? and how far is china willing to go? the third thing i have on my mind is how with we cooperate with the u.s. and nato and u.n.

security more broadly. france is a responsible nato ally. we fully understand the u.s. insistence on burden sharing, and we are on a clear path toward reaching 2% gdp in defense expenses. and believe me, our 2% are not headquarters percentage. they are a war fighting percentage. although, not all our effort is in nato, it all contributes to nato's security, whether in desal or up in the north atlantic where our navy cooperates with the u.s. to confront threats. beyond this, we strongly believe that europeans must do more to defend themselves. in that spirit, the french

president recently decided to loan europe an initiative called a europe intervention initiative. we have also been key to the creation of the permanent structured corporation and the european defense funds. i will be happy to expand on it further. i'd like to conclude with a slightly more global outlook, if i may. france has just concluded as you just mentioned a strategic review of her security environment at the request of the french president. and we face growing security challenges in multiple areas around the world. and these challenges call for new thinking on how to best

assure our command security, which is why we launched this strategic review. this assessment will serve as a basis for the multi-year defense programming load that we will establish defense appropriation for the next five years. and i would like to give you a primer on some of its findings. the only thing i can say is that it's bleak. the threats and risk we identify in our previous 2013 white paper materialized more forcefully and more simultaneously than expected. europe faces the greatest concentration of challenge since the end of the cold war.

as a result, france is exposed and its armed forces are fully commitment committed, if not overstretched. french forces are currently committed on four -- in response to the isis organizations, al qaeda, and their affiliates. we lead the military effort to counter-terrorism in mali and help stabilize the country and contribute to the security and stability of the entire desal region. we also participate in the u.s. led coalition in -- against isis. and french forces will also heavily committed on our national territory participating directly in the protection of

the homeland as the latest terrorist attack reminded everyone. it was three weeks ago in marseille. all that i think is well-known of you. beyond these commitments, the review clearly states that we must remain vigilant in four other regions of concern. the balkans that are still fragile. sub saharan africa where resources require preventive action. the mediterranean sea are we see a convergence of security issues such as migrations and terrorist activities and defense issues considering the return of traditional power politics and the concentration of military assets by non-western countries

in the eastern mediterranean a sea. finally, asia, where several arms races are taking place involving in some case nuclear weapons even though this crucial region doesn't have any credible security architecture. the environment is more unstable and more unpredictable. an observer worrying tendency to challenge and to weaken international norms. our immediate environment is sometimes at stake with state and non-state actors having an increasing access to advanced military resources, western armed forces' superiority will probably be eroded in those names. we expect future operations to

be more difficult and more costly. and to address a growing number of common challenges, france must have two objectives. one, to preserve our strategic autonomy. and second, to help build a stronger europe and stronger alliance. preserving our strategic autonomy would require to renew both components of our nuclear deterrent. also to devote appropriate efforts in terms of knowledge, anticipation, and intelligence. and to retain a full spectrum and balanced military. in particular, france should -- french forces should be capable of autonomous action with

respect to nuclear deterrence, the protection of our homeland territory, and its approaches as well as for intelligence command and control, special operations, and last but not least, cyberspace. new investments should focus on certain key capabilities and elements of readiness, intelligence, command and control -- i just mentioned it a second ago. and i also want to point out that retaining certain key capabilities such as nuclear deterrent and a full spectrum military provides france legitimacy and credibility that are critical to forge partnerships and uphold the responsibilities of a framework nation.

with the same rationale, france must remain a major technological power with a solid defense industry and technology base. supporting defense, innovation and harnessing innovation from the commercial sector will be a key in preserving our military superiority in the long run and it's one of my key priorities as minister for armed forces. however, facing such a daunting set of present and future challenges, france cannot do everything alone. we would like to see european defense strengthen based on the growing number of security interests we share with our european partners. accordingly, we support all

ongoing eu and nato tools and initiatives such as the one i mentioned earlier, provided they deliver actual results. all this will require a buildup and a corresponding financial effort. and i mentioned that we were on a path toward 2% in defense expenses. next year already, france will raise its defense budget by over 178 billion euros in 2018. i know this is -- 1.8 billion euros in 2018. i know this is probably less than the pentagon's laundry bill but in france this is a significant 5% increase. and i would like to conclude with this -- don't underestimate

those single digit billions. from what i've seen in desal, when you invest in the french military, you really get a bang for your buck. so thank you for your attention. i'm ready for your questions. [ applause ] >> maddan am minister, we got a lot of bang out of our buck for those wonderful comments. colleagues before you do it, i'm stealing the phase more tank than think, but we put a lot of think in the think tank. so thank you very much. what we'll do with the time we have, i may pose a few questions and then we have a fantastic

audience that i know may have some additional questions from that very rich offering that you just provided us. i'd like to start with your fire in the middle east. in some ways we're about to be the victim of our success. as the anti-isis coalition, the victories in iraq. we are now moving towards other places. we have two challenges as i see them and would welcome your thoughts. clearly, we still have foreign fighters that are being squeezed, but they have to go somewhere. and you had expressed some very strong comments even a week or two ago about the french citizens that are foreign fighters that are in syria, how to address that challenge, and the terrorism and the homeland security part of that. my second question is, what does syria look like? we will have an assad regime that controls a portion of syria with russian air support,

iranian ground support. is that what we're willing to accept? and president putin's comments about the chemical weapons regime, the normative regime putting that into question. what is the syria we want after we are successful. >> a difficult question. first of all i'm a bit sorry because probably my statement about remaining terrorists was a beth too strong and not very expressed in a diplomatic way but i'm quite new in the job. so sorry for that. but i said just what i think. we are committed -- we've been committed in this area along with the coalition for some years now. and we are fighting terrorism, whatever the passport of the

terrorist. and we cooperate care less the fact that they are french or syrians or whatever. they are terrorists. they are threatening us. they are threatening europe. they are threatening muslims as well. so my statement was just to say we are combatting everyone. and if this fight is successful, that's good news. that's all. now back to your question. syria is probably the most difficult spot. as you said, iraq is progress g progressing. if the kurds issue is set and stabilized, which is not yet completely sure, but probably, if this is the case, iraq will

be able step by step to reunify the country. it will take time. in syria, we don't know. we don't know because the country has been completely destroyed and the regime is progressing on the west part of syria. and we know that after this military period, there will be a political one, and we don't know what will happen. so it's been very clear that we have nothing to say about al bashar, but we are absolutely convinced that this country needs political solution and this political solution is not available.

and that's probably one of the key issues we will discuss with general mattis because we need to sort of share a common vision about what comes next. what comes next for the coaliti coalition. and if the coalition were to chan change its setting, what does it mean? so i have questions but not answers. >> we are going to keep work on those. we appreciate your comments. let me turn to europe a bit. and i understand what strategic autonomy means in the french sense of the nuclear deterrent and your ability for full spectrum. we now -- the european union is using that term now, that term has been adopted in the global strategy, strategic you a on the mow.

and coleman mentioned those in his speech. but i'm having trouble understanding what youautonomou deterrent means in the european union. can it detract from the nato and theous as counter-purposes? i put that question to you because i don't think many in u.s. didn't appreciate under the horrific terrorist attacks in paris, president holland didn't invoke article 47. invoking that did it do what the french government wanted it to do, it was a message of solidarity. in your words. a european initiative, did it put the eu defense into the mix? help us understand. i think there is confusion. >> first of all, today, for the time being, there is a growing

conscious within the european member state that's -- their security is at stake is not only one of the countries within europe but potentially all, and europe as an entity is also at stake viewed from terrorists. so there is a moment, a very positive moment to trigger a new effort on european defense policy. this is a statement that was thoroughly discussed i think in the past. i was not there, but i was told. and now it's getting more and more not a consent, but a reality. so we made collectively major steps. i mentioned the psc and the

european defense fund, which is something completely new that was unconceivable a few years ago probably. so europeans who consider now that their security is something to be looked at and they have to take care of it, that's the first point. the second one is about that, president macron would like to create a solidarity between all countries who are willing and able to go to a battlefield because they would consider it as necessary. and for the timing, this is something which is a very long process.

in fact, the processes are not yet completely set. so his initiative meant that, yes, we want to have a quick and operational process military forces if there is a need for it. and you mentioned president hollande asking for solidarity. and tomorrow if we were to reiterate such an operation on a different theater ideally i would like to do it not alone asking them for solidarity. but from scratch doing it with other european countries or any countries who would be willing and able.

that's the meaning of the initiative. >> this is new, it's still being formed, it's potentially very exciting. i'm wondering as the migration crisis continues to roll european politically as we're seen in many european elections, could this -- the european intervention initiative or this type of readiness, could it be used for a more robust border security prevention of smugglers, traffickers. that seems to me such an important issue and europe has really grappled with how to do that in a collective way. border security is a national competency but yet it needs to be shared. >> yes, it needs to be shared and that's exactly the purpose of 24/75.

the idea is to allow the military forces of the five countries concerned, mali, burkina faso, chad, niger and mauritania to take into account their own security. that's what we're doing with the support of the u.s. and others and germany and spain and others but if we don't succeed in implementing a powerful and efficient military forces from the region, then we will not be efficient and one of the assignments of this joint force is also to control and the borders and the force will be allowed to go back and forth

the borders to make sure that we can traffic efficiently traffics and terrorists. of course, it's huge work and for sure france, even with very strong support, would benefit from allies, or we will never succeed. so we definitely need a local initiative and that's why i underline that much that we need your support as a community just to help understand that this is a strong -- this is not just money poured on the sand. it is something that will happen. and the operations that is prepared in the coming days now will be a first training to

demonstrate that this is possible. >> it seems the like the g 5 is going to be a critical test of new initiatives. very exciting. last question before we turn to the audience. one thing you and secretary mattis can talk about is the challenge of readiness. i say that looking at the map that the ministry provided. over 30,000 french forces deployed worldwide, 4,000 of those in the high intensity situations. if i understand correctly -- please challenge me on this -- over 10% of the french military deployed internally to france to provide the necessary homeland security aspect against terrorist acts. this is a huge challenge of just maintaining that operational tempo, that readiness, and as you mention in the strategic review, the real challenge of sustainment. the average length of operations

are 10 to 15 years, we don't budget for 10 to 15 years, huge set of challenges. as you look at the enormity of this challenge, where are your priorities in the readiness and making sure the french military forces that weren't necessarily designed to guard churches and train stations that they maintain that level of readiness so they can be rapidly deployed if required? >> it's true. we have up to 10,000 people, soldiers protecting the homeland territory and this is lost. so what we decided a few weeks ago is to redesign the process because we have to take care of stations, of course, permanently, churches and everything, but we have also to be more flexible already to intervene

wherever it's necessary and whenever. so we have to work on mobility and that's -- that matches completely with what our soldiers ask for. they are not trained exactly to remain stable and they are trained to run to use the force and so they are quite -- i wouldn't say satisfied. i'm not sure they are satisfied, but they know this is necessary so we try to make the best use of this force because it has a cost, of course and we have got a huge army like the u.s. has and we have to be present in our

national territory and also very much present and with lasting presence even if we are ready to discuss how we can do that with general mattis when we are working together. >> absolutely. thank you. colleagues, let me welcome you into this conversation if you could please raise your hand, identify yourself and your affiliation. please keep your question very short so we can take as many as possible and the microphone is hard to hear. if you can speak directly and clearly into that microphone it will help us. i'm going to sort of go across this way. if we could have a microphone over here, please. sorry. we're just coming around here. keep those hands up so we can see. we'll start right there. please stand up and give us your name. >> thank you for being with us despite your cold.

diana from the wood row wilson international center for scholars where we also receive french scholars. my concern listening to your words and that the european defense initiative would appear to be an alternative to nato. you have the 27, maybe brits, the 28 members, but this new initiative would exclude turkey and the united states. what assurance can you give to us that you're not setting up an alternative defense initiative? >> we'll take several questions. >> hello, my name is megan i'm with search for common ground. you mentioned that president macron takes civil society very seriously and i was wondering in

africa how you would engage local civil societies in security arrangements. >> we'll take one more and pause and just right back there. thank you. >> i am sorry, i am an assistant professor at john hopkins. i also had a question of the european intervention force. i will wondering what sort of mention it would be designed for. and then how it could build on work that has been done with the framework concept with the uk led traditional force that gathers many eu member states such as the netherlands, estonia, as well as the uk. thank you. >> so is the eu defense plan an alternative to nato, how can we engage civil society more, potentially as part of the counterterrorism activities and

is the european intervention initiative, how can it be c combined with perhaps nato's framework concept, the joint expeditionary forces, you can tell there's a lot of interest in the european defense plan. >> i will be short and we'll share a strong conviction. the eu initiative coming from the eu or coming from fans asking for other european countries to be able to go together from wherever they need is not undermining nato. not at all. why? because the day europe invests in its own protection and security, that day europe

contributes even more to its commitment to nato so this is something which is completely -- that can be combined and not be opposed, so i've absolutely no doubt that this is not meant to undermine the nato commitment, not at all. it's just meant to be more efficient wherever europe, we are and we feel unsecured and not unsecured only on the eastern part of europe but also in the southern part of europe and we have to deal with those two. constraints. and the question about what the european initiative is -- can

do. well, at this stage i've not yet made an example to provide, of course, but as i mentioned, i'm sure that in this european initiative had existed when we started to go to mali, i'm sure that this would have been a good example of what this initiative could have done if it had existed. now, the big operation, of course, could be a smaller one and what i've not mentioned in my answer is about the financing of it. because i said that europe is working hard and building a european defense fund, which is new.

but that doesn't mean that europe is still ready to finance what member states invest in their day-to-day operations abroad and this is also one very serious question we have to solve at the european level and that's why president macron said we are financing that on our own but we would like very much to extend the financing to european contribution as well which means that we should be able to revisit some processes that we have in europe which doesn't -- which are not ended up doing so. >> excellent. let's take a quick three. we have three questions right in the back, three in a row right there and then we'll have minister give her closing remarks. right there. thank you. >> my name is andrew hannah, i'm

a reporter with politico. so washington has been somewhat cool on the g-5 regional architecture project before but there's a suggestion that with the recent deaths of u.s. troops in niger that u.s. position might change on this. do you plan to talk about this topic with secretary mattis and do you have any sense that momentum might be changing on this from the u.s. side? >> thank you. right behind. >> good morning, i'm alex sanchez. i'm going to piggy back on the last question, if you can talk about what you're going to discuss with general mattis today, what else is on the agenda. and you talked about the french defense industry. can you talk about weapons sales from french companies abroad. i know france is trying to sell warplanes to argentina, gifts to columbia and uruguay. if you could talk more about that too. >> and the final one?

>> good morning, i'm from the embassy of italy. talking about the migration crisis in the mediterranean, do you see france working more closely with italy to ensure the saving of lives and prevent migrant trafficking? >> excellent questions, lots of questions on the g-5 and perhaps if you want to preview some conversation you'll have with secretary mattis that you'll have that meeting later today and then migration, bilateral cooperation with italy. >> well, yes we will discus this with general mattis. it's of utmost importance for us and i'm pretty sure that general mattis will be sensitive to this because he knows that we are strongly committed in this field. that is a very demanding fight

and we need to find support everywhere we can so i'm not sure if it's important to discus about the way to support so whatever it comes from the u.n. or from bilateral support that we already have from the u.s. is that we would fight to increase, of course, i wouldn't care less. the only thing i care is that this comes. otherwise, probably in five years from now the situation that i would recommend to you if you would invite me again. >> done. >> well the situation has not

made much progress and we can't afford, of course if we don't make progress terrorists will. on the migration crisis, we are with our italian allies. we are with them. i cooperate very efficiently with italy. i have an extremely good relationship with my counterpart so i know that libya is probably a specific place of concern for italy, but we are working also to find solutions. to find ways to avoid both trafficked and illegal migration and human beings, that

treatments that happen in this area, so we are really close on this issue as well as all the others were discussed about european difference and cooperation within europe and the european framework. so, again, italy, germany, spain are our best support in europe to try building this initiative we try to promote. >> do you want to say anything about the -- your defense -- industrial component? i've certainly seen a lot of vibrancy, whether it's india, argentina, elsewhere. any comments on that? >> well, much smaller than the american ones, we definitely have in the defense industry and

we are proud of this because it's also one of the base of the autonomy we are building every day and try to keep. so as any country having a defense ministry and also export it's necessary. i would say that's a business mod. otherwise, you need enormous amount of money to get the abilities, the technologies that are needed today. so yes, sometime we succeed in exporting our weapons and military systems, of course we have to be extremely cautious as it's safe to do it. do we comply with international rules? of course we have to do that.

but these rules are set accordingly so we do our best to comply with them. >> madam minister, thank you so much. you gave really comprehensive and important thoughts and insights that have helped us understand greater french security. thank you so much for your partnership. the embassy, we benefit from incredible french diplomats that enrich our research. thank you for managing this conversation with a cold. that's above and beyond the call of duty. thank you for agreeing to come back to us in a future date. we'll work with your calendar. most importantly, thank you for the incredible partnership and military cooperation. the united states is a safer place for it. we thank you so much. a word before you can all thank

the minister as well. if inch can please remain seated. at the end we're going to depart -- escort the minister and the delegation out. as soon as we're out the door, please enjoy a fantastic fall weekend. so now with your applause, please chathank the minister fo her comments. [ applause ] if you missed any the french defense minister, you can see his remarks on our website. live now over on capitol hill

where we're waiting for the five fcc commissioners to history before a house energy panel. that's going to be the first time all five of them have appeared together and testified since the start of president trump's term. here's a story from bloomberg. the commissions are likely to face some tough questions. they say that an 80-year-old rule covering radio and television stations requiring them to have a physical studio in or near the area where they have a license is a subject of the discussion today. bloomberg news writing that is no longer needed to keep stations in touch with their communities. that's what supporters are changing the rules say. the federal communications commission voted tuesday to eliminate the rule adopted in 1939. the rule is unnecessary. most consumers get in touch with stations over the phone or through electronic means said republican chairman. and in online posting ahead of that vote tuesday, stations can

produce local news without a nearby studio and the rule can impose major costs on broadcasters. democratic commissioner said the agency with his vote is paving the way for broadcast station groups large and small to terminate studio staff and abandon the communities they're obligated to serve. we expect this hearing to get under way shortly. the house finishing up a series of votes special we think as soon as they're done, members will make their way over to the hearing room. bloomberg. bloombe