their counterparts and any information is on with that, as i believe i said a year ago, when i was asked to introduce the secretary of state for the first time, this is one of the easiest assignments of my life. madam secretary. .

humanitarian needs in this. , while to plan for the longer term. when i spoke to family members who had lost loved ones, victoria delong, and then i spoke with andrew wiley. they both thanked me as secretary, for the outpouring of support that they had received from colleagues. in victoria's case, people who had served with her, who knew her, who had reached out to the family, who had really demonstrateed the closeness of community that exists among us. and for andrew wiley, who inconceiveably, unimaginably lost his wife on her birthday

and his 7 and a half and 5-year-old children, he mentioned specifically the names of those who had been working with him in these very difficult days to recover the bodies of his wife and children. and again, the sense that there was not even just a community but a large and extended family came through in everything he said to me. that certainly is the way i feel after a year here. working with many of you, but of course many, many more with whom i do not work on a daily or weekly basis, but who i know are toiling in offices and posts and missions and projects across the world. on behalf of our country, our values, our interests, our

security to, build that better future that we think every person deserves and to create the opportunity for every child to live up to his or her god-given potential. we've had a very active and challenging year. that has tested many of us. and forced some very difficult decisions upon the president and his team. but every step of the way, i feel very confident that as i go into any setting, i have all of you as part of the preparation and the backup, and that gives me the reassurance that we are prepared for whatever comes next. with respect to haiti, the challenges that we confront are

really going to give us both the opportunity and the necessity of demonstrating what we mean by diplomacy and development working together. one without the other is truly inadequate. and my goal has been among others to elevate the role of diplomacy and development. and here we are with this terrible calamity that has forced us to do just that. one example, our aid workers under the newly, sworn-in dr. rod issue a, who i don't even know how you say had to hit the ground running, but he did. and of course our team here at state. we're scrambling as quick as we

could to do everything we needed in these past two weeks, and as is often the case, some of the international press either misunderstood or deliberately misconstrued what was a civilian and military response. both of them necessary in order to be able to deliberate, to the haitians, who desperately needed it. we were working through diplomacy and public affairs and with the regional bureaus to going push back. i have absolutely no argument with anyone lodgeing a legitimate criticism against our country. i think we can learn from that, and we are foolish if we keep our head in the sand and pretend that we can't. on the other hand i completely

re-sent those who attack our generosity and the leadership of our president and our people and trying to respond to historically disasterous conditions after the earthquake. so what we're asking for is that people view us fairly. and we sent cables to all posts. we asked our spire teams to be prepared to respond to any misleading media reports, and we stood up for who we are and what we represent. and we saw the change. you know, we're not going to leave unanswered charges against the united states of america. and the kind of work that we do every single day. that has to be going forward, what becomes the norm, not the exception. we have a story to tell. we have an important message to deliver, and we need every

single person to be part of that. so going forward, we're going to look in a very clear-eyed way pat what we do well, what we could improve on, but to make sure that the extraordinary story that the united states has to tell is presented forcefully and effectively in every corner of the world. before i take your questions, i want to review a few important areas of progress since i first met with you a year ago over in the c-street foyier. you know, we begin with the idea of smart power and the goal of elevating diplomacy and element and making them partners with defense. i'm please indeed owe far we've come in doing that. our budgets demonstrate both the commitment of the

administration and congress to this vision commitment to this vision. we've reached tout powers and pursued constructive dialogue even with longtime adversaries and brought diplomacy to extend government-to-government engagement and to include ngo's, the private sector, citizens and media in nations across the world. ads we've worked together bring together the private sector in cross-cutting partnerships, we've seen some exciting examples. you know, one is the use of technology on behalf of diplomacy and development, a subject i discussed last week in my speech at the museum. our civilian experts from state and usid are supporting the afghan and iraqi people as they work to build democratic institutions and combat

extremism and strengthen civil society, and we are working to promote effective, democratic, trance parent govern nance in both those nations. we're also redoubling our efforts to deal with the long-term issues like poverty, hunger, climate change, non-proliferation and others. and the department has played a central role in advancing president obama's vision of a world some day without nuclear weapons. we have put forward a new development agenda for the 21st century. we're pursuing a policy based on partnerships not patronage meaning working directly with developing countrys to help them identify their own obstacles to grow and overcome those obstacles and implementing those programs who can be held accountable for results. close partnerships with usid,

we're pursueing is -- helping farmers produce more in a sustainible way that in turn promotes economic growth and seeing the impact of that approach in many countries around the world. now there's much else that we have been doing and are doing and recognize we have a lot of challenges yet on the horizon so what was good enough in 2009 won't be adequate in the 2010. that's why i'm pleased that we launched the qddr last year to align our priorities and policies panned to make sure we were equip with the tools and resources to do the jobs we've been asked to do. over 400 state and usid personnel thus far have participated in qddr working groups, and many more have contributed online or in response to working group questionnaires. with the appointment of our new

administrator the qddr is entering into its last phase of operation. going forward, jack lieu will chair the effort, rod issue a will co-chair and anne marie slaughter will serve as co-director and karen will demont her role as chief operating officer. now i cannot promise you that next year or i guess now this year, will be easy. but i can promise you that you will be working on important matters that really do affect the future of our country and the wormed. now, wherever i go, i see results. i see lives saved, conflicts averted, partnerships strengthened, and the united states acting as a force for progress. i'm very proud to be a member of this team, and it is a tremendous privilege to work with you on behalf of the american people, so i am looking forward to an exciting year ahead, and i am very

confident that we will continue to make progress together. right now i am looking forward to your questions, so i'll hand things over to pat to help moderate the discussion, but thank you-all for everything you've done and everything you will do. [applause] >> the microphone set up, one on each side. you've never been a shy group. >> on behalf of the foreign service i would like to begin by thanking you for your leadership in fostering an environment of open communication with management and recognizeing the value of the resources of the state department. with your permission i have two questions i would like to ask.

the extension of come practice billty pay to the foreign service overseas, is eliminating a major inedty in foreign service compensation and has significant positive effects on morale. can you just briefly describe the time line for initiateing the second and third phases of this process and ensuring that this compensation deponts perp thank youty. >> you ended with perp thank youty, which, you know -- [laughter] >> um, we are very pleased that we were able to obtain congressional support and funding for come practice billty pay. that the point i don't want to make any predictions. we are going to work very, very hard to implement phase two and phase three. but i think you know we're

facing very tough budget tear times. it's anticipated that tomorrow the president will announce in the state of the union a request for a three-year freeze on domestic spending. thus far, he's exempted foreign aid, but not state operations. so we really have to work hard to make the case. you made it su sinkly and well, this was an injustice and comparative disadvantage for people serveing in overseas posts, so i think we have a strong argument inequity on our side, but i can't stand here today and guarantee to you what's going to happen engine this budget process. we're going to fight as hard as we can. we've been extremely successful in the last year. we're just going to double our efforts and try to make sure we

maintain that equitable posture going forward in perp thank youty. >> thank you. >> and my second question is employment opportunities for eligible family members overseas, are an important factor in recruitment, retension and post morale. 75% of eligible family members have college degrees often whom 50% have advanced degrees. can you comment on the prospects for increasing eligible family member employment overseas and also address the possibility of increasing opportunities for employment through the yigse of teleworking. >> on the last one, teleworking, we are constantly exploring what more can be done. we think it has a lot of advantages, you know, ones that we have been promoting is more conferences by, you know, telecoonchess and the like. it saves money and wear and

tear and can often lead to the same or better outcome than you would get if people had to travel distances. on the teleworking side similarly we're going to explore all kinds of options. technology gives us the opportunity to do that. twropt family members, again, this is an area that we are constantly evaluating. we know that when we send someone to serve in a post overseas, the family serves. whether the family accompanies the officer or stays behind. we know that there is a family that is involved in, you know, most cases. it really depends on a case-by-case analysis and post-by-post, situational analysis. you know, some posts it's a lot easier. some we have as resip areical agreements with the host country. others we don't. so we're working on this, because we know it's an i mean

pedment for families. but i can't give you more than the commitment we've made to work on this and the fact that we're trying to push as hard as we can to provide opportunities for those who accompany the person who is assigned. >> thank you. >> good morning. my name is jennifer king. i just wanted to ask what your stance is on preselection during the hiring process. >> do i have stance on preselection? i'm opposed. i'm sorry. i really, you know, that's -- i don't understand that. that's one thing that i get into a lot of the details, i don't know that. but i'll let the undersecretary respond. you want to say a word? [laughter] >> we have a hiring system at the state department that we have jobs that come vacant in

the state department that are posted on our website, applicants apply, and it is a banned practice on the part of myself and on the part of general powell and ba taglya and leadership in hr. so if you have any reason to believe there's preselection going on that inhibit as fair competition for a jobs, please be in touch with the deputy general or assistant secretary, we will definitely want to look into that. >> i couldn't have said it better myself. >> and we have questions coming in from overseas takeover internet. >> our first question comes from an r.s.o. in afghanistan. he says that department facilities throughout the world are often in decay, overcrowded or both and our personnel lack the train pping and equipment and logistical services and other foreign agencies seemingly have in abundance.

do you see we will be aford that had in a timely manner and so we can complete our mission in afghanistan and let alone worldwide. >> first of all, i'm well aware that in many posts, particularly very difficult ones in conflict situations, we often don't have everything that we need for those serving in the state department and usaid. and we are working very hard to try to increase the equipment and respond to the specific needs and also on the building front, you know, if he serve indeed afghanistan, he knows that we've been scrambling to build enough facilities for people every year. since 2002. so we're doing as well as we can, again, we often ask for a lot more than the congress gives us, because we know what

the need is, and we go to bat to try to fill those needs, but it is not possible to compare us to the defense department. they have more than a 10-to-1 advantage on us in terms of a budget. but it is fair to say that we have pushed very hard to increase our resources for facilities and equipment. and if there are specific needs that really go to the heart of whether you can perform your mission, we want to know habit that. -- we want to know about that. >> we know that there's overcrowding and houseing in kabul and baghdad. there may not be anything we can do about that in the short run burks if there are other types of equipment or needs not being met, let us know about that. >> thank you. larry sperling from the oes bureau. want to applaud the earths

you've laurnled with respect to the qddr, a much-needed look at the direction that weaver going. i'm wondering if you can share any insights on the kinds of reform that is might occur as a result of that review. in particularly, whether putting development in diplomacy on equal footing means greater integration or greater independence of decisionmaking between state aid and also to what extent we might see stream lining of the various decisionmaking processes for planning and budgetting. >> well, larry, those are all very important questions. i'm not going to preempt or preview the qddr. we will be having many meetings to explain what the proposed conclusions are and the policy that is flow from them.

but i think just your question illustrates the need. i think you can do a lot by questioning assumptions and trying to understand are we just doing the same thing we've always done because we're comfortable with it and understand it? do we have evidence of what could actually make us more effective? and the question you ask goes to the heart how we best perform our jobs and fulfill our missions, so those are going to be addressed in the qddr and you'll have to stay tuned. thank you. >> thank you. >> hi, my name is brendan o'connor and i work in the overseas building prayings bureau and i have great respect how you're leading the state department whether it's more recent stuff like the work in haiti or internet freedom, speaking out on behalf of that. i appreciate the town hall.

my question is on travel which i think can feel like very small until comparison to the big things ouven your plate but seems pretty integral to the work of the state department. so 17 travelers travel processors managers, and i, who also process travel, signed our name to two post that is went up on the sounding board at the end of november and we formed the post collaboratively withor authors deliberately making our suggestions constructive but haven't had an official response yet, so we asked among other things, surveys, working groups, etc to reevaluate a travel system that seems to have really infuriated and demoralezed travelers because of some weaknesses and

inefficiencies in the travel business and included recommend daigle frs e 2 and carlton and so my question on all this actually stems in part froming? i saw from a recent white house forum on modernizing government . one recommendation was quote to reengineer business processes before deploying technology. federal managers should only begin technology projects if the underlining business -- with all that said, big kind of lead up to the question but i want to ask if our fundamental business process is not only frp our overall travel system but as i think is kind of indicated with how i led into this for areas also like the sounding board also moving compleeze into potential ideas into potential action if those processes can be thur oley improved and if our two sounding board posts can get

comprehensive answers online? >> well, thank you if for that and the thought that's gone into it and we do take the sounding board very seriously these town halls very seriously. some of you might remember my last town hall and i'm happy to announce next week we will be cuting the ribbon on the free showers. so it does -- [applause] >> it sometimes takes a while. but we take everything seriously, and we work through it to the best of our ability. i actually was briefed on your sounding board post related to stream lining travel procedures and e 2 software. and let me just tell you that i am aware that there is frustration with the implementation of a number of standardized and automated ad in my opinion straight i tools

including e travel. there have been changes in this area. they are often difficult. because as it's explained to me, we have these global operating platform and requirement that is have to be met. so we're trying to figure out how to best serve our diplomatic community while keeping track of travel, being able to, you know, answer ig questions and congressional questions and the like. so i know that the management folks are really involved with carlson, which is a group that was chosen to basically run the travel operations here. to try to make change ins their e travel software that will facilitate the kinds of unique travel requirement that is we have. i mean, it's hard to compare us to many other government agencies, so we want to use satisfaction surveys and user

groups and input and pat kennedy will follow up with you to see what ideas need to be explored. now i -- you know, i am aware that a lot of glitches happen as you change systems. and, you know, the department has implemented the get, g-e-t, at those bureaus and posts that account for approximately 90% of the departments tdy travel, and that's integrated with the financial system. all of usaid has been operating under the get program. so we need to be aware of any, you know, large problems to try to get on top of them as soon as we can. your point about the business process approach is a good one,

and that should be constantly done to see whether or not what we're getting meets our requirement. it's just complicated. so i'm always interest indeed good ideas, you know, kind of coming up from the system. so we will certainly get back to you on the specific ideas that you and your colleagues posted. but we've paid attention. you know, we're just trying to follow through on them. yes? >> our next sounding board entry comes from celine, an economic advise o, he said madam secretary, gay and lesbian staff have been so hearten bid the -- how much it means to me when i look at my hr records and see family member. those two words say so much about the kind of atmosphere you have set. thank you, so much for all you have done. 34 of us still face problems

coming home to the us with our partner and i wonder if you can talk to congress about the challenges we face and thank you and thank you for all you have done. >> thanks tovepb who has supported and embraced this policy change. i've met with people across the world at every just about every post i visited, which are a lot by now. and you know, we will continue to follow up on issues that arise, but we're, you know, we're very proud that the state department thread way on this. >> madam secretary, by name is walter bruce, and it's an honor and pleasure to be before you today. you and your husband is part of my family, has been for many years. >> thank you, walter. >> i look forward to this opportunity and talents president of 1534 the local here. i got 17 vice presidents in overseas private investment contact and i'd like to

compliment one of your officers for doing something i consider to be outstanding. her name is susan schwartz. i'm retired military spent 30 years in army and have all my degrees except ph.d. and experience ad lot of challenges and learn ad lot of things takeover years and i remember on this floor in front of madeleine albright i spoke to having minorities being promoted to senior level officials and no one ever done anything about this until susan schwartz came aboard and eliminated the preselect program, and susan make sure anybody going to the senior level has to go in front of a board that wasn't here before the. i applaud her in that effort and put together a dialogue panel to discuss the issues and diversity with outstanding results and additionally within her time frame, under her watch, we have accumulated more minorities in the senior level position than has ever been

done in the history of this organization and i wanted her and you to know how proud i am of her. i have one other issue. that is i'm buzzaling i sent pat an email and known him for a long time and know he support all these things us officers do and i'm only concern about the program the guy or girl who is supposed to be working out for civil compleeze, this is a civil service program but there should be -- that looks out for the advances of those we consider civil servants. i just want to the stat. madam secretary, all i wanted to know and i'm sure pat going to be able to tell me this. where we stand on this. that's all we have. >> thanks so much and thanks for your many years of service to our country first in the military and now here. we're going to have that, aren't we, pat? [laughter]

>> madam secretary, yes. the law requires that the -- must be a member of the senior executive service. we have no other choice. it's written in the statute, so we're in the process of all this takeover recruiting someone because we have to identify an scs position and recruit someone and that process is ongoing. >> and there's no preselection in -- [laughter] [applause] >> yes. >> my name is dorothy burkett and i'm sort of coming behind major bruce and i'm sort of concerned in that i've been here 11 years and i've never had a good supervisor. i've always had -- >> should we give equal time to your supervisor?

[laughter] >> i am concerned, because they are not accountable to anyone. in fact, in the two bureaus i've worked in here, they particular supervisor is always supported by management all the way up to the assistant secretary. and whatever they do is one assistant secretary told me, we don't ever tell any supervisor what they can do in their office. and so that is a very poor environment to work in. and i have speerps that had. i've been, every office i've been in, i've been discriminated against. in my present office, one low-lying supervisor came in, a young 30-something with people in my age group, and with a hard hand.

and decided to tell all of the supervisorry people up to the assistant secretary that i was a terrible person. they accepted it. i had no redress. none of my rights were acknowledged and i was never give analyst of all charges against me. and there is a memo in your office about this. but i'm sure it didn't get to you, so that's the reason i'm saying something today. but we need -- as he's saying, civil service employees, we need to have civil service supervisorers, this was a foreign service -- >> i'm sorry. you know, i think that we have procedures inside the state department. that you can follow. and i would urge you to do so if you feel you've been unfairly treated or discriminated against, and i

think that it would be appropriate for you to exhaust your remedies -- >> which i have done. >> within the system. >> which i have done well, we will certainly pay attention to ensuring that people get their grievances heard. but this is a mixed workplace, and foreign service officers have a lot of responsibility. civil service also have a lot of responsibility and it's just not possible to say that you can only be super advised by one or the other. >> i just want you to know the organizations i've been to which were the office of civil rights, which at one time was known as affirmative action. as you know now, they have to take a neutral approach. so even if they see a problem, they can't speak to it. >> that's not the case. i'm sorry, ma'am. >> i'm just telling you what's

happened. >> but i think we've heard you have some question that is you feel strongly about, and i'm sorry that that's been your experience, but i think there are a lot of people in the office of civil rights and in, you know, the management chain that can listen to that, that doesn't mean they are always going to side with you. >> of course not. >> i've had more criticism until my life than probably -- whole countries have had. [applause] >>it doesn't mean that i'm always right or i'm always wrong, but especially when we do have these systems for your grievances to be heard, i really urge you to do that, and pursue those, and do the best you can under the circumstances. >> so what can i do if the union didn't help me and -- >> i think you need to ask yourself why nobody is agreeing with you. >> no. i'm not saying that's what the

problem is, but thank you for listening. >> thank you. >> our next overseas question exoms from jenny, a will he asson and is asking what can be done with collaboration and overseas family members who don't have access to open net. >> pat? [laughter] >> you haven't had a lot of questions on foreign pole policy. >> i'll have to take that question. open net, ma'am is, the technical name for our internet system and i'm just very surprised in a country as tech in a logically advanced as stockholm there's not an ability to get on the internet to teach state department's principal website from home, but i will speak to the family will he asson office about lee

asiason about this. and terminals were made available in the ambassador for family members to come in and use those so they could reach out, and i see leslie teixeira, the head of the family lialson shaking her head in the office. >> madam secretary i'm an intern. following the u.n. security council on gender-based violence such as the post election violence which the department reacted very strongly to, what can the department do to respond to gender-based violence around the world? >> well, we are following up on the security council session and resolution, and this is a very high priority for me not only personally, but because i think it really speaks to our values and also where you find that level of gender and

sexual-based violence, you will find other indicators of conflict and behavior that is ini mean i canible to our interests and more importantly, our values. so i think this is going to be al constant priority in the department and usaid. we are looking for specific ways to address it, when we deal with countries whether it be guinea or the democratic republic of congo or wherever. as you know we have our first-ever appointed ambassador for global women's affairs. it is the top of all of her interactions. i raise it in my meetings with leaders. and it really comes down to attitudes. we are funding some programs to see whether they can work. on trying to change attitudes

about the treatment of women and girls. and i was delighted to hear that ellen johnson sur leaf said she will stand for re-election. she's been one of the champions in this issue and governmental career, but it's a constant struggle. you know, there are so many instances of it that go from the kind of cultural behavior that people just take for granted to the horrific abuses that we've seen. so again, i invite people for your ideas about how fwoast try to have the united states with the rest of the world addressing this. we've made some good partnerships with some of our fellow colleagues and countries, the dutch sponsored an event about this at the united nations assembly, the first they are aware of.

and we want to keep raising awareness and this gives us chance because it's the first women's conference in beijing, so there will be a lot of activities around this. so we're just going to do everything we can think of. but you and others if you've got ideas specific to certain areas or countries or in general, please let us know. >> thank you. >> hello, my name is -- i'm intern at the state department and also an ethnic kurd and i heard today you're meeting with the kurdish president and i was wondering what our state department has to gain from not only speaking to him but specifically toward the elections are coming up. i heard they were pushed back again, so what is our ajenda? >> right. thank you. well, i will be meeting with the president. he met with president obama and vice president biden yesterday.

really we have three messages. one is to encourage the kurdish leadership to work toward a peaceful resolution of some of the disputed boundaries, specifically around kirkuk. and to support the elections. and the election of a legitimate government that can be put into place as soon as possible. the kurds will have a major role in determining who ends up in those positions and to reassure president barsonny and other kurdish leaders that the united states is very supportive of kurdish as operations and the security of the kurdish people. but we do expect that the kurdish leadership will take an important role in trying to stablize iraq and trying to work with the sunni and -- leadership for the betterment of the entire country, so

working tout oil revenue law, for example, is something that is fortunate all iraqis. and it will benefit all iraqis if it can be finalized. so it will be a message of both reassurance and requests about what we would like to see the kurdish leadership do going forward. >> wonderful. thank you. >> thank you. >> madam secretary, my name is jean pierre lou oui. >> yes. pick that up, sir. >> i'm an haitian-american and foreign service office, and i'd like to thank you and administrator issue a and also president clinton for all the work you've done in haiti since the earthquake. i have lost some family members there, and when soon after the earthquake, ip went to my boss, ambassador john herb, the

special assistant, and i said i'd like your permission, sir, to volunteer to go to haiti, if i may, and i was very appreciative that he said, go ahead. just to be sure, i checked with him again. and he said absolutely go ahead. i volunteered, i'm a member a standby member of the civilian response core. took my shots, four shots on a monday, marnt luther king birthday, and i started my anti-malaria medications, and am supposed to start my second dose, but i'm not in haiti, and i don't know that i'm close to going to haiti. there are other options. i can take a leave of absence and go in my personal capacity. but my wife has told me she'd

rather that i not do that, because our children need milk. and -- [laughter] >> and i guess i'm asking -- i know that we have done very good work in haiti, and i'm appreciative of that. but i believe that i have skills that are relevant. i speak haitian -- five-four bloods in state department rankings, and i'm prepared to go. >> good. well, we need you. and if you will you know, come and gives all of your details, because we need you in a number of capacities. you know, our ambassador in portfolio is overwhelmed. the -- in port aprince is so -- is port aprince is overwhelmed. we need you and because of the way the ambassador is built, it

certainly with stood the earthquake. it became a gathering place for haitian-americans, people who were seeking help, seeking medical care, seeking of these. we had surgeries being performed in the conference rooms. i mean, this was a truly heroic effort. and we're going to start rotating some of the people ourkts because frank lyrics they've been under intense pressure, literally not sleeping for two weeks. we have a task force that we're working with. as you know. so if you will talk to pat after we break, we will get you to haiti. [applause] >> thank you. and i'd like to make -- i'm sorry for following up, but i'd like to make a more general point about perhaps a route niesed way for volunteers speak up in times of disaster people

who believe they have relevant skills. >> thank you. and thank you also for being a standby member of the resilience response core. i see jon herb sitting here. this is a very important program. >> our next question comes from andy miller of consulate affairs and says we'll be too busy to watch but please give a shout out to our ambassador in haiti and all their heroics works the evacuation of thousands of american citizens with flights with clearance and resettlement assistance is wonderful u.s. coorms and the untold media story of this disaster. >> well, i really appreciate that. because it was a very difficult organizational challenge, because we had to bring, as you say from the field, dhs and hhs to work closely with counselor affairs. think we have evacuated more

than 11,000 at this point. more than 11,000 americans, and we are dealing with a lot of very complicated issues of people who are citizens with children who aren't and vice aversea. i mean, we have a lot of very difficult problems that the law doesn't give us a lot of leeway on, but our integrated teams are working hard to get answer for people. so those of you who have been in the field, who have seen comparable -- there's nothing comparable burks situations where we all had to quickly move into action, know how difficult this has been and i appreciate the recognition for the team down on the ground. [applause] >> madam secretary, i've admired you for a long time and

one of your former con constituents. >> thank you. >> i'm a college professor and here on a sabbatical year. and when i arrived here only a few months ago i was pleased to discover i was going to be in the bureau for democracy of human rights and labor and since then i've been learning a directly about central and south asia and working to promote human rights on that and -- i'm starting to learn how challenging it is to balance human rights concerns against security concerns, concerns about afghanistan and the other crises in the world, and yet i'm very concerned about human rights. i'm demrithed that we have this you are be. it's an important bureau but i sometimes worry that given the pressures of everything else despite our wonderful secretary as a principal of pragmatism, i'm afraid sometimes the

pragmatism outweighs the principal and despite your very effective george 10 speech around your speech at cairo that gets the people on the gluned the pragmatism sometimes outweighs the principal so i'm here to ask you and encourage you to keep the principal and moment that has much as we possibly can, understanding that the pragmatic has to happen but i very much worry about the loss of human rights. central asia in particular is a place where i think this is going become pressing. i've talked to people who are ngo's and they say concerns about afghanistan can overwhelm everything else. these are countries where people are truly being abuse indeed horrible ways in every part of their life so i encourage you and everyone to really keep that principal in there and really advocate as strong as as you can so that people don't get rewarded for what we sometimes call bad

behavior, to put it mildly. thank you. >> well, we certainly will, and i welcome you to the state department. we're delighted to have these programs that bring people like yourself here. that is balancing act, and we start out and try to end up as supportive and actually committed to the human rights of every individual, because that's one of our core principals. but it is talents case that -- as you have found, these sometimes difficult decisions are affected by many other aspects of our foreign policy. you know, we are committed to protecting american lives from terrorism. and so how do we be effective doing that? i mean, if you had told me 20 years ago that we would be taking shoes off and subjecting ourselfs to body scans, i would have not believed you.

so there is a constant balance that has to go on all the time, and in a lot of countries, not just in the region you mentioned, but elsewhere. getting their cooperation while moving them toward democracy and more openness and protection of human rights is a constant effort on our part so, thank you for what you're doing to help. >> thank you. >> good morning, madam secretary. my name is todd woodard and i'm a contractor supporting the office for reconstruction and stabilization. given the recent alleged attempted attack by the young nigerian on christmas day and also the purported audio message from osama bin laden harold that attack and assuming responsibility for it, i'm curious to hear your thoughts regarding the connection between islammist organizations and young muslims in western africa, specifically nigeria,

i'm curious to hear what your opinion is behind the driving factors of the youth accepting and embracing the islammist i'd ologies. >> well volumes have been written on that but let me say briefly that there is a connection between young people and the efforts to radicalize them that are promoted, sponsored, financed by al qaeda and other extreme ordinary cares. with a very narrow definition of islam, and they have been quite effective on the internet, as you know. we can track connections between not just the christmas day bomber, but the fort hood shooter, the shooter at the

little rock military recruitment station, and can see that they were at least listening to and interacting with very extreme voices on the side of of islammist ideology. nigeria, which is, as you know, evenly divided between muslims and christians, about 75 million of each. christians predominantly in the south and muslims predominantly in the north, there has been an aaccommodation that has enabled nigeria to survive politically. but the failure of the nigerian leadership takeover many years to respond to the legitimate needs of their own young people, to have a government that promoted ameritocracy.

that it has to be delivering services to those people realizes alienation. young people in the world today they see other options. they ever all interconnected through the internet. and the information we have on the christmas day bomberer so far seems to suggest that he was disturbed by his father's wealth and the kind of living conditions that he viewed as being not islamic enough. and you know, just the kinds of attitudes young people often portray toward their families as they go through their maturing. but in this case and has that so many others, such young people are targets for recruiters to extremism.

so i do think that nigeria face as threat from increasing radicalization that needs to be addressed, and not just by military means. you know, there has to be a recognition that in the past 10 years a lot of the indicators about the quality of life in nigeria have gone in the wrong direction. the rate of illiteracy is growing not falling in a country that used to have a high rate of literacy in nigeria. the corruption is unbelievable. and when i did a town hall until abuseya. people were just literally standing and shouting about what it was like to live in a country where, you know, the elite was so dominant and corruption was so rampant and criminality was so purr vasive, and that is an opening for

extremism that offers an alternative world vufmente you know, you want to live in peace and safety and feel good about yourself and be part of something you can be proud of. then turn away from your society and family and come with us. that can be a powerful message. whether it's a gang in america or extremist organization in nigeria. and part of what i've been trying to tell all my leaders in all of my travels is that we're not just lecturing about human rights or good governance or anti-corruption measures, because there are values. we think they are absolutely essential to the long-term survival of a lot of these governments. and societies and the political systems. so there are individual reasons why people get recruited and radicalized. and i know your yes about nigeria really raises all of the element that is make the

circumstances right for people being targeted as they are, and they have to be addressed. >> thank you, very much. >> thank you-all. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] . .