assessment. >> and your background is such that i take what you say very accurately. i like to have your personal use on whether of a repeal of section 654 is a military necessity and whether you agree with general conway that current law that section 684 is working -- 654 is working. >> my personal view is that we should carefully study the implication of repeal, should that occur, before we make the change. i believe that precisely is what secretary gates has charged us with doing. >> thank you. and dr. stanley, based on the information provided your department, it does not seem to have had any affect on the ability of the military services

to recruit and train high quality people in numbers that meet or exceed requirements. . , section 64 is not inhibited to the army, marine corps from rapidly expanding manpower levels while fighting to separate wars. to you agree with the assessment that section 654 is no significant hindrance to successful retention during successful retention during wartime? >> what i hope the assessment or the review that we do will be deleted and to that question. i cannot answer that question right now but i will say that i know that as we go forward, we will be able to answer more accurately in the future. i am sure that we will. again, thank you for your efforts and i wish you well as to pursue this issue.

i yield the balance of my time. >> thank you. thank you, madame chair. thank you for being here. we appreciate your work at this important time in our history. i want to assure you that i think your work is not only important but it will be used. i know there are people who are opposed to changing this policy. the policy will be changed. even some of those people who are opposed to the change recognize that it will be changed and there is a generational thing going on here. america is changing. the world is changing. your work will be put to good use. whether it is this month, this year, next year, i did not know. if you do a good job, which will provide guidelines to your country and military and we appreciate your work. if i wanted to ask mr. johnson, you probably heard a question i have asked about 17 times. the split of authority between

night circuit in the first circuit. -- ninth circuit and the first circuit. the current policy is working well has been said. i have to ask what the definition of working well is when you have different sections of the country under different legal opinions about exactly what the region and authority of that law is. that is not my definition of working well. the question is how have you in the military responded to the ninth circuit. what do you doing differently and the states in light of the ninth circuit opinion which is not being appealed? >> as we have discussed in the past, the decision in the ninth circuit creates what we call a split in the circuit. the rule of law there is different than the rule of law and all of the other circuits.

we in the department of justice have been very actively working through that split in the circuit should be applied and implemented throughout the force. we have put out guidance to our lawyers to inform them of the decisions. i certainly have and we continue to work through how to address whatever pending cases exist within the ninth circuit versus the other circuits. it is something we are actively looking at at the department of justice. >> one of the service secretaries made the comment last week that they were applying the law nationally the same and consistently. when i said a week ignoring the net circuit, there was a that a bit of backpedaling. it is a terrible problem for you to be in. the second part of that question is what are you doing

with regard, not at the legal level, i mean you can certainly take every case to the courts and loose at the district court level who will site the night circuit over and over again or you can some direction to the commanders and legal authorities throughout the state's to say there is now a category of gay and lesbian service members that if they meet these following criteria, they indeed can surf even though we know they're gay or lesbian. have you made those kinds of statements? >> otherwise you will have a series of litigation's. >> the case, as you know, requires an intermediate a level of constitutional scrutiny to the policy. we have to balance that against

applying the law as the congress has given to us under we say consistently within the department of defense that we applied the law and faithfully implement the law in a fair and as balanced the way possible. we have to balance that against the rule of law for the night circuit. it is a complex exercise. we are working through it right now with the department of justice. >> there has been no different direction given to base commanders that a certain number of cases or criteria, there is no reason to move ahead because the would be overturned in the ninth circuit. >> not right now in any formal way. it is something i am actively thinking about. >> one quick question in my remaining seconds, you say recommended a proper stages of the uniform code of military

justice is one of those under consideration that prohibits acts between men and women. >> we are undertaking the -- a comprehensive approach. we would likely focus on that. the ucmj is not the main focus of the review. >> to buy. >> thank you. mr. murphy is next. >> thank you. you mentioned that you were nervous serving as cochair. i am sure you were nervous as an 18 year-old infantryman are paratrooper. we're not going to be asking you to jump out of any airplanes now or in the future. we appreciate your service to our country. this is an issue that the

american people deeply value. i want to echo that what we are talking about is that this is a hearing not to discuss if we're going to repeal don't ask, don't tell. it is clear that secretary gates and barack obama are going to repeal the law. the question is how the services implement the repeal to make sure there is no disruption to the force. i am grateful that you volunteered to co-chair this working group. we should move forward with care. we should also understand that this review cannot be an excuse for july. a repeal must be a dual track process. the working group of the services must figure how to implement the changes but it is the duty of congress to change the law. there is no reason why these things cannot happen simultaneously. the 2010 defense authorization

act did not become law until october 28, to test nine. the 2009 became law in 2008. my point is that if we repeal don't ask, don't tell and the fiscal year 2011 defense bill, it will not likely become law until at least seven months from today. secretary gates stated that the working group should finish work by december 1 of this year. congress could -- could put pill language and this year's authorization act. the statute could be changed at the end of this year but full repeal would not take effect until sometime in 2011. would you agree that this would give your working group ample time to complete its study and to prepare the services for implementation of the findings?

>> i think that the approach you have just outlined, there are some aspects of it that we should carefully consider. there are some intriguing aspects to it. i want to be sure in our view that we hit all the right issues and make of the adequate assessments. i would think that our review might inform what this congress wants to do. our work is due to the secretary of the -- secretary of defense on february. that they will touch upon how the congress decides to go about repeal. or one to think about and carefully studied the approach you have outlined but as i see it, our work would not just the

implementing regulations but it may -- may well be a relative to how you fashion a legislative approach. i would not undertake to tell congress about what to do with their time table. >> you did not oppose congress to taking action. >> i am not here to oppose or support any particular congressional action. we are here to do an exhaustive and comprehensive review of the repeal of the policy. opponents of the repeal argued that allowing open service members would harm morale in units that my experience in the army and stories that i hear from young american heroes point to the exact opposite.

one company commander who happened to be gay currently serving his second deployment and afghanistan wrote me a letter that exemplified how don't ask, don't tell harm's unit cohesion. don't ask, don't tell made it impossible for him to confide in his battle buddies. he had thought of suicide but had nobody to turn to because of fear of losing his job. he wrote to me and said "gate soldiers should have the right to go to a commander, first sergeant, or battle bloody and not worry about the ramifications of don't ask, don't tell. at shackles the hands of leaders like me. it prevents us from giving our all and the support of leadership the deserve. the don't ask, don't tell policy put up walls between battle buddies.

they are the ones who are most impacted by don't ask, don't tell. " how with the panel take into consideration the opinions people like this service member? >> thank you. just to comment before i ask questions. i realize that the president wants this policy but he is not the king. we will have to vote on it. i cannot think the president can decide unilaterally that we will repeal don't ask, don't tell. my question is is the primary purpose of the military to be a force for social change or to protect americans?

>> the primary purpose of the united states military is to defend the nation. >> i concur. the primary focus is to defend the nation. >> absolutely agree. >> thank you. i am not sure who is best able to answer this question, how well are we meeting recruiting goals? >> we are not only a meeting but exceeding in the active card and the reserve our goals across the board. >> that would imply that our current policy does not appear to be hurting our recruitment abilities at this point. abilities at this point. >> how many service members were removed in 2009?

>> 428. >> that is for the year 2009? >> it could be off by a couple. >> what is the total size of our military? >> excuse me, if you could make sure we hear you into your microphone. put it a little closer. but i am sorry. >> i mention 428. >> it is hard to separate total. we are about 3 million. >> less than 500 out of 3 million. it seems to be certainly not a lot of people are being affected one way or another, at least being removed. i think we can all agree percentage wise. i which is really open up the floor to what do you see from your standpoint?

what have you seen in terms of the current policy and how it is adversely affecting rates for our military? >> i will let general ham into that. we are at the beginning of the process. >> i am asking you to draw on your experience. what we are doing is pivoting off of a 1993 study. study. we're going to try to update the study. am i correct about that? >> yes, that is one thing that we have been directed to do. >> i am just asking your personal opinions and observations with your exposure to the military, what have you seen and what observations have the made in which our current

policy has harmed our ability in terms of readiness. >> it is clear to me as a long serving soldier that our military is currently the best military in the world. the challenge to us and the task of ours is to assess the impact on that standing should the current law be repealed. that is what we shall endeavor to give. we have not yet decided exactly how to do that. we know at the beginning of this process that it is foundational to our work to assess the impact in readiness should the law be repealed. >> if i could just go back to your first question, the primary mission of the ads its military as i said this to defend the nation. having said that, i think that the u.s. military is proud of

the fact that it is one of the most diverse institutions in america and we have a track record for being a diverse institution. somebody once told me that the united states military is the community where interracial marriage is most prevalent. that would not surprise me if that were in fact the case. we are very proud of our racial and cultural diversity of people who are all dedicated to a common mission since the have been given their orders to do something. >> but you would agree that the primary purpose is not to bring about social change but to be ready for war which we deal with frequently around here, as you know. >> thank you, madame chair.

i am in full support of the motion that my friend from pennsylvania had the courage to introduce. i am encouraged to do right by the people who give up themselves to protect the rights that we hold dear. whether or not they are gay, lesbian, straight, bisexual, transgendered, it makes no difference. if you were to cut people open, to dissect them, after you looked at them, you would see that they have eyes, ears, nose, mouth, teeth, leggs, arms, i

would not talk about what else everybody has got a brain. thyroid. hart, it hurts when you aren't discriminated against and the after bloody has intestines and respiratory systems. we are all the same, people. regardless of the color, regardless of nationality, regardless of sexual identity, that is just a basic fact. when we talk about defending freedom in this country, it is hypocritical for us to have

government-sponsored discrimination. it really needs to change. i admire your courage being a military man yourself, you have become a general. to do a study, to pass 1000 to one to 83 now and then during the transition. period, all of the complicated issues that you all are looking into, let's change the policy.

let's not send the wrong message as we go out and talk to people and servicemen and women and hear what their thoughts are in the process. what you're calling to find is that people are polarized some people did not like gays and other people do. that is just going to be the end of that. the question is what kind of politics is the u.s. government going to have? is it going to allow this discrimination or is it going to ban at and then expect the men and women and service of their country to abide by the change? i believe that those men and women will. having said that, are we sending

a message with our current policy that we have in place, are we sending a message when we survey men and women in the military and so far as their personal opinions about removal of this policy which is evidenced in section 654? >> we intend to do a comprehensive, methodical study of the assessments of repeal which i suspect will include some form of service. >> what can be done after passage into legislation? >> that depends in large part on

what type of legislation, if any, congress chooses to adopt. as i said earlier, the secretary of defense believes that we should go about repeal in a careful and methodical way and first study the impact of all of the impact of the repeal of current policy. . . it is one that people have to consider. we are at the beginning of this process.

congress on its own could choose to undertake legislative action in this area panetta that is irrespective of what we do. i think members of congress of light to be informed. >> thank you. >> i like to follow a track that we have been hearing a bit of it here. ere. you see the questions we have, we tend to break down by our party and our view of whether or not we should go forward with the repeal of don't ask, don't tell. given our fundamental belief, it guides us in our questions and views of how things should proceed. given your very important role of developing an approach should congress repeal this policy, i would like to ask each of you personally how you feel about it. as you have seen in all of us, our view is guided in the questions we ask, and i think the goal is to craft a process

that is fair and open to repeal or not. but it's somehow guided by the conflicting views in understanding that should we repeal it, we have to move forward. i would like to ease -- ask each of your personal views of repealing don't ask, don't tell. >> without a doubt, i am a member of the obama administration. the president has said that he would like the congress to repeal. i am part of his administration. having said that, my assignment in general is to do in objective comprehensive review of the implications of repeal of the policy. and what the general and i are trying to do here in recruiting people to our working group and soliciting views from the force is within our working group, not solicit personal opinions and not have people take sides on

what is a very and emotional issue so we can gather evidence and information in an objective throwaway and encourage people to tell us what they think about the impact of repeal. i am trying very hard to approach this in an objective, furrow, comprehensive fashion. and create an environment conducive to others in the fourth telling us what they think the impact of the appeal would be. i am a member of the obama administration, but i am approaching my assignment like a lawyer to gather information in an objective and for a way. >> as the undersecretary of defense and personnel, as soon as i assume the responsibility, knowing that i am part of the obama administration in knowing

exactly what the intent was with regard to repeal, my job immediately became, and not only to be open-minded and objective, but to be ready if congress actually repealed the law. literally, the whole issue of readiness is center. it is like my plum line. any working group that i am not an active part of but that -- but have been working with that is something that i am very focused on, because i have to make sure that we are ready in the department of defense if congress repeals the law. >> as stated, my personal view is that it is very important that we understand the impacts that appeal should occur. i want to have a better understanding of what the impacts maybe before the repeal

occurs. i am honored to be part of this effort because that is exactly the question we're going the answer. >> and putting together the working group, what is the mechanism the you can find a balance, because there is a variety of you here. what is the mechanism by which you make sure that you're bringing others and of a group that you find a balanced approach so that we can move forward? >> to be sure, in reaching out to bring people to the working group, we have not passed their person -- as to their personal person -- as to their personal vi we have endeavored to get working group members from all four services from a cross- section. secretary cates of these fleets force is very flat since phil -- important. if consists of civilian and military.

most people are in uniform. i think that is essential in conducting this. >> it will and should go back to how you are going to solicit the opinions of gays and lesbians serving without putting them at risk. >> that is something we want to do. we are looking and mechanisms for doing that. >> thank you. >> thank you, mrs. sanchez? >> thank you for having this hearing. i wish we could it does get this done and move on. 28 other countries, including great britain and australia, already allow open service by a gay and lesbian service members. the experience is that it works of the implementation has been

historically uneventful in this country. are you going to look at the experiences of the other countries that have led with open service sharing your review of do not ask to not tell? what would you expect to learn from those experiences? how would you set? lose that in your deliberation? >> i will start off. it is an important part of our study, into particular ways. we have been directed by secretary gates to update the 1993 study performed by rand. we look at analogous institutions which included millet -- a foreign militaries. an update is required by the steady and we shall do that. mr. johnson and i have already met with the senior leaders, both military and civilian to other nations. last week, i was in israel.

i have scheduled visits from other european nations in the near future. will have the opportunity to look at leadership both military and civilian to discuss the matter is that you address. what were the challenges if any that they encountered, and in some cases, after an initial time of the implementation, were there other manifestations that affected sometime after the law or policy changes? we have a way to look ahead at foreign militaries. having said that, we must understand that our military is our military. we have a uniquely american culture and approach to how we do things. but i believe that our efforts in this working group will be informed by the experience of others. >> i think it is relative and for -- relevant information, and

we intend to recognize that the united states military is unique in its size and its scope. there is no perfect comparator, but it is relevant -- and relevant information. >> i agree that it is relevant information. all the work that we do on the interchange ability of the military working with others, whether it is with respect to nato or when we work with latin american countries to teach their military about the way we work and get them to work more with military standpoint, for example. when you look at the nato alliance that only has to countries right now that do not have openly gay members serving, if you will. that will be the united states and turkey. my next question is, the

military currently has strict regulations regarding sexual assault. and other inappropriate conduct. nothing about open service seems to indicate that these worlds would not be able to be applied directly are an equal manner to gay and straight service members. why would the repeal of don't ask, don't tell require a change to the current code of conduct? shouldn't gay and straight members be held to the same strict standards that we have that already exist in our codes? >> i don't know that a repeal of the policy would require any changes in the rules on fraternization or otherwise. is one of the things we are going to look at. i don't assume that it would or it wouldn't. there are many that believe what you just said. >> thank you, gentlemen. in the interest of time, i will

yield back. >> i think we're going to try to do another round quickly. i will do one or two questions, and i think some members would certainly like to come back. mr. johnson, you are not able to. we have about, maybe as much as 40 minutes. is that going to be a problem for you? you can come back? >> i can come back. >> thank you very much. i wanted to get to the issue that has been imposed, and i think secretary gates said something should be done about third-party outings and suggested that perhaps in march, you have had a chance to see if the policy could be done in a fair manner. it is something that could be done. can you confirm that the working group will be prepared to look

at those possible changes, and the congress would had the -- have the opportunity to do that? >> i review the implementing regulations and look to see in the confines of the existing law, and that is key, within the compline -- con fines of the existing law, we make them fairer and more appropriate. he asked me to do that, and is separate and apart from the working groups assessment and. he has put me on a 45 day track that would mean that my recommendation to him is due on or about march 19. that is something that is under way and we are doing it right now. we're getting comprehensive input from the services on that topic. i expect that we will meet our

45 day time line. >> i believe mr. murphy had asked earlier, how are you going to get the views of service members that are gay or lesbian serving without any sense of retribution? do you have any thing else that you want to add to that? >> we're looking at mechanisms for doing that within the confines of the law. >> women tend to be separated proportionally greater than men. avia had a chance to look at that issue? is that something that you think you will be taking a look at, and why that is the case? and how would it impact what you're doing? >> i think it is obvious to all of us that the statistics tell us that as part of our view, we

tried again and understanding as to why that is. there are underlying causes for the disparity to occur. and again, keeping military ready as and effectiveness as we look toward our policies might change should the law be revealed, it is an important consideration for gender differences. >> i believe mr. wilson is going to defer to dr. fleming. >> thank you, madame chairwoman. one quick question. this report that you're doing is due in december, is that correct? >> december 1. >> have you looked at or are considering what other laws, rules, and policies this may impact that are not directly related to this? >> and our mandate is to look at the impact of the repeal of the

the mandate? and did not construe it to make recommendations about repeal or amendment of any other law. you have to study the impact that might have on others. obviously, if this appeal were to occur, there would be unintended consequences that no one would be happy with. certainly, we should look into the horizon to see if there might be others. is that something the panel will be looking at? >> i would say that that is part of our mandate. >> i would ask that if it is not planned, you plan to do that. take a look at what the unintended consequences might be for repealing 654. with that, i yield back. >> we will come back in about 30-40 minutes. i really appreciate you hanging

around with us this afternoon. thank you very much. mr. johnson, good luck. we know this was a volunteer activity of sorts, we know what that is like -- >> you are assum >> thank you for i wanted to visit this issue i touched on already today about how you get input from lesbians and gays that there are the bare. mr. murphy manson the problem.

it was some of the joys and sorrows. i was talking with a lesbian colonel a week or two ago. she described a situation genus that as happened where somebody was serving in iraq and on skype was able to watch the birth of his child. sitting in right next jam was a lesbian woman who had a partner back home who was pregnant and she knew to not be able to do the same thing. she put herself at risk for losing her job and the ability to support her family. those are the kinds -- the risks that gays and lesbians feel. i do not see how you gather the information and exchanges you

want. describe that for me. >> i expect to guard have people coming up to you, heterosexual, that have expressed views. my guess is you have not had full colonels come to you and say, someone he to know that i am a lesbian or gay. >> how are we going to do this together? >> i consider it a readiness issue. that woman will not be able to view the birth of her child. >> we do not have a great answer for you. >> we must find a way for the views of homosexuals who are currently serving in the military.

they have their voice heard without triggering with separation actions as required by law. if there is a third party, conducting a focus group or interviews, it to be held cited the federal government, outside of the department of vince and not be obliged to pass that information that was prohibited to personalize myself or mr. johnson that would trigger a separation action under the current law. we will look for ways to do it. it is important for us at the outset as the endeavor to explore our opportunities to use social media as an opportunity for individuals to report

anonymously their concerns. we share with you be concerned that absolute necessity to reach out and hear from homosexuals who are serving in the pores. we do not yet know how to do that. we will find a way. we will do it. we know we have an opportunity to indicate to those who have been separated and if this current law. we think it will be instructed. those who are currently serving as to how we came their insights. >> i asked general casey weaker so ago -- a week or so ago -- that the fed. rephrase my question, why do i have more confidence in your leadership skills they need do? my point being that i have no doubt, given all the challenges that the military has faced over

the last couple of decades, the level of training, the level professionalism, my experience as a member for almost 14 years now, and that whatever this decide they you will be able to carry it out. the question for you general ham is, should be followed the recommendation of mr. murphy and do the deal recognizing it to be several months before it to be fully implicated? do you have any doubts that it will carry it out? >> what i am listed as a private is second airborne division, and should an oath. as a general, i took an oath. i should support and defend the constitution of the united states. that means we obey the law. we obey the law and all that we do.

if the law changes, there is no doubt in my mind that the leadership within the department of defense and uniformed services will follow the law as required and with full energy. >> thank you. >> mr. murphy. >> think you for that open statement, i could not agree more. it was a great honor to also teach what the constitution stands for for the next generation of military leaders when i taught at west point for a few years, and i deployed with those young people in the deployment after 9/11. i know there are going to be a lot of facts and studies thrown your way as you go about your due diligence. i am praying for you as everyone

else in the country is, because it is important work. i'm sure there is no doubt -- the joint force quarterly, it talks about don't ask, don't tell. and for those that are not aware, the national defense university, the colonel spoke and gave a balanced view of the debate. i encourage everyone to read that article that i thought was very well done. i also want to point out some striking croak -- " that i thought were interesting. there were potential < -- lessons to learn from other countries. there was no mass exodus of heterosexuals.

62% refused to shower with the king soldier. 2/3 said they would not willingly serve in the military if gays were allowed. in both cases, after lifting the ban, the result was no effect. in a survey of over 100 experts, they all agree that the decision to lift the ban had no impact on readiness, cohesion, ability to recruit or contain. nor did increase hiv among groups. it has been costly both in personnel and treasurer. an attempt to allow homosexual service members quietly, we have created the force of compromise and integrity. it places commanders and difficult moral dilemmas and is ultimately more damaging to unit cohesion whose stated purpose is to reserve.

there is no scientific evidence to support, and if at -- homosexuals to serve openly. it will not combat effectiveness. it is time for the administration to repeal the ban. i understand we have kicked out 13,000 in the past 17 years. gay and lesbians currently serving are frankly willing to take a bullet for every single one of us in this room. i also think that when we look at not just those 66,000, it is also those 13,500 units out there at.

-- out there. when you initiate a chapter 15 hearing because there is a statement after marriage, you are having an administrative hearing to determine if someone is gay or straight. i have heard of soldiers that were actually straight and had to go proven get women to testify that they slept with them. when our country is at war right now, and i am not trying to lecture you, i am very passionate about it. understand that there were 3000 and as an america's murdered on 911 -- 9/11, we are fighting against people that are doing all they can to go into a pakistan to get nuclear weapons, we need to refocus our energy on capturing and killing the enemies of the united states of america.

not having hearings to determine whether or not they are gay or straight. and how it affects those 13,500 units no matter what the race is, their color, their creed, their sexual orientation. >> thank you. >> we have asked some many times how you're going to protect gay and lesbian services as you do the work going forward, and when you hear that a huge number, i would hate to see that in the course of you doing this work, any single member were separated because they were willing to come forward and talk to you. as you talk about the hoops that you're going to have the jump

through to solicit that opinion, third-party people that don't have the same responsibility just seems a more appropriate way. you can do the work, do the well, get a full range of opinions it is a moratorium of straightforward and simple -- it is going to become mired in the interest of getting opinions that you need. i am just also curious as to how you define family, if it is parents, spouse, siblings, and how you get the opinions from gay and lesbian family members.

>> it is vitally important that we seek the opinions and views, the effects on readiness that homosexuals there currently serving can express to us. i am not certain yet how to do that. i am confident that we will find a way to be able -- we will keep you informed as to how we might be able to do that. with respect to your question about families, i think mr. johnson and i have some degree of latitude in how we reach out to the families that are supporting our servicemen and women in the force today. we haven't crafted yet the precise mechanisms to do that.

i would assure you that we would find a way to seek a wide range of views and opinions on a very important matter. >> what would be the purpose of soliciting family input. >> congresswoman, we know that the families have a direct relationship on service members ' -- of civilians willingness to invest -- enlis ot or service members extending their service. we know that it is effective -- effected by the way their families are cared for. it is particularly notable in this time where we require some many of our service members to deploy to remote areas. the assurance that the families are well cared for is a direct

-- has a direct contribution for readiness. they agree with the direction that it must consider that -- it must be considered in our review. >> i don't have much to add to that. >> i wonder if you could try and map out for us a little bit -- i know that they're going to be several working groups. i don't know how many people are going to be in each of those groups. and kind of let us know, how do you see this? in the middle of this process, how do you see it working? do you expect to call on individual contractors that can be helpful in terms of whether it is surveys or face-to-face contact. you have any sense of that at this point point?

>> we have an organizational framework upon which we are building the team's -- the functional teams for this review of -- are 4. there is a team focused on answering the first questions of "what does the force feel about what they think will be the impact should that occur?" we reach out to family members of as world. that team is comprised mostly of civilian and military advocates to look at the aspects of the loss -- laws.

13 looks at the policy. this is the core of the effort. what policies would be affected by a to repeal of the law, and determine what that body is, assess and make recommendations as to how policy might have to change or would appropriately change if the law were changed. that is essentially how you promulgate change should repeal occur. how do we, and a coherent and consistent manner, in short that those that joined the force in top to bottom are adequately trained and informed because of the changes so that all levels

are applying the law consistently. and we hope it is closely aligned. he has formed what we call an executive committee, comprised of secretary stanley, the service undersecretaries, the service vice chiefs, the chief of the national guard bureau to provide the linkage between the working group effort and the effort of the individual services who if the law is revealed -- repealed, policy changes would necessarily be those -- that is how we are organized. >> do you anticipate seeking the help or input from the recruiters out in the field? how would you view that? we would be seeking a broader

range of inputs, recruiters would be an interesting insight into this. as to what effect the impact might be if the law were repealed. they will reach out to the service exam and cabinets for examples. the program is to get their assessment of what the impact of repeal might be. again, a broader range of inputs. >> one issue that is difficult to get a handle on, there has been some effort to do this. been some effort to do this. think >> it is appropriately be here and now. we know that 20% or so are men and women in this country are eligible for service. they choose not to apply.

many people are concerned that one of the things that is important is to say too dumb people that we want you to being in the army or marines. we will need to think of us some of the specialty services. how do we get at trying to ascertain the extent to which people move from happen to be gay or lesbian statues very early on that this is not something that they care to do? -- because of the inability to serve openly? are you interested in trying to get at that issue? national security is primary here. that is what we are all about and the ability to have every person in this country who

chooses to serve the country do that is very important. >> he can also get a handle on that issue. i am certain there are people who would suggest that maybe they do not want to be in the service. the of the elected people who do we have a lot of people -- we have a lot of people who have come up and say, you know, i want to go on to freedom training. i have been asked to have a scholarship in the service, but i am not sure i want to do that. how are we going to get a handle on that issue? do you think it is important to your work? >> i will try first. we do have the task to seek the assessment of influence years.

it gets to the group that you are addressing. groups of individuals that do exert influence on young people that may be considering military service. i am not sure how we will do that. but we will find a way, and i think it is an important group for us to listen to. >> i was listening to your question, chairwoman davis. i actually thought you were going to go at it a different way, because i was thinking that some of what our assessment would be would be to able to really get to the root of some of that because there are people that would not join as well as people that would join. that becomes a readiness impact issue that i think it's something that the review would bring out.

as i was looking at it, i am thinking that 10 or 15 years down the line, it is a critical issue as a primary mission mentioned by the congressman. we know what that mission is, and it is very important that that mission not become -- compromise. it is vital that mission not be compromised. i am just joining, at a certain level, the working group. the bottom line is that readiness, and hopefully we will get what we need to get the question answered from a number of perspectives. >> if we recognize that there are certainly this school of people out there, we want to make sure that they consider the service. we really appreciate you being here. [inaudible]

ok. are you ok? can you take a few more questions? >> i had three questions. does the steady envision other parts of our government in situations where we -- i don't know, the metaphor of the shower. we have u.s. civilian employees and contractors. are you planning to learn from folks you already serve with and use the same facilities other than the military? >> is that -- it is. one that comes to mind is usaid . our effort would be well informed by reviewing how they are conducting business today.

>> in the same environment and the same facility that the soldiers are serving in. the point has been made more than once today, recruiting is good and all, but our memories are not so frail that we forget we went through some problems several years ago. the army was changing standards in terms of raising agents and stop-loss policy, the change educational status. they were having to work at it very hard. that is part of the history of this, too. not just what is it today, but what can it be and what has it been? how are you going to process the issue -- you are doing a good

job of putting this together. there is something to be said, maybe it is the congressional role to step back and say this is about america being america. there is such unfairness when we aggressively encourage -- i do it, too. a couple of weeks ago, i held an academy fair in my district and had representatives. we aggressively recruit 16 and 17 year-old sister thinking about the military. he aggressively recruit 17, 18, and 19-year-old. folks discovering what their sexual orientation is, there is a lot of confusion when your 16, 17, 18. it can be a volatile time. this on venice where we aggressively target people to sign up at a young age and then pretty aggressively tell them

they can't serve, the comment was made earlier that whether it had been 13,000 since 1993, most of them were in the earlier years of their service. are they throw ways? we went after them at that young age. how does that fit in to the whole idea of fairness that we aggressively recruit at a time when folks are trying to sort out the intimate aspects of their person? >> i am not trying to sound like a broken record, but i am hoping that the review, the assessment that is ongoing and just started will be addressing what you're talking about. when i joined the military over 40 years ago, those issues of fairness, equity, they were with

me then and they are with me today. i left for a few years, i am now back in a different capacity. the issues of fairness and equity, i would go without saying that they are absolutely important. the vital role of readiness, our nation -- there are hypothetical that we don't know right now. i hope it would be obvious that we are looking forward to working very closely with you. >> most of us are convinced that ultimately, this country will conclude that not only is our country better off, but the military is better off. the grunts on the ground are better off by having the kind of leadership and a dynamic within

the military of those young people, the 18, 19, and 20-year- old that are serving overseas recognize that america becomes a better america. this is not about doing favors to the gays and lesbians, this is a step for being a better america. >> mr. murphy. >> i would like to say that most importantly, the military would be better off. we don't want to throw out 13,000 troops that are willing to fight for us and keep us safe. and among them, some of the best party translators and some of the fighter pilots and infantry officers and mechanics -- the american taxpayer is going to be better off. it is costing the american

taxpayer $1.30 billion. it goes back to the earlier comments. we all took an oath. that special trust and confidence in our leadership ability -- we should have special trust in confidence of these young american heroes. we should have a special trust and confidence in the officer corps to do the right thing. when you're doing your study, make sure that we are cognizant of the fact that, to put it in historical context, and we were in the middle of the korean war where we lost tens of thousands of our americans over there, the fact is, when half of the country was still segregated, we said that we are going to

desegregate the military because we all wore green. we all took that oath and picked up the rifle and defended the country. that same challenges gone today in iraq and afghanistan. i think that when you make the decisions, at the end of the day, it goes back to our country. they're willing to take the same motion that we all took. i will have to give you another shout out with the eighty second airborne division. when i was there at 2003 in the middle of baghdad when it was 138 degree heat, the greatest thing i got to witness as a captain was the you get these paratroopers, and if you grab a paratrooper you could say, i am

going to give you one week to learn how to fly in space shuttle. that paratrooper will help make it happen somehow. if we have a nondiscrimination policy because we all have different colors and the military, we are all different races, religions, and some of us have different sexual orientations, we are focused on keeping america safe. we took the oath to defend the constitution. i appreciate it. and god bless you, and god bless the military. >> we really to appreciate you coming at this stage of your work. one of the things that i would ask because i would suspect that there may be some differences as he began to reach out that you find regionally, urban, suburban, rural, there

are differences. i don't think we ask our young men and women to do anything different depending on where they come from. the expectations should be the same. as we work to try to develop a very -- the very best processing can, -- you can, can you commit to us that perhaps as you get under way and whether it is halfway true or three-quarters of the way true, you might come back to the committee, let us know how things are going? if there is anything unique from last? -- you need from us? where the road blocks to have been surprised by. what is the difference that you got when you took this journey. we would be very pleased if you

can do that. i am wondering if he might be able to commit that that would be a possibility. >> secretary gates felt strongly enough that he included it in the terms of reference. it is a specific direction to mr. johnson and myself to engage with the congress and keep you advised. we look forward to doing just that. >> we know we will be working very closely with you. thank you very much.

is also i read in his biography he has five kids and that's pretty impressive aside from his command duties. general, thank you for taking the time. >> let me say on behalf of the mission i appreciate the opportunity today to just give a quick update on where we are. over 100 days ago the nato training mission afghanistan activated inside afghanistan and i was given the fortunate opportunity to service its first commanders we've been in existence to be exact 100 today's today. a decision made last june to form this command to represent the entities that have something to do with the training, education and to lead of the afghan national security forces. its combined organization we have over 20 different nations associated with members part of our organization with an afghanistan we have another 26

nations that contribute in some shape or form in kind with the thermometer contributions or deletions of equipment or other activities. we are made up of both nato and non-that the two entities. we are military, police and civilians. we of different national police officers from countries such as italy, france, united kingdom, canada, spain and others. each of these are contributing to both force, generation and capacity building three we do mostly instructing and advising. those are the two primary functions. we serve as instructors and advisers helping build the afghan national security forces. when we say this afghan nationals to the forces we are talking about the army, the police car of the army air corps stat, the medical facilities associated with the entities, logistics facilities associated with those entities and also we do infrastructure development.

we also are responsible for and indirectly it's an organization which i am headed as called the combined security transition command which as been in existence many years but his ministerial development so we hope to develop the systems for interior and defense. our budget we operate with is right at about probably today

the police are not well-trained my answer is they've never been trained the way it had been done many years until just in the last few months we literally took and recruit somebody and put them on the street from. we gave them a badge and a set your now the patrolmen in this area. there was no formal training process. and it was recognized and there's this thing called focus destructive element started about a year ago where we take and retrained police or to reform the police that have never been trained so what we've now instituted in coordination with afghans is a policy if you were going to join the police force you are rooted and trained

and then sent out to operate some place as the police person. today about 30% of the police and afghanistan have been through the formalized training. the other 70% have not. attrition within the police force hasner to the two has been improving since the nato commission stood up. factors not the least of which was in the month of december the pay of the police was brought up on parity with the army and had been less than the army before that and the army pay had gone up so when the police pay increased increased in the same amount as the army so that today whether users in the afghan national police or the afghan national army you have to pay parity and frank and longevity pay which is a positive step forward. the greatest challenge we have in the force right now is an organization called afghan

national civil order police. within ancop we've patrician of about 67%. it is probably the best trained most educated of course they have within the afghan national police to meet the challenge with high attrition is something there's been ongoing effort between the afghan ministry of interior to work. we of a pretty good plan i.t. in place the afghans are going to institute about the first of may that will provide a cyclical program for the a.n.c.o.p. so in the future they not only will be trained, in point and the period of dress where they can go through literacy training programs, education, seek to be to take vacation time, leave and go back through training and employment again and that is an important step forward to get at because the overall attrition of police themselves is about 25% but within the one element of a.n.c.o.p. is above 67%.

we've been working hard at quality and quantity. up until now it's really focused on the quantity and the police to produce and how many are you producing, what are the numbers we can talk to those of you like but within that it is@@@@@@@ rd see a difference in the quality and policemen and soldiers we are producing. it is simple things very important things for soldiers like weapons qualification and basic training program for the soldiers that used to be about

30% qualification date for a soldier that went through the training program for. today we're moving near 16% qualify, still not where we want to be but a step in the right direction. a difference we are seeing. the structure and nature of the afghan national army we had originally been looking and several more years to continue growing the army. the international community made the decision we are going to grow security forces to 305,000, about 171,000 army about 134,000 police if in fact that's the case and with the international community committed to get this point we have restructured the growth of the army such that when it reaches 171.6 to be exact cost it will be a balanced force, a force that has the ability to be self sustaining and regenerate itself and that

is a very important step we did. originally that wouldn't come unless there was more continual growth. we are now going to set the conditions such when it reaches 176,000 in the army it has its logistics and engineers and medical supply systems as a part of the army. the last thing i would say is on the banning. nato training mission afghanistan today makes up about less than 2% of all the military forces currently in afghanistan. a very small proportion of the forces deployed yet a tremendous return and its investment in terms of long-term development and growth of this army and police force. we see as our primary mission to develop and bring self sustaining systems will last a long time. it's not that initially producing an army or police force, it is developing and

producing army and police force that can be self sustaining cash that can regenerate itself in his leadership necessary to continue to guide and lead into the future so that there for the coalition forces there today can be reduced in numbers because the afghans will have the ability to be much more responsible for their own security stability in the future and less reliant on the coalition effort. those are the points i want to give an update on as the secretary-general said i have the opportunity today to talk both to the military committee and the give them this update and take any questions they have and let them know where the nato training mission of which they passed me to take the command of is today and what we're doing for the people of afghanistan. with that i will be glad to take questions. >> please identify yourself.

>> the german press agency. question on the numbers first for use of 50% of the manning levels required at the moment ball park figure. is that 50% of the figure you would require to get to the over all 305,000 or is that 50% of what you need to get to the 200 it was before and can you give a little bit more detail on the numbers where you are with numbers in relation to the overall requirement. >> when i stocking a commanding of internal organization of a nato training mission afghanistan and soft star. the man in is what we currently have in our organization. it's not in the afghan national security forces. right now for the growth of the not guilty to afghan security forces we are looking for still

additional pledges by the international community with additional treaters to assist in this effort to grow both of the army and police forces as we move forward. today we are able to continue the growth but to increase the quality of the recruit both in the army and police will require us to put additional traders into the program. and in terms of there is a slight -- our job is to do the trading of the forces and sent out into the operational force. the work in the operational force and so it's not an item we have daily oversight of. we are aware but it's not an item that we have responsibility for >> david from to follow-up on that. to bring the numbers up to 300,000 how many more trainers

do you need from the forces and also on the issue of patrician is there any evidence that people beginning police or military training are going over to the insurgencies? is there any danger to are helping to train the insurgents to shoot straight? >> all those questions first the numbers we are looking for there's about 1200 additional traders and instructors we are looking for today. there has been some commitment made by the international community perhaps up to as many as 700 very recently. those are not yet in country. we are encouraged by the fact there is still ongoing discussion and we are fortunate the secretary-general and to our both continuing to advocate and ask the community for additional assistance of the still does leave a delta of about 650

traders we are still looking for and in addition to those that have been committed and pledged to arrive in the theater to start being employed and used in the operations. >> one thing we have done is we bring the new recruits and we have started biometrics on every single new recruit. there's two things part of it. we do not leave e.r.a. rett maaskant and linker principal also you have to produce a letter from somebody in your village, in your district or province who can attest your ability to serve the country of afghanistan and the people of afghanistan and so the measure we put into place is to track that carefully so as a young man and a few select women come to the police and army we in fact now have a good database to start from to track them. there haven't been large numbers. there's been a handful since i've been there of those we have

not let into the army or police based on the bio metrics but in fact it has raised the red flag on a few cases again just a handful where we've gone back and done a little more look at a person's background based on something that was there in this by electrical database. that is the message we are working towards so that we preclude having somebody come and that should not be serving. the second part is this idea of leadership. when we said the number one focus is on leadership if the young men and women are led both in the police and army what we find in the in the military system or police system you build the allegiance and trust and confidence so that they want to serve in the organization which they are a part of the leadership is very important. we don't have a lot of the mid grade levels today. they are not resident. it takes years to build the

leaders. in the army or police force. a short 16 week course sets the conditions but it takes years of experience and mentoring to produce a mad grade level leader so we put a lot of focus in that area too because we understand not only will it drive down attrition it will increase retention and instill a greater desire to serve the people of afghanistan. >> follow-up, go ahead pish to the co. >> the question was not so much of a screening was to come in if people leave what then happens to evidence people of your training then go to the insurgency better trained than they were before. >> obviously we don't track what each person does after they leave the service in the military but what i can tell you is based on the fact we have biographical data if in fact somebody were picked up and

identified as a taliban member of insurgent and were given biomedical data we would be able to determine if the previously served in the army and police. the databases are fairly new. only been doing a short period of time but in fact had a long bertram there with the indication that other wise we don't track people after they leave the military and there's nothing like seeing yet that would indicate what you're asking about. >> from the kuwait news agency. you said there are 20 missions in the training missions in afghanistan. from these countries are there any shot arab and muslim and falls or will you call on arab and muslim world to obtaining the vision? >> that's a good question. we in fact have a couple ongoing initiatives right now that we are looking at.

there's a dialogue between the ministry of interior and country of jordan, united arab immigrants and turkey where they have had discussions about training. i do know that today the country of afghanistan on bilateral arrangements has people trading on their own that they worked with other nations in that part of the world about 12 different nations. again not something done for the navy training mission but on a bilateral basis they have both officers and in ceos from the police and army and other nations bought several hundred altogether probably but that our training in that part of the world be willing to assist and

we so we would be willing to move the soldiers to turkey if once they arrive there you take care and provide for everything from that point. you do the training, the transportation, the facilities, the inanition, instructors, you do everything once they are in turkey. we will move them them to turkey and to take control of the training and support requirements associated and then after 30 days we will pick them up and bring them back and the same time dropoff another group of soldiers so we are in our first month of doing that with a country of turkey so yes we are looking at and exploring different options and of course we very much want to have that part of the world engaged in and be associated with the training and the education of both the army and police forces.

>> to make it very simple to follow up my colleague use it is like understood that about 1,200 additional traders and instructors where requested but already 700 have been provided or am i wrong? >> in the last generation conference that took place last week there are pledges and commitments of this somebody have the exact number? fifer 41 total pledges out of the 1200 or so we are looking for in the last generation conference there were commitments and pledges of 541. >> the totals that you would like to have under your would be

held today because 1,200 plus how many today? >> the leaves the total number of traders altogether that argument for personal both police and army fee is 5,200. >> the total amount we would want in the very end would be 5,200. today we of a nato training afghanistan approximately you have the data?

we went into the conference last week asking for 1200 we had pledges and commitments last week's because of@@@@@ @ @ @ @ capabilities marjah. how the afghan soviets have been doing?

>> that is a great question. >> the reason people want to talk just statistics so last week i spent monday and tuesday and helmand province in marjah actually talking with and being around the afghan national police forces and afghan army soldiers so i could see the end product and how it is operating down there in that area. i would say most of us solve this performing better than the expectations were. then you say what are those expectations but i would say the expectations we had were perhaps not as promising as we saw them. if i took the commando unit lysol down there, exceptional, the commandos we have seven battalions and we are building two more for a total of mine. they performed superbly. well lighted and well organized,

superb organization. the a.n.c.o.p., afghan national civil order police were brought in and are being a part of the hold fee is i would say are performing very well but they went through a retraining program by the coalition forces just before being employed behind the combat forces who had done the cui rig operation so they are a part of this phase in certain areas and they are doing very well. there's no question there is room for growth. it's like any army. you never quite a speech to your entire career in and that's something we are trying to still in the afghan army and police forces so they understand even the yukon through the basic trading at collective trading when you get to the field you have to continue training and growing into a developing and go back to leadership courses for

the mid grade level leaders. it's a lifelong process of growing and developing and educating the back to the basic question over all the forces performed i would say better than most had expected them to do which is promising for the possibility of what can be as we continue to move forward from here. >> from financial times germany. three questions about the training itself. first is there a huge interest among afghans to let's say become policemen or what ever, the people who really want to become that is there a lot of interest in the second, could you tell a little bit what the typical trading day looks like, is it eight hours, ten hours? what do you focus on and what is the main challenge? what is the main difficulty?

when you educate the people. >> first if you ask me that in november i would have said we are very challenged in by not sure we will make the growth numbers we are asked to do. last september about 880 afghans rickards kimmage there are me about 880. in december it was 7,800 that's about it. almost 800% plus increase in the amount of recruits and in the months of december, january and february we have recruited and i say we, we haven't done anything, the afghan leadership has come the of recruited well over 7,000 young men, some women into the army and to the point they have recruited so many in the last three months we have not been able to put everyone right away into training because we didn't have the capacity

built to handle that large number of recruits. if the afghan leadership can sustain that kind of recruiting members, the amount of growth we do in the army can be of limited. they can keep producing those kind of numbers. it's phenomenal what they are doing. they didn't do it earlier last year but starting in december january and february of three months based in degette i would say the trend beebee starting they are approaching these are traditionally the highest recruiting months any way so i don't want to give the false perception they are not. traditionally december kimmage and larry combatant ury are the highest months however we have not seen these numbers recruits during this time of the year ever before. so that's the difference so in fact we are getting more than enough recruits to come to the army into the police forces that we need right now.

as far as the trading day goes the trading day by their standards is a plentiful day. they are up about 5:30 in the morning and go pretty much about three or 4 o'clock in the afternoon. about five and a half days a week, so it's a fairly full day for them especially for these young men that have never done something like this before. our biggest challenge in the training base is the literacy. most of the records that come and we have about a 40% literary rate which means of the young soldiers coming in not the officers of the in co but the soldiers about 14% which means they are 86% can't read or write so that means everything we do is done in a show and tell basis. we show and tell them how to do it and they hands-on repeat and in that process continues.

it's not likely to hand them a manual and say read this or go read these instructions because they don't have the capability to do that. 86% of them do not so what we are doing is a show and tell way there for you need a higher percentage of instructors because you need to be able to then repeat multiple times of good instruction was a skit with it when you're dealing with is that kind of the literacy challenge. what we are going to do toward the end of this month we are going to bring literacy very basic literacy into the training programs. >> [inaudible] >> no, we are going to bring and what we are going to do is teach them the letters, alphabet, numbers and how to write their

name. that's our goal is everybody will come out of basic trading able to understand all the letters and the alphabet, how to write their name and understand the numbers which is a major step forward and in the intent is longer-term here to put their literacy programs to into the army itself so we continue increasing their levels of literacy. we are not expecting to make them high school graduates we are just expecting them to get to the basic literacy standards of about father agreed over of the time period because then they will take tremendous pride and who they are as a person and they will remember that it came from their government that gave them this uplift and who they are as a person and they will feel a much greater sense of ownership in the process and a commitment to the country. the thing the surprise is the i

walked in been told there's two different languages, there's the challenge of literacy. you're going to find out when you get their people don't understand the fever of being part of the country. they are tribal in their nature yet in fact push iger weld and talk to these new recruits coming in and i wander through the crowds with my translator talking to them and they all want to serve the country. i saw the most i would hear is ironclad you brought the new pay now that it gives me a basic standard of living by what to serve the country because i can have a nice basic standard of living. there's $165 a month we pay with a first come in but that's not the case at all. most of them say i want to serve my country. i want to be part of the afghan army. for any of you that haven't been out there i would say please come and we will take you out and put you into the trading centers and what you talk with these young and women that we

have and experience and let you wander around. i think most of the people i've been able to get out there spend some time in the training base walkaway surprised how enthusiastic these men are about serving their country and they really want to so the key is how do we keep that energy and excitement that brought them instilled through the process to the army and again that goes back to the leadership and having the right leaders with those soldiers. >> we have a question of the front. >> following on from what you just said are you aware or concerned about the fact that although you seem to have 40% of the army now pashtu argue

representatives as well as the country goes these pashtuns would be recruited from the northern and eastern areas and very few of them if any come from the south which coincidentally is where you are having your biggest problem keeping the country together. is this something that you actively address in your policies? thank you. >> that's a great question. it's an ongoing dialogue. the question asked is do you track ethnicity inside of the army ranks and the answer is yes we do. do you track by officers and enlisted and the answer is yes we do it and do you track by provinces and the answer is yes we do so what are the results you see a are you satisfied with that and the answer is we are not satisfied with the number of pashtuns we see coming to the army from the south although we have a good pashtu

representation if you were to look of the ethnicity of the army and say now many do you have it is representative what most people think of in the country but the chargers' two or 3% come from the south and event in fact if what we are trying to changes the dynamics of the country to make the sabrue pashtu this field more part of the nation and take greater ownership we are going to have to do a better job of recruiting so we had long talks about how has the marjah subornation moves forward the people see it taking place because it's not about a military operation is about a government bringing basic service back to their people and taking ownership of the area and called responsible to the people's basic needs which the

military helps set those conditions but it's the government's peace that is going to be critical so as the watch and see this the effort we want to make is to go behind that and try to get the young pashtuns from the south to be willing to join the the army and police forces but we have to do better. we have a small media advertisement campaign we are going to launch another 30 days in this house encouraging pashtuns from the south to join the police and army so we are hopeful that will change the dynamics it take us to a higher percentage because it needs to be representative of the whole nation. >> a question in the front. >> lester in afghanistan there were talks but taliban paid --

[inaudible] i believe but this has improved? >> bouck the system put in place in december pays the basic record in the army of the police on hundred $65 a month. then if you're in a hazardous area like in the south they get an additional $45 or so extra above that. then if they have been in the army a certain amount of years they get additional longevity pay. what we were shooting for with 165 is to give enough money they have the ability to live decent standard of life not exceptional but bare minimum decent standard of life and that 165 doesn't buy all the economic equations and factors utilized to come to that

amount because we want to do is have a soldier and policeman be about to serve their country and not have to do anything else to do but serve their country which is a reasonable expectation. we do it in any other nation today and that also helps reduce corruption because there's less inclined to look for ways to make additional income to support their families of the concede them so this money is enough a young soldier can feed their families know especially once they serve long did get promoted because the pay starts going up. we are aware with the taliban foot soldier makes and it varies obviously in reports from around the country but we are if he were to try to mix and compatible amount we are comparable to probably what we hear and i understand most foot soldiers will make doing something for the taliban.

so what we have coped has been created is the ability for young men or women and now to join and serve their country and provide basic subsistence for their family rather than turn to another way of life to make money. >> general caldwell thank you for taking the time now. hewey and your staff. i know of some data has been passed around. we've also put together some stock footage of the trading which i offered to anybody here for the websites and broadcast but once again thank you for taking the time and it was good to see you. islamic there is a website we started it in a disinterested and it's open to the public. there's no passwords or anything protected were corralled or did a thing. just go to ntma-a.com and read

anything we are doing over there to be we don't classify any to an organization and 102 days this on the big eight paper classified because was directed by the higher authorities so it is open and transparent you can see anything we are doing and this website you should be able to come and will get and ascertain any data you wan

at this one hour and 50 men a hearing. howard berman of california chairs the foreign affairs committee. >> the committee will come to order. we have to adjourn shortly before you o'clock a.m. so the members can attend the memorial service for the call the john murtha. given the short time we have to spend with our witnesses i will but opening statements to myself and ranking member negative. all may submit for the record. by jerry pleased to welcome you for your first formal appearance before this committee and your first time testify a before the congress as the usaid administrator. less than two weeks after swerving you were made the obama administration point person in responding to the unimaginable

tragedy in haiti. dealing with a crisis of that magnitude would be a tall order no matter how long you served as administrator and by all accounts you stepped out to the task of great aptitude. prior to your confirmation usaid had been without a permanent administrator for an extended period so we particularly appreciate the leadership you demonstrated and experience in dynamism to bring to the job. the focus today is on the presence to be a president's budget request and specifically the policies and programs for the development at usaid is responsible for designing and implementing. secretary clinton has rightfully identified diplomacy and development as the two key pillars of the national security along with the defense. we make it a priority to reduce poverty and eliminate human suffering the rubble world because it is the morally right thing to do.

because it reflects the generosity of the american people but the programs also serves the economic and national-security interests. pour it on civil countries make a reliable trading partners and offer weak markets for u.s. goods and services. conflict lawlessness and extremism that threaten u.s. interest find fertile ground in the place is basic human needs are not being met and donato to read rights are not respected to read on the white development assistance is a sound investment and better safer world should. one of my priorities is to reform the foreign assistance programs to ensure the aid reaches those who need it the most and that it is delivered with maximum effectiveness and efficiency. our development should a monopoly to improve the lives of poor people but to build the human a capacity and economic and political institutions that will sustain these games. i look forward to working with you as we write legislation to

replace the outdated cumbersome legal structure that currently exists with one designated to meet the needs of the 21st century. the administration is in the midst of to refuse that will have a bearing on the process. the quadrennial the policy review seeks to define the capabilities that are needed to match resources with priorities. the presidential study director will we hope produce a national strategy for global development that establishes clear and specific objectives for united states policies and programs consistent with the millennium development goals. we should strive to achieve those goals not only in countries for the rest of the violent extremism is most pronounced with everywhere children go hungry, women die for lack of skilled assistance and communities ravaged by preventable disease. i am gratified the president's

budget places emphasis on global health, food security and played a change. these are areas the community faces significant challenges and where we know how to make a difference. they build on what the great foreign policy legacies of the previous administration. the president's emergency plan for its relief. to ensure our assistance is as effective as possible we must elevate and strengthen u.s. the i.t.. i applaud secretary clinton's call to rebuild usaid into the premier agency to report also must make good on president bush pledged to double the size of the usaid forest service, the goal president obama has also endorsed to read to the budget numbers in perspective, the entire international affairs budget accounts for over 1% of the federal spending and only about one a third is allocated to development and humanitarian programs. one overarching goal of our

foreign assistance is to reduce the need for putting american soldiers in harm's way about 18% of the entire affairs budget. and about 60% of the growth since last year ks for the front-line states of iraq afghanistan and pakistan. by building schools, training police and increasing the eckert cultural production we felt we the foundation for our more stable future in these volatile nations. it is an investment worth making considering the savings and long-term costs of treasure. with this in mind the increases for fiscal year 2011 are quite modest and i did extremely well justified. we appreciate having you here this morning and look forward to your testimony but first i would like to turn to the ranking member puffed to the cover in the opening statements she might want to make. >> thanks for the opportunity and doctor, i join in welcoming you to the foreign affairs committee with the recent tragedy in haiti and the

intensive rapid efforts to help the people of that devastated country you have had a bracing introduction to your current deposition and abs i have set aside a room you represented our humanitarian country so well and i commend to four isakson three usaid mission in haiti. you hit the ground running so we wish you well in all of your endeavors on behalf of the nations and those it seeks to help throughout the world. i am however disappointed the congressional budget justification for york agency is not yet available so it pleases us at a disadvantage today in discussing this fiscal year 2011 budget request for aid because we like that information. but necessity is the mother of invention the past year has seen a dramatic deterioration in our nation's economic position

should the president's proposed budget for fiscal year 2011 be adopted without any changes the debt created in the next year alone will equal an additional $4,000 by every man and woman and child in the united states. this on top of the $40,000 each american already effectively oppose through the public debt we are now borrowing at a rate of about $4 billion a day to keep our government in operation. this is not the best position for the country to be. in light of the situation my recommended to secretary clinton last week although the programs are not a major part of the overall budget we need to find places we can slow down or freeze spending. we have an opportunity to foster innovation. i believe that the seeds for this innovation are already

contained in some of the eight's programs they just need to be expanded to allow us to move away from more costly assistance programs that work through wasteful and often corrupt bureaucracies abroad and so often create dependency ed read stagnation on one the recipient countries and instead of continuing with such durham this reliance on the traditional development assistance account for example we might instead consider moving quickly to expand our development credit assistance program which at a far less cost leverage is tremendous private funding and pursuit of our development goals. we might also consider expanding a.i.d.'s global defendant alliances program and approach that is once again built on the leveraging private funds and pursuing development goals

without creating dependency and other countries. in short we have to do more with less. there are additional innovations of their many of them based on technological lead chances of the past two decades she of which a.i.d. is already experimented with or should consider and i will cite some examples improvements and marketing by small-scale farmers and shop owners in the impoverished country's by means of cellphone alerts the development of affordable small-scale clean energy power generators that can be run off the electrical grid in remote areas also small sculptures for farmers allowing them to break free from the control by huge bureaucratic and often corrupt ministries in of attaining of your inputs. a.i.d. is working in the of these areas but we need to think how we can identify to focus on

such a small skill primm that can create individual creativity rather than interrupt with an accountable bureaucratic government agencies abroad and we should consider ways to multiplied the impact of such small-scale programs wherever possible implementing the approach used in our microfinance microcredit programs where even the poorest beneficiaries are expected to repaint some of their assistants to cooperative groups that can in turn provide such assistance to others. small businesses and individual opportunities are what helped america grow into a prosperous country that we are long before there was a furious development. it's time to revisit a long standing views and furious how to help the impoverished durham of the world becomes self sustaining and prosperous.

i hope the challenges of the dressing our fiscal deterioration here at home will lead us to explore ways to be more efficient, accomplish goals at less cost but with more benefit for those who deserve our help. thank you again, doctor, for what you've done in haiti. i know you're standing up already a new program in chile into the lead to different circumstances but like congratulate the entire team at usaid. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you. and now i'm happy to introduce the doctor of the 60 that the minister of the agency for international development. prior to the confirmation as administrator he served about six months as undersecretary of agriculture for research and education and economics and chief scientist. a medical doctor and health

economist by training he previously spent seven years the gates foundation holding leadership positions in its agricultural development in the global health programs. dr. shaw your statement will be made part of the record and@%ã

and most successful urban search and rescue effort ever create a low-cost urban food distribution system that reached 3 million individuals with critical food supplies greatly increased the infrastructure of the ports and airports and coordinated medical assistance support including trade that for more than 30,000 patients had performed hundreds of surgery's saving lives and limbs. he faces a steep road to recovery and as the operations transition from rescue to the recovery, we will continue to stand by the people of haiti and appreciate the support of this

committee of congress in doing so. the same time we will lose sight of the other priorities including imports network usaid thus to help other countries achieve the different goals. in the critical need to strengthen capacity and accountability couchepin in pursuit of this mission. investments we make today are able work against current and future threats both seen and unseen and a down payment for future peace and prosperity are of the world. as president obama said last december, security does not exist when people do not have access to food and clean water or shelter to survive. secretary clinton strongly shares this view and asked us to allow the development to stand with diplomacy and defense that's part of the nation's foreign policy. together with other government agencies usaid is examining resources and capabilities to determine how to achieve these objectives. we are doing so through the presidential directive on u.s. development policy, the

quattrone kneal diplomacy default attribute it through consultations with congressional committees that are pursuing foreign assistance reform. the fiscal year 2011 budget request will support development priorities that could contribute directly to the national security. specifically the request is focused on a three priority areas securing critical front line states, meeting urgent global challenges and enhancing the effectiveness and accountability. alana to summarize briefly. first in critical front line states we propose spending $77 billion in state and usaid assistance and support efforts enough calcium, pakistan and iraq. we made progress in each of the countries but we realize sycophant challenges remained. of the past several years our focus has been achieving greater stability and security. we are beginning to see major improvements in health care and education and eckert culture as

well as in some cases the foundation of a more representative and space government. the administration's funding the administration's funding request as part of is designed to encourage stability of opportunity in that nation. in pakistan our request supports ongoing efforts to combat extremism, promote economic opportunity, strengthen space institutions and build a long-term relationship with pakistani people. here to our programs are helping to achieve significant improvements in education and health itself. the increase in fy 2011 for pakistan will help usaid reach 60,000 more children with nutrition programs increased inlet in paris at secondary schools by over it support 500 households to eckert cultural production. am i brac we have transitioned to a new phase in the sebelius systems relationship shifting away from the reconstruction

toward the provision of assistance to bolster local capacity in line with iraqi priorities. usaid is promoting economic of about strengthening the eckert cultural sector which is the largest employer of the iraqis after the government of iraq and increase capacity of local and national governments to provide essential services. our second budget priorities focused on meeting the urgent global challenges. $14.6 billion in state assistance to support local land global solutions to the core transnational problems including health extreme poverty, natural and man-made semesters and threats of further instability from climate change population growth. we are requesting $8.5 billion in state aid assistance. the request supports the president's global health initiative. with this additional funding we will build on our strong record of success on the hiv/aids treatment, tuberculosis and

malaria control and seek to achieve improved results in areas where progress has led such as obstetrics terkel the newborn care and basic nutrition. and food security we are proposing to invest $1.2 billion for state to secure the agricultural programs in addition to the $200 million set aside for nutrition. with these additional funds we will work in countries in africa, central america and asia to combat poverty and hunger to be in climate change we propose to invest $646 million for state programs. part of the administration's overall $1.4 billion request to support climate change assistance. the linscott investment as listed on the big low carbon to the limit strategies for critical countries market-based approaches to sustainable energy sector reform and capacity building technology development to enhance adaptation resilience

strategies to meet its humanitarian assistance a.i.d. and state proposed to invest $4.2 billion. this allows us to insist internally displaced persons, refugees and victims of conflict and natural disasters worldwide such as >> translator: earthquakes in haiti and chile. with these adjustments we will save lives and help make people less vulnerable to with poverty and threat of instability that extreme poverty breeds. our third major budget priority focuses on enhancing usaid's effectiveness and the accountability by investing 1.7 billion in the ongoing rebuilding effort for the personal infrastructure. all of the peoria site allied require strong capacities and evaluation, planning, a strategic resource management and research to ensure we are incorporating the best practices, innovation and technologies from the field. we also must be able to recruit hire and retain it class

developed professions cash by reducing reliance on contractors to design and evaluate programs we will not only save taxpayer dollars but also should enable greater oversight and more effective program implementation. through these critical investments we can achieve the development goals we sit around the world and restore usaid standing as the world's premier development agency. i know this is a time of great economic straight for so many americans for every dollar we invest we must show results. that is why the budget supports programs vital to the national security and ability to account for outcomes. the united states must be able to exercise global leadership to help countries as they develop stable in sustainable foundations for security, stability and well-being. this requires the effective use of fenster redds of the national security including development. and this requires relentless focus on results and accountability, focus the embrace with enthusiasm.

thank you and i look forward to your questions, your guidance and ongoing consultations. blblblblblblblblblblblblblblblbl conversations and brainstorming related to five core working group topic areas related to how

the united states projects its power and its marra power in diplomatic and development capacity is around a world. as we transition we are in the process of transitioning to a series of more operationally oriented task forces that will be addressing specific topics like how we improve our ability to do policy planning, how we develop systems for accountability in budgeting, how we help our country missions and our country chief of missions develop long-term investment strategy is for development and diplomacy and have the flexibility to partner more effectively with the private sector with sources of innovation and with country governments themselves. the results of those more specific operational efforts should be available in the april -- may timeframe and we at this time hope to have a deep an ongoing conversation at both about the contents of the qddr as well as learning from the

committees and the congress around the range of views on some of these core issues and that is an ongoing process but one that has shifted the from a larger strategic conversation to a more focused said of operational discussions. a presidential study directive a similarly making the same transition after having completed a series of phases of work that brought together 16 -- 18 different agencies throughout the federal government to discuss ideas and concepts in a more open space related to the future of development, that is transitioning into also m.r. operational focus to come up with specific constructs that will define development strategy that this administration is going forward. if they come together in a number of different ways not least of which our deputies committees we participated in but also the key individuals part of the process is often the same individuals. >> and the psd, when you think

that process -- you mentioned april. a notion of idea for the qddr, what about the pst? >> i don't think this qddr will be completed in april but we will have enough specifics to begin a serious consultation on the set of ideas in that timeframe. on this before i would expect the same thing although i shouldn't speak on behalf of the national security council and they can identify more specific time line and we come back with a specific answer. >> i would appreciate that. in a foreign the funding, can you borrow from the programs across the globe until the supplemental funding arrives? everyone understands in the overall needs in haiti, but the fact is these top-rated hardships and delays on the ground in other countries such as sudan and condo. what is being done to ensure that other humanitarian

emergencies on to being neglected in order to address the tragedy in haiti? >> well, i appreciate that question and i believe the u.s. government has committed more than $600 million to the effort in haiti and as you point out a large percentage of that has come from the idea -- the account that provides the flexible and rapid funding. we will seek a supplemental to reconstitute the account as fully as possible in this context. we've been in close contact with are implementing partners and other complex crises around the world and have asked them not to delay or slow down program implementation working and the assumption those additional resources will arrive prior to the june timeframe. which was when we would have to sire to make in the trade-offs we hope not to make so i am aware that a number of partners felt they might have to do that

and we try to be in touch with everyone who has reached out to indicate they should not slow down programs and other areas and we expect the supplemental to reconstituted in a manner -- >> assumption of my question is wrong, there hasn't been depravation and other programs as a result of the transfer of. >> that is correct, sir,. i believe -- i know partners have reached out asking if they should and when we did we try to this correct -- barack at. >> my time is expired, the ranking member is the. >> thank you. i the programs in cuba may have come to a standstill. could we get a commitment from you that they are going to continue to carry out u.s. democracy programs in cuba?

and following up on the question, the cost of the recovery and the long-term developments, will these be shared among the donor countries? and willie see this in haiti over the coming years, will they be able to expect 30%, or whatever figures that you think? the administration has requested $400 million $400 million for support funding, but there has been a lot of stealing, so what do we have in place to benefit -- to make certain that this funding does not benefit corrupt officials, and is reaching the preferred target? what are we using to make certain that we can accomplish

what we want to do with the funding? thank you. >> i appreciate those questions. in cuba, we can show our commitment to execute the programs and the priorities. we have made a number of steps to address the needs of mr. perot's. -- mr. gross. with the partner for whom he was contacted to work with and we work directly with the rangers to ensure that they and then challenging travel situation that they come up with alternative solutions to execute and implement these programs and we're giving them the flexibility so we are fully committed to seeing to the program there. on haiti i appreciate your points in your earlier comments there as well. we have been at approximately half of the overall early relief efforts. a large part is the department of defense, the costs related to

to the assets including the marines, the comfort hospital, the effort to rebuild the port and airport -- those were mission critical early activities required for other assistance to come in. as we transition three construction of expect that percentage to go down significantly and we're working with the range of major bilateral partners but also the world bank as part of the post disaster assessment to make sure a strong plan is going ford unveiled at the donor's conference in march this month, and that u.s. assistance is targeted and a far more modest percentage of the overall aspiration -- needs. it will be a small percentage better of leadership will be critical and our technical support and deeper engagement in this process will be continued and unwavering. on a world bank and gaza i appreciate the question as well. in as you know, we have a systems for both attracting partners and betting partners.

the partner vetting system involves specific identification of names of partners involving our database tracking systems and we have that carefully, the system in place for more than two years. on the cash tracking we also have a very specific system in place for more than four years where we are supporting and we offer a specific disbursements from the palestinian authority, the resources transferred quite closely from that a bank in israel to a special treasury account in the palestinian banking system and then flows mauna turn on a case by case basis. so there's a very strong system in place for tracking cash flows in that environment as well and our budget request going forward and is two really focus on to a specific work that will achieve real outcomes and infrastructure and in health and humanitarian support and draws up. i'm happy to describe it that some of the things we have done have been successful building

60 kilometers of road in the west bank, funding seven schools that are operational and effective in promoting the health system in that region that is reaching many more people in need. so we will continue to track those outcomes closely but we have special systems for tracking how we work with partners and how we track the flow pash. >> thank you so much of the imposition of the wispy to make sure that it's a transparent accountable system of aid that is not corrupted the by the corrupt officials in the west bank and gaza. thank you dr. shah, thank you mr. chairman. >> i yield to five minutes to the gentleman from new jersey, chairman of the african subcommittee, mr. payne and. >> thank you dr. shah and let me commend you for the outstanding job you've done in haiti. also i wish we didn't have a dead but we have to remember we have a balanced budget when president clinton left however,

a war in the rack which was unnecessary and a big tax cuts put this in a position we're in today unfortunately. let me just say about the global fund, i see that you have cut 50 million from the global fund and i wonder if you look at that because as you know the u.n. formula is a one-third u.s., 150 million will be cut over all when the other nations participate. secondly on the neglected tropical diseases, although you are dealing with them, some of them most neglected such as fatal distiller, sleeping cessna -- sleeping sickness, charges, and disease, and some of these other disfiguring all service are not covered and i wonder if they could be included in that. just quickly on three governance

groups, somalia with a transitional federal government. i wonder will there be a significant increase in development aid because we have to support those governments or we're going to be in my opinion is very serious problems. if they fall all of these africa as you know somaliland will go. secondly are we concentrating enough on south sudan? in 2011 they decide to secede, how will we support the new government with the additional funds? and finally liberia and needs to have a some consideration of where we have a strong institutions. we see elections work like south africa and other places where we don't they fail us so if you've been book and liberia, the historical relationship between the u.s. and library it is

important and finally i'd like to know how you are making out with africa, and the coordination with that. i will just also you can answer the questions. thank you. >> thank you mr. chairman. we have on the global fund in particular and that's in the context of the larger global health initiative, we're committed to the financial increases against global health. and even more than that using the resources in the way that will be effective against those lagging indicators like maternal mortality in newborn and obstetric care. we are working with the global fund for vaccines and immunizations and other programs to accelerate the partnerships between them and get more value out of the overall investment. the overall administration would press as a billion dollars because it includes the treasury components and will be very committed to helping the global fund succeed. on neglected tropical diseases that will take your comments as

a heisman and look specifically into those cases. that's a unique area where i do believe we can and have been in discussions to sell republic private partnerships and me to the overall needs that they have been delayed by the world health organization and others and as a very much a priority of the global health initiative. on somalia we will in terms of increases in development assistance most of our assistance is humanitarian, going to the normal, we continue to be in close conversation with the world food program to explore what can be done and when in other parts of somalia and we look to use our development assistance in a strategic manner. i will follow-up more specifically on what we can do to be more expansive in that context. with southern sudan we had $95 million for the referendum and for support for the referendum and we're doing a series of activities with respect to capacity building and serving the people of southern

sudan. i will go to our mission is in that region there and unlike other partners even multi lateral partners that are trying to serve the region from farther away, we feel we are well-positioned should the needs arise as you have identified so we are in contingency planning around that. also identify what kind of budget flexibility and indians but we think we would have an important role in leading that and think we have important role in bringing other multilateral institutions to that mission should that be the outcome of the early 2011 referendum. i will take your comments on liberia as guidance and on that effort -- africom we are in discussion with them and you hope to have a solid coordinated effort in africa. have visited them this summer and hope to continue that conversation. >> the time has expired, the gentleman from texas is recognized for five minutes. >> thank you mr. chairman.

dr. shah, thank you for being here. i am over here. the far right to you. first of all, i want to commend the workers in the field and usaid. i have travelled like everybody in this committee all over. there are the greatest ambassadors for the united states and freedom and that we have, those people in the field. i know that usaid is developing all kinds of things most recently the former's -- the former said texas a&m have had some soybean that yields nine times what they used to yield four afghanistan and so that's the farmers in afghanistan don't have to raise poppies, they can raise soybeans that were invented at texas a&m. that's all good thing. i'm concerned about those being

good stewards of money. last week we had before us this special inspector general for iraq reconstruction and he said in a reconstruction of iraq there was and there is a $4 billion and accounted for a. and i asked him which of all the agencies that are in direct from the united states has i guess the worst record of accountability and he said the state department. of course, the example he used was the $2.5 billion that went to dime corporation for training police officers and there's no records about a prayer that $2.5 billion went. and so i'm concerned about the unaccountability of money we sent and i also ask about could some of that money have turned up in the hands of our enemies like al qaeda? he mentioned that there were 14,000 bloc weapons that

disappeared from our possessions to summer else. that troubles me when we have our men and women in uniform overseas trying to protect us and downs that we ship over there and up in their hands because our federal agencies aren't good stewards of the money. so you want an increase in the budget, we have 50 million americans unemployed, it seems like to mean when some country is in trouble, of course, they call 1-800-usaid to come over and help them out. that's what we kind of do in this country, the government and the people of this country are the most giving of any nation in history. but i would like for you to specifically address this problem of accountability and how do we know that this money is going to be accounted for, that these are going to steal

it, crooked contractors aren't going to steal it and the bad guys aren't going to end up with some of the aid that we send to ford countries. similar to some of the questions the ranking member addressed and other parts of the world. so how about that dr. shah? >> thank you, sir,. i want to thank you for your comments about our staff and also with knowledge that our foreign service nationals in that context to make us awfully proud. i also want to address your comments about texas a&m. for proposing in this budget increase in our agricultural research and development as relates to meeting the needs and some of these prior countries and food security. with respect. >> reconstruction, the contract you referred to, i wouldn't point out for usaid we have a shifting strategy where we are moving toward supporting the elections that are upcoming and providing a real support to the

government and the health system. and other community basic means and the needs of population. if we are more aggressively pursuing matching fund requirements to make sure that our resources are being matched by the government of iraq and we have a strong financial accountability and procurements systems in place that are tracked closely in that context. in general -- >> excuse me dr. >> many of them are new over the course of the last year. the basic strategies that we used to make certain of accountability could not be more transparent and this is one of my priorities, to be more transparent. we are making certain to only work with those partners where we will be able to have confidence and effectiveness. the second thing is capacity building, and the third is on

monitoring. the fourth is auditing, which we do in those places. >> the time has expired. the gentle man from new york. >> good morning. it is great to have you here and i thank you for your efforts, especially helping in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake. you were speaking about how complex that this is, in dealing with haiti. i would like to ask for you to describe for us the international aspects of the effort to help haiti. the coordination of efforts and finding, who is leading this effort, and what role they can play, and how we support this government until they have the capacity to take on their other responsibilities.

a number of international communities are asking for a plan. i was putting in a resolution calling for this. this is focusing on whether or not we need -- whether or not we need this plan. i was wanting to ask, also, about the latinos in the western hemisphere. the obama administration has signed off on a plan for racial equality. ction plan on racial and ethnic equality and we had one on brazil which i passed your report on that so we can continue to follow that. i know we're still making progress, but over the years i've requested appropriations from the usaid that we specifically help rationalize

communities inland america and more often than not a those are disproportionately africa latinos and indigenous populations so i'd like to know can you tell me about your plans to address the plight of african latinos and indigenous populations and have you prior to rice of plans from the budget perspective it? finally in a real briefly, and also concerned about training capacity dollars so can you tell me if there are any plans for more consequence of we training capacity across the departments that have these funds? i propose to that we create an office for trade capacity coordination and add my tanagra thoughts of this kind of function. >> thank you for those comments and questions. i will start with haiti. the international aspect is being led by the government of haiti working with internationally recognized system of un's clusters establish sector by sector.

we play a key role in each of the clusters and directly with the government and we also in some cases like rubble removal for the establishment as safe place in advancing where the budget is coming in or in food distribution and water distribution at times when frankly we felt the clusters needed more support we stepped in and offer more capacity and director of leadership from our military civilian partnership in haiti. so that is how it is chlorinated on the international aspect. the haitian government has had a plan was recently unveiled a last spring and also revised and updated for last fall which was based on a decentralization of the population outside of port-au-prince and creating a vibrant economic opportunities and centers of economic activity outside a port-au-prince. we expect them to unveil the plan in a more updated in specific form at the upcoming darth conference and believe that constitutes the groundwork

for a very strong reconstruction everett that will hopefully build a packing more vibrant and more effective economy, government system and ability to meet human needs in port-au-prince and perhaps more portly the majority of the population outside of port-au-prince. in terms of your comments about african latinos in the western hemisphere it's absolutely true company recognized by our agency that those marginalized communities are disproportionately suffering on health and human indicators as welfare and well-being and throughout the hemisphere and that's a clear and statistically history for a point. i will come back to more specifically on how our budget addresses that by and our efforts to dress whose attorney, global health and meeting space -- meeting human needs which are disproportionately targeting those marshall as populations, how that plays out in terms of budget numbers i will come back to more specifically.

finally entrée capacity building in coordination, i do believe that we need a more effective coronation in that context. we've been in a conversation as part of the directive and in efforts like aref and security initiative to explore how we can improve the integration of our trade policy, trade capacity investment and our investment in agriculture and high-value ever closer to get more bang for our buck. >> the time has expired and the gentleman from new jersey and mr. smith is recognized. >> thank you for your testimony. about 12 years ago dr. shah your initiative and effort on the issue of autism and a time when very few people paid attention to it and it led to the creation of centers of excellence -- i wrote the provision for the centers of disease control and we quickly found that we may have an epidemic of about one add of every 100 of our children have autism or part of the best

burgers spectrum. i have since been focusing on the national elements of autism and to my not shocking but certainly to and many others this way, have realized that we have a global epidemic of autism. i'm working with a number of ngos in kenya, indonesia, poland and ireland trying to combat autism and all of these organizations have a is a deficiency in funding. lots of thoughts, a lot of good expertise, but lack of funding. i've introduce legislation h.r. 1878 about a year ago that would have a small grant program and also a teachers program and am asking if he would take a good long hard look at these ngos. am sure you have the authority, absent the legislation to assist these ngos and i will give you one on autism in nigeria. i know some involved with ngo

there, they suggest there may be as many as a million nigerians who have autism. i would ask you to take a good hard look at this and provide some assistance there. secondly on your three priority areas to talk about instability from rapid population growth and i would respectfully request you take a second look at the issue of the population. and places all all over europe, russia, the u.n. estimates by the year 205025% of our population than that which currently exists in russia, sam way with the eastern european countries, we're seeing a depopulation trend and the reason why the aggregate continues to grow is we're living longer. not about birth, it's about the other side of the spectrum. south korea there are so far below replacement japan has the same problem that they're looking at a serious this proportionality when it comes to workers and those who are on the other end of the spectrum receiving benefits so i think

your underlying assumption has been surpassed in many ways by a depopulation trend that is very injurious to individual countries and in china where the sex selection abortions has led to gender sided with 100 million missing girls, in whole unique set of problems has developed near as many as 40 million men will not able to find wives by 2020 because they are gone and dead as a result of sex selection abortion. ..

i would be happy to look at the ngo's you are proposing and we can do that in a systematic manner. i do believe the principles of the global health initiative which is to broaden the scope of how we think about supporting health systems in setting priorities based on medical need and based on what are the biggest lagging indicators against development goals will help guide our work in the health sector overall going forward and i appreciate your comments on that issue. on instability from population growth, i do believe the 2050 population projections are significant. they do show over 9 billion as a

global population and they i think consistent with your comments they show those increases will happen in certain parts of the world in certain parts of the world will stay flat and in some cases decrease, so i appreciate that and we will take a nuanced look at that very specifically. some of your comments related to gender and girls in that context which is an immediate priority for our team and for the secretary and abstract eric fistula i believe for global health of skilled attendance at birth than focusing on the needs of women and girls will create a strong strategic priority in that space. thank you. 's be the time of the gentleman has expired. the gentleman from georgia, \mr.{~}{-|}\mister scott is recognized for five minutes. >> thank you \mr.{~}{-|}\mister chairman. dr. shah let me first of all commend you and the obama administration for the very quick response to the situation in haiti. i would like to ask you a few questions about that if i may.

first of all, as of today, how much money has usaid spent in the disaster relief in haiti? >> i believe the overall federal commitment has been just over $600 million, maybe just over 600 and 30 million. of that amount, i think usaid has been approximately 350 million with the majority of the alternative part of that being department of defense spending. >> and which leads to my next question, where has that money been spent by category? >> i would have to provide you more specific rate down but the more areas have been a disaster relief account which immediately supported priorities for urban search-and-rescue. we sent our to train international search-and-rescue teams but also for five other teams that were stood up by fema so that we had at any one time more than 500 american

search-and-rescue professionals with heavy equipment and specialized training at work for an extended period of time. we made significant investments in the health space spending resources to take disaster assistance team from the department of health and human services and put them in place, supporting the treatment of more than 30,000 haitians in that context and then food and water were immediate priorities that accounted for a large bulk of that spending. we successfully supported the discretion of food to more than 3 million people who are at risk and had some have some immediate and aggressive procurements to make sure people had as much access to water in the camps as possible. we think we successfully met the needs around water and that was a big concern in the early moments of those up in the big areas of disaster assistance spending and in addition to that the department of defense with its personnel and its other resources and the comfort hospital ship also cost items we are tracking. >> going forward dr. shah, where

do you feel the priority should be now? where is where's the greatest need now for the people of haiti? >> the immediate needs are into areas. one is in the collective effort to remove rubble from and other waste from critical sites, whether they are elevated sites where people could live or whether they are drainage systems that will be critical when it rains, and link to that of shelter and sanitation. we are aggressively pursuing those three priorities with the common goal of reaching every haitian was shelter materials first by march 8 and then an expanded set of materials by april 8. that is a top priority in the second priority is public health. we have vaccinated more than 150,000, trying to reach 150,000 and have reached 80,000 so far in advance of the rainy season. >> there have been some reports coming to us from haiti that in our efforts to really move

forward and help them particularly in our food export area and particularly in the area of rice which is a major farming product of the farmers in haiti, and there has been some concern that maybe our efforts to do that have undermined the basic farmers in haiti because we have oversupplied the market and thereby putting disincentives in for the haitian people themselves and farming to produce their own food. can you give us an assessment of that situation and what are we doing to make sure we correct that? >> it is an incredibly important.. what we did is initially upon sending food we also sent some experts who could track market prices of different food commodities including rice, vegetable oils beans and track the flow of charcoal and cooking supplies and markets to make sure markers to make sure we are pursuing and we have had an aggressive response.

the information on vegetable oil and rice -- there has not been an effect on the price that is significant. we have accelerated the major program to support the agricultural sector, including china get fertilizer and other support out to the farmers in advance of the planting season. we will continue to track the price of rice to make certain that we are not distorting the incentives. >> we have the effective monitoring, and measurement systems in place, the measure what we are doing. >> we were getting very different estimates from different markets, and this would not take place in a normal setting. >> thank you, and i commend you for your excellent work. >> the gentleman from arkansas is recognized for five minutes. >> thank you. secretary clinton said that we

hope to put ourselves out of this business, because of the success that we have had, countries will no longer need this. can you tell us how these initiatives have been successful in breaking the cycle of dependence and, also, in your answer, micro-finance is something i am interested in. microfinance is something i have a lot of interest in. >> certainly, thank you. i think that is the long-term goal for anyone in the assistance business, which is to put ourselves out of assistance because countries effectively graduate. the most commonly cited examples are not always the most generalizable ones like western europe after the world war and after the marshall plan for south korea and some other east asian and east asian economies that were usaid beneficiaries

and now are becoming donor countries. so, that is an important example and we are trying to learn lessons from there to apply elsewhere. the guidance and dispense commission report offers a lot of interesting parallels of how we can pursue work differently in other parts of the world to achieve those outcomes. in terms of more specifically, areas like global health initiative or are feared security initiative that where we are trying to use that principle in a more sector specific matter so in global health in the country repaired ties we will look at our full fort-- portfolio and partner deeper with countries and in and develop a financial sustainability plan and do our best to identify an exit strategy for our partners in their own financing. at maybe a long exit strategy but an exit strategy so we are not, so we are aiming against the common goal on a more sector specific basis. i appreciate your raising microfinance. this is an important area and the ranking member made reference to the credit

authority. we recently completed a transaction that provided credit authority support to microfinance institutions through the grinning bank and its global network. that will leverage more than $160 million and provide institutional support to institutions around the world to put resources in the pockets of women and vulnerable populations around the world that have a surprisingly high repayment rate and in the financial system that even though it is banking to the poorest it is an incredibly safe bet to make in terms of repayment rates and risk the communities take. in the development of other services for the poor. most notably insurance products and savings products that have recent data and research have shown are critically important to reducing the vulnerability of all kinds of shocks and wrists to the experience on the daylight so we appreciate your comment. >> very good.

one of the other things i have experienced in traveling to various countries and this is certainly not true of all areas, but it does seem like there is a duplication of services. you get into turf battles where usaid is doing a certain function and you see duplicative activities by perhaps another branch of the state department. do you see that is a problem? is that something you have experienced and if so how do we solve that problem and how do we get people to sidetrack it right now all of us being so aware of the finances, the limited finances that we have god. again i would appreciate your comments on how we tackle that problem. >> i appreciate that. there clearly are in certain parts of the world significant duplication of services and what is a clear priority for us is

trying to get to a place where we are predatory sink outcome and using resources as effectively as possible. i think you do that they really three things. the first is you set clear to set clear and specific development goals and develop hierarchies, and we are expanding our efforts to do that both in our hiring of expertise that usaid ended developing better policy planning and evaluation systems. the second is, we aspire to serve as a whole of government platform two-point resources against those goals and an efficient and not non-duplicative manner. the learnings from haiti accelerate the need to do that. the health sector in haiti is a good example where we have unique capabilities at the department of health and human services that were brought into the field and we have been able to transition those capabilities to local ngo partners to expand their ability to provide more services to patients. we need more examples of that kind of partnership for effectiveness and outcome. the third is really to focus on

scale as we implement our programs, so we have restructured our policy planning to do that on a program by program basis. >> thank you mr. chairman. >> the time of the gentleman has expired and the gentlelady from california is recognized for five minutes. >> thank you mr. chairman and dr. shah, welcome. i have really admired your stewardship of usaid. i've been in several i have been in several informational hearings with you, and you give us inspiration that this program is working well. i want to relate now to the lantos hyde act and if you remember it mandated a five-year strategy to treat 4.5 million cases of tuberculosis under the ots and 90,000 multi-drug-resistant tb kate-- tb cases. the global health initiative on the other hand proposes to treat

only 2.6 million tb patients and only 57,000 mtr tb cases. moreover tv will soon need new drugs to combat the rise in highly resistant tb. so, what specific initiatives are planned to strengthen country responses to reemerge in infectious diseases such as tb and how will tb treatment be incorporated into a health system, strengthening approach. >> thank you. i very much appreciate that. i got my first experience in tuberculosis working on a program and burr south india and number of years ago and recognize how critical and important this issue is and the importance of the legislative targets. i would say the distinction between the targets in terms of the 4.5, 2.6, 90 and 57,000 with

respect to npr is primarily i believe the distinction between what we think we can achieve in our bilateral programs with current technology and implementation protocols and what we would hope to achieve by getting more efficiencies out of the global health initiative, and we can get those efficiencies in two ways. one is as we repackage our complete programs to be more systems oriented i fully expect especially given the relationship between tb and hiv that will actually have more resources that are currently not counting going towards the joint treatment of tb and hiv and getting those numbers up. the second is i think we will partner better with the global fund and do more shared strengthening investments that would strengthen their capacity and hours to reach tb patients. i believe those numbers, the 2.6 and 57,000 our floors upon which we can build his begets more efficient and as we partner more effectively. the second one i would make is

we will increase their research and development investments. i am particularly enthusiastic about new diagnostic technologies that i think will detect tb earlier allowing more cases to be treated in the general platform as opposed to mtr requirements of that would lower dramatically the cost of each treatment episode. i also believe with new drugs and treatment protocols over time the length of time needed to treat an mtr patient will come down significantly potentially to as low as nine months and if that happens that would significantly expand our capacities to offer treatment more broadly so we will track these things very closely and try to learn from some of the more innovative efforts taking place around the world with tb. >> are you seeing tb and haiti? >> we have had all kinds of reports. we had a 51 surveillance site system that the centers for disease control has set up with our support tracking diseases. we have not had a big outbreak or any specific reporting in that area but they are out there

looking forward and i did see some earlier episodes they thought were tb but then i didn't get the follow-up that indicated it had been confirmed. >> thank you for that. the administration has stressed country ownership of the aids projects, aids projects, and that your meaning of this concept is really unclear to us. words such as country based and country led are also in the mix and in addition, aid is coming from me for i.d. of sectors. ghi, pat farr, and the global fund and so forth. can you tell us what country ownership and its many dairy nations means to you in the administration and how will this be reflected in your policies, and can you expand on how health initiatives will be coordinated within countries already

receiving other forms of aid in and keeping in mind the country ownership concept? >> thank you. the global health initiative will include all the investments to achieve that goal. quickly the four components of ownership to us our country plan, specific guidance from countries that informs her own strategic investment and restructuring our contracts and programs to abide by those guidances and sharing data information and personnel against a common strategy and learning platform. i am enthusiastic about my ability to work with tom frieden at the cdc and erica goos be in order to do that more effectively going forward. >> we are out of time. thank you so much. >> the time of the gentlelady has expired and we recognize the gentleman from california, mr. sherman for five minutes. >> i believe in foreign aid development because it is the right thing to do but we are told to go to our districts and sell it as a necessary component in the war on terrorism,

something we do for national security not just out of generosity. frankly, if the american people were convinced that it was only all true a stick, i think we would have an even more difficult time selling foreign aid. now, the proponents of foreign aid put forward the idea that any alleviation of poverty in the world reduces terrorism. this fits a western orality view of the world. we all desperately want to live in a reasonable world. so something like terrorism must be that just and reasonable response of desperate people who are desperately poor. unfortunately we live in an unreasonable world. poverty does not correlate with international terrorism. both be christmas day bomber and bin laden come from some of the

richest and most powerful families in the world and a majority of those who struck us on 9/11 come from a country that has received far more infusions of cash then usaid has ever dreamed of putting into one country or all countries. namely saudi arabia. they were middle and upper-middle-class kids from a country that gets an awful lot of american cash. somalia is kind of a separate case, but looking at the world as a whole, the poorest 10% of the world's people cause less than 10% of the international terrorism. so, simple poverty alleviation itself cannot be justified as a good investment in the global war on terrorism. another problem we have is the bureaucracy of usaid. it took strong political push to get them to put the flag on the

back. they did not want to say, this aid is from the american people. they just wanted to give out the aid. so many of your staff are people that wanted to work at oxfam but wanted a retirement plan. what can you do to make sure that when we select the countries and the projects, when we design each part of that project, and when we publicize the efforts and decide how much resources to put into publicity rather than putting the money and telling the people that you are doing good that we are in fact honest with the american people that this is an effort to win the global war on terrorism and to protect them. because, as good a goal as alleviation of world poverty is, and as much as i would supported i don't support telling the american people we are doing it

to stop terrorism and then failing to selec >> what are you doing? >> thank you for that. i think that the budget prioritizes the development investments in specific places, and parts of the specific military strategy, that are designed to defeat al qaeda, and support a stronger and more effective global security environment for the country. this is why we present the budget in the context of afghanistan. that is where this is being carried out. i would also say that we have looked carefully at the information and i know you were involved in the relief effort. the branding effort in this context more than doubled the favorability rating among the indonesian people this was

reduced by half, with the favorability of the indonesian people -- >> i have limited time. >> i wanted to make certain that every aspect of this design goes forward to the american people. people have to pay for textbooks. if we were going to print all the textbooks, we could make certain that the content, this is not entirely politically correct, is good, and we would be helping education. we would be reducing corruption. it is very hard to turn all this into money. >> thank you. >> the gentleman's time has expired. >> thank you, very much.

thank you for the good work that you are doing. i have covered your efforts in a host of countries. it was noted earlier about the efforts with regards to the west bank, how would you assess the results of the infusion, thus far, of what has been provided, and the ability of the palestinians to the absorb the large amount of aid? >> we have tracked that very carefully. >> i have made a note of that. >> how would you assess this? >> there have been some sexes -- successes in infrastructure, and building schools. building a stronger health system. for different reasons, we have had trouble with the transport

mobility and the interference. there is much to do to improve the effectiveness of those efforts. we are working to the diplomatic channels. >> i would like for you to provide a read -- a written notice of those challenged areas. , both of those challenged areas. in afghanistan and pakistan obviously those are harsh environments. many of us have visited those countries in the past. it is mind standing that usaid personnel were only there for a year in length, however as we know after the year ends most people are getting their feet on the ground at some level of understanding of local knowledge do you think that is too short of a time period as they are just becoming experts in their field or are you considering extending the time? >> we would like to encourage staff to stay for an extended period of time. we are doing a number of things

to facilitate a more effective personnel situation in afghanistan in particular related. >> that could be an administrative change could that? >> we have to balance that with our recruiting and process of making sure we have enough numbers. >> wouldwhat if an individual ds in pakistan or afghanistan they would like to stay beyond the year? >> they absolutely can if they would like to. >> as-- i have had experience with some folks from my area and have taken the time and contributed to build a hospital in afghanistan outside of kabul. i have seen where some of the money has been spent by us where we have had a lot of problems with corruption. it just seems to me that we don't have that right it right yet in terms of how whether we are building a road or building or school or housing or in this case a hospital. for $2 million they are able to build a state-of-the-art hospital, 100 and 20-- 120 beds

with no corruption involved. whether you guys doing to figure out how you can avoid or learn from past mistakes? >> first i will say i am aware of that hospital and appreciate the advanced but that represents in the work for members of your district. i do think our work in afghanistan is tracked quite closely. health is a good sector example. we were very selective in working with the ministry of health. it took a number of years to build the procurement system and other tracking systems to give us the confidence we can enter into the agreement we entered into with them last year. we have now started to flow resources through that ministry, but we track every procurement action quite carefully. we monitor every strategic decision and in addition to that we have a series of audits that take place both from our ig and the special inspector general to

major that those resources are being spent effectively. as a result of our health sector investments we believe we have more than tripled access to the health access for afghanistan, for the population of afghanistan and we think that is a tremendous achievement. we are optimistic. >> quickly before my time expires, mr. chairman i would like to see more work as it relates to determining how well we are applying the smart power and to ensure that the money is going into the right places. which brings me to iraq. what would you say as we ramp down and usaid ramps up in iraq are the lessons learned from the experience the department of defense? >> wells the or i think there are a broad range of lessons learned. some related contracting in the risks of very large and poorly supervised. >> you are going to sue apply those lessons? finally what you think your biggest do you think your biggest challenges are this year?

>> our efforts in afghanistan and pakistan in haiti as well as our health and food efforts, when you put that together will severely strain our workforce so building a strong workforce and our ability to do that will be critical to success. >> thank you very much. >> thank you mr. costa. the gentleman's time has expired and now the gentleman from minnesota, mr. alice is recognized for five minutes. >> let me add my voice to everyone for the speedy response in haiti. i represent minneapolis, minnesota and we have a large somali community there. they are all, not all but mostly all concerned about what is going on in somalia. and i realize that the u.s. reduced its funding to somalia last year after ofac expressed fear that the extended supply line and insurgent heavy areas were operating that it could be

diverted to al qaeda linked groups, but on the other side of the coin, the people in the u.n. have expressed concern about that because it results in a net reduction to food to people who needed desperately. what are the things that you think could be done to straighten the situation out, and do you care to offer some views on this? >> certainly, thank you. first i will start by saying we will follow and respect the law and the guidance around protecting and stewarding effectively u.s. resources. we have been in a very in-depth conversation with the world food program and they are our primary food distribution partners as you point out that they have been clear with us that this is not, that our policies are not impeding in any way their capacity to distribute food at

this time. they are not distributing food margaret sibley in southern somalia for their own safety, security and logistics capacity to do so in a difficult operating environment. so that is not the current constraint. we will work with them if that becomes the constraint and they have the ability to distribute food that we have offered to them. if they agree to do that then we will work with them to make sure we have a policy in place that supports those efforts. >> i'm going to submit this article for the record with unanimous consent or go. >> without objection. >> i will send it to you and perhaps we can flush out a stronger answer because i would like to get to the bottom of this because it seems there was some sort of a technical requirement that we are being restricted and i am sure you are aware of the complaint. it sounds like you are saying it maybe is not a valid complaint. >> i am sorry, what i was suggesting is we will work through that and we are now in a

different circumstance. the circumstance they are in right now and we are in direct communication is that that is not an operating issue any more. >> that is great. next, thank you for their work that you do to support the people in gaza. do you think that usaid could be more effective at its work if usaid personnel were able to enter gaza? have you reviewed a process by which usaid personnel might actually be able to enter not just work through surrogates? >> as a general principle, we do believe that our presence allows for improved effectiveness. we are reviewing a broad range of things we can do to improve the operations in gaza that include working with partner agencies, u.n. agencies more aggressively and working with diplomatic channels to reduce some of the issues.

>> forgive me sir, i am sorry doctor. usaid is working through circuits now. i want to know do you thing it would be an advantage to having usaid personnel in gaza since we are our ready and other tough areas like afghanistan and iraq and others'? >> i think the core constraint for us right now is actually mobility, getting items in and a series of specific issues with respect to interference from hamas and others in that environment. in that context it is not clear that sending our people and is the immediate resolution to that. i think the immediate resolution solving those problems as a precondition for that so we are working with others to do that. i am happy to review that more specifically though and come back to you with a more specific answer. >> yeah and usaid does operate in gaza, and do you feel that an

rot is doing all it can to keep materials and supplies away from hamas? >> we believe it is an incredibly important partner and needs to be successful with their partners so we work in coordination with them. i think we all can do a better job in any number of things in god's which is a different -- make difficult operating area. >> the time of the gentleman has expired and the gentleman from new york is recognized for five minutes. >> thank you mr. chairman and director it is good to see you again and i've want to join in the chorus of all those who have thank you and your agency for the work you are doing in haiti and resolving, responding to the emergency there as well and the people of chile and need your assistance as well. america is doing that, and you put a little polish on the

reputation of our country in being able to respond in an effective manner and that is something the american people are grateful for. i also want to thank you for your assistance in the search-and-rescue team to get down to haiti and the resolution under the chairman's leadership commanding usaid and the civilian emergency response team as well as the military response team and we are grateful for that. dr. shah i want to follow-up on the gaza questions that my colleague from minnesota was asking. the presidents request included $400.4 million in economic assistance for the west bank and gaza. to "matt strength in the palestinian authority as a credible partner in middle eastern peace and continue to respond to humanitarian needs in gaza. to request dates that this assistance will "matt provide significant resources to support the stability of the palestinian authority, economic development of the west bank and increase

the capacity of the palestinian authority to meet the needs of its people. dr. shah i would like to reiterate the importance of setting this funding and of course according israel. just yesterday the u.n. undersecretary for humanitarian affairs john holmes dismissed hamas' cross-border raid. the kidnapping of staff sergeant and hamas' call to israel's destruction by condemning israel. of course he completely neglected to mention the given these statements, how will they make certain that this funding does not end up in the hands of terrorists, specifically when we are partnering with organizations like this. what kind of safeguards are in place, and can you be as specific as possible. and can you talk about the effectiveness for the palestinians over the last several years?