the numbers are impressive. look at what cost to make what the profit is from committing drug offenses involving cocaine, somewhere over 100%. look at the profit margin for distributing heroin, it is above 400%. the profit marmargin for creating i.p. offenses is over nine900%. largely i.p. is still viewed as a sensible and it is viewed as an acceptable, a victimless crime. there has been some trrditional cases involving traditional organized crime groups that

have -- bruce referenced one. there is operations smoking dragon. that was a parallel investigation. it dismantled international enterprises and resulted in 10 indictments against 87 defendants in 11 different locations around the u.s. and canada. shipping containers and so on. this was in 2005. counterfeit pharmaceuticals which was worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. . . counterfeit chinese cigarettes, a big counterfeit good that was used by organized criminal groups. + other kinds of groups like

ecstasy, cocaine and some other things. significantly, they also were involved and had it weapons deal worth $1 million, dealing in pistols, machine guns, anti-tank missiles. the same groups that do one are often involved in the others. what the target said to a undercover officer during the course of that operation -- if i was trying to script out what i would want them to say to illustrate the problem, this is what i would have written, the target set, at that time, i do not want to do that again. capet cigarettes are more profitable and -- counterfeit cigarettes are more profitable and less risky. there is a couple of other groups that have done it.

there is one organization based in new york chinatown. inspectors are brian -- inspector o'brien can talk about that. it involved pirated dvd's. there were involved in violence -- using violence to support it illegal activities. extortion, money laundering, gambling, drug trafficking. as a result, they forfeited millions of dollars, which was a great success. there are examples in italy and so on. we know sort of what the problem has been. what are we seeing as the trend? bruce addressed that very well, how organized crime groups have

changed and have been growing rapidly in their size and power. this globalization of the economy has created more widespread opportunity. there is much more sophisticated criminals and these crimes can be quite complex, especially when you're dealing with online nuances. there is new technology out there. there are better packaging, shipping. there is new growth of organized crime, they have emerged in cyberspace. that gives them 24 hours a day, seven days a week to committee, to engage in their financing, and to do all other kinds of activities. you get $500 and you can buy a pretty nice computer today and then you have the means to be part of it.

it is a different kind of structure. they are less centralized, less focalized -- focus. the connection to violence or corruption is not always apparent and sometimes not there because they do not needed to achieve their activities. so we have identified a lot of problems. what are we doing about it? at the department of justice, they are committed to the criminal enforcement of intellectual property rights. the department of justice3 the task force which brings high level of attention to this issue and is focused on trying to enhance our capabilities.

it creates public awareness and we have also reemphasized that we are among other parties have prioritized intellectual property crime that is linked to organized criminal networks and also to terrorism. in addition to that, we expect to work closely and have been working very closely with the administration's newly created intellectual property enforcement coordinator on developing a joint strategy to a i.p. address crime and we will be looking and organized crime and what are the kinds of things we can do about it. i think mike robinson mentioned- the pro i.p. act. one of the elements of that statute is a mandate from

needs to look at the links between organized crime and i.p. we note is there. we do not understand the scope of the problem -- we know that is there. stickitaking steps. ,ne of the things we're doing the attorney general created a strategy and in support of that ioc 2.y has createdioc ed we contribute that dated to the database that constitutes the part of the ioc2, and that way

we will have a better understanding in how those cases will creep up. ioc2 is working on investigations and multi jurisdictional prosecutions and we will see once we get the data collected, we will see what we can find out about the connection with intellectual property crime. we also are working -- many folks that i talk to regulate and i am available to talk more. i think that as we said earlier, it is true that industry has a significant role and they are often right in the front line in what is happening. they have valuable knowledge and expertise to share that can help us in this effort. we understand that and we have

work with industry and we continue to do so. training. this is something that bruce has mentioned. folks who work on investigating i.p. crimes and people cannot always talk to each other because they have not paid attention to those kinds of issues. " we're starting to do is bring these groups together and provide training to each of them on each of the topics so that everyone can melt -- even if you do not have the expertise, you can pair up or talk to somebody who does. if you do not know too much about i.p., you have a resource on the other side and you can work together. we have also prioritized a lot of manufacturing occurs overseas. the u.s. is not immune from bad

behavior in committee intellectual property offenses. -- most of kerr's overseas but most occurs overseas. we tried to strengthen those relationships. we do this through our program. there are so many different acronyms it is hard to keep them straight. we have two, one in thailand and the other stations in bulgaria. they are the cornerstone of our international effort. they are critical to the kinds of work we do. they are there in a country regionally based. a develop relationships over time with law enforcement. you need to do that. you need to develop trust. you need to work together on

these kinds of activities. they have done countless trainings. they have assisted in thailand during an extradition, the first extradition for an i.p. offense of a philippine national who was in bangkok. it brings together law enforcement from maybe 13 economies in asia to meet each other, talk about what is gging on in that country. there is no match for you can apply around that -- to keep apply to see how successful it is, but we are brought some of those folks to the u.s., and we

have met with and trained and/or trained probably 10,000 foreign judges and investigators and prosecutors over the past few years. we have also had very targeted training in certain countries that we've been working the cooperatively with on some of these issues, mexico, south africa, brazil, india. we will participate in public awareness campaigns. it is true that we will absolutely not prosecute our way out of this problem. i think education, any effective enforcement effort, has to be done side-by-side with public awareness campaigns, like the ones that icc has done, to get the message out there. we have had defendants as part of plea agreements go to a i

schools to talk about the consequences of these problems -- a two high schools to talk about the consequences of these problems, consequences of engaging in these. that has been fairly successful. we are also looking for opportunities to engaging in public awareness through the doj public task force. those are some of the things we are working on, some of the things we are doing. i think it is a growing problem. i hope that these efforts will have growing effectiveness as well. thank you very much but i appreciate the opportunity to be here. -- thank you very much. i appreciate the opportunity to be here. [applause] >> got me back on track. andrea andou, bruise. our next presenter will be dr. jeremy wilson of michigan state university. he will be talking about

counterfeit incident database and some of the links between counterfeit pharmaceuticals and organized crime. by way of introduction, germany is the -- to wilson, or jeremy, is an assisted director for research and says the professor -- associate director for research and associate professor at michigan state university. he was behavioral scientist at the rand corp., were in additional to securing and directing many influential law enforcement project, he led an element of successful initiatives, including the center for quality policing. jeremy has cooperated with many police agencies and committees and task forces and governments around the united states and the world on many of the most salient public safety problems. he is a published author and the list of his books is pretty impressive, primarily on

policing and violent crime, etc. he received his ph.d. in public administration from ohio state university. i introduce to you dr. jeremy wilson. [applause] >> well, good morning. i appreciate the opportunity to share an academic perspective on counterfeiting, although it is a bit unfortunate for you that right before lunch you have to listen to a professor drone on and on about research methods, data, terry. but i think you'll find this very interesting and unique perspective. thwart his effort to

keep powerpoint presentations out of the discussion by putting some in here. what i want to discuss today is part of the count of aiding and product protection program. if nothing else, we will throw another acronym, acap, into the discussion. this program must lost to be an international -- this program was launched to be an international help to the counterfeiting strategy. we addressed counterfeiting problem spite partnering with industry and government associations and other stakeholders in a developer the separate and get them back -- and develop these efforts and get them back out through executive education and the like. what i would like to do is start at a very basic level, talk a little bit about product counterfeiting and its impact. we have heard a lot about that for the presentation this

morning. i wwll bring some of those facts together and go through those sort of quickly. my sense is that there is probably some folks in the audience who may be new to the area but it may be good to kind of repression that information -- to kind of refresh that information. that i want to talk about criminal justice and criminal logic theory, and what the rich literature says on the effective ways of reducing problems, and how that informs the approach that we are taking to this problem. through that, we will see the connection between these established passports of previous research and how that -- established tenets of previous research and how the banks to product counterfeiting. we are not providing any form of analysis or lesseon or any kind of a finding. in some sense, this is a bit of

the teaser. i want to share with you what we of got under way it and how it has come together and then illustrate some of the cases that are comprising the database. what our objective is is to get beyond the individual cases of product counterfeiting and start to look at hundreds of cases at a time to get a sense of to what extent the features of a particular counterfeiting incident different or similar to other incidents, or the differences between industries regions and what not. we can do that for comparative analysis of large numbers of numbers. with that said, i will kick things off. what is product counterfeiting? it is a range of activities on property rights and infringement. i kind of like a fairly simple definition -- to counter but something is to forge, copy, or

-- to counterfeit something is of deceit or fraud in this process. what can be counterfeited? we talk about pharmaceuticals today and other things. but basically, any kind of can be counterfeited, from electronics, a jewelry, pesticides, apparel, christmas toys, food and beverages, you name it. if it can be made, it can be counterfeited. looking at what others have done in the area, there seems to be at the general sense that the counterfeiting problem is large today. estimates of 5% to 7% of world trade, 73,000 seizures between 2004 and 2009, an increase of about 152% over this time

period. the pharmaceutical security indicates the rest of over 114 individuals involved in 60% from 2008. does anybody recognize this come up by the way? i will not say where it is, but it is near the city. it was interesting that i was coming here to speak about this. i come here a lot is near where i have many meetings, so i thought it would be fun to snap a picture and incorporate it, counterfeiting industry is. it is in the city. the problem is large and growing. investigations into counterfeiting drugs suggest that up to five year in the 1990's to about 20 -- five a

year in the 1990's to about 20 in the year 2000. 40% of surveyed companies in organizations participating in the u.s. defense and industrial supply chains reported encountering counterfeit products. it is one thing to think that these inferior products are part of at the very sensitive supply chain. it is another good thing that these products can actually be another thing to think that these things can actually be designed to fail. incidents, this survey found, as from one or 4000 in 104,000 in 2005 to over 900,000 in 2008. we often see that the numbers turn around our kind of recycled thrown about our kind of recycle from

another. these also don't capture what criminologists called the dark figure of crime, the crimes that are out there going on that we don't know about yet. who is affected by counterfeiting? we talked a little bit about this in the previous presentations today. i will lay out some of a broader categories here. consumers, health and safety concerns. obviously, in terms of pharmaceuticals, that is the big one. deaths resulted from an allergic reaction, lote blood pressure -- low blood pressure, and fake drugs responsible for about 2000 malaria-related deaths each year. you have a complicated problem of people getting more and more ill because they're sick this their resistance to the drug is getting -- their sickness isn't

treated their resistance to the by getting low doses of it. industry loses revenue. it is estimated at up to $202 billion annually -- $250 billion annually. we see that the seizures from 2004-2009 totalled over $1 billion. but there are the intangible costs, too, that the industry faces in terms of reduced innovation and the cost to their brand and reputation. the government is a victim here, too, particularly in terms of lost tax revenue. goods traded is lost revenue in taxes, and also the legitimate products that could have been sold, no taxes on those as well.

there is also the cost of enforcement of intellectual property crimes. customs and border production has spent almost $42 million just to destroy counterfeit evidence from 2007 to 2009. this does not account for administrative costs, investigation, and the like. the economy suffers as well in terms of employment. it is estimated about 750,000 jobs are lost annually due to counterfeit. there is less economic growth companies become more afraid to innovate. they have to invest heavily in the development of new products , and the cost benefit analysis sort of changes once they started think, well, if we develop this, and of all the money in investment, and we could just take the idea and the advantage of the product that comes from that. a lot of these statistics are domestic, that happened in the u.s. when we think of the global

implications of counterfeiting -- weefinish our report recently looking at the pharmaceutical market in africa, and in some countries come up with a 70% -- in some countries, upwards of 70% of the drugs are counterfeit there. what have they concluded about the role of organized crime and terrorist groups? we provide a summary of the number of different studies, government reports, and the like. first of all, international organized crime syndicates have profited from product counterfeiting. terrorist groups have profited from product counterfeiting. there is evidence that terrorist groups coordinating with organized crime groups on counterfeiting. more systematic work needs to be done to better understand the linkages between these players and the facts of the crime.

our approach is to draw on established tenets of crime- prevention theory. first of all, at the heart of all of our work is the problem solving model. how many cops do we have in here today? how many have heard of this problem-solving model? ok, we got one. this has been one of the developments in criminal logical theory over the last couple of decades that has really taken police and crime prevention by storm. working with police departments trying to figure out how to reduce crime, and that cops to strutting around on routine patrol, responding to calls -- cops and driving around on routine patrol, responding to calls directly, did not have much of an impact on crime. these could be grouped in certain ways, such as time of day, day of week, type of crime

issue, and location, offenders. they realize that if they study how these incidents cluster, they could be categorized as a problem. and then they could develop a very specific strategies to address the underlying problems that give rise to all of these calls for service. sounds simple, right? when you think about it, it is, but in the time it is being developed, it s more challenging. in the public health context, it is getting at the root cause of the problem as opposed to, you know, the sentence that come up. so the basic idea here is that the data should guide the analysis of specifically designed problems, and the responses should be evidence- based and tailored to that problem. the key to this process is a this model. what this involves, basically, is scanning for information and gathering as many facts about the issue as you can, specifically defining what the problem is. for example, attacking

counterfeit product operation is very different than saying we are going to specifically target adulterated medicine in africa, for example. the idea is that you want to get very specific as possible, do the analysis, understand problem, develop a tailor-make intervention, and then evaluate it. if it works, great, move on to the bengals, but go back to it later to make sure the problem is still addressed. if it does not fix, go back over and start a new intervention. the second component is the crime triangle, and that identifies all the basic elements that need to come together to formulate a crime. for example, the basic elements include a willing offender, someone who is willing to commit a crime, some kind of target or a victim -- this could be an individual, a person, a company, what have you -- and some kind

of physical or virtual space. these elements have to come together. each of these elements are also influenced by what are called controllers. offenders are influenced not by their own decision -- not just by their own decision making, but by their peers, and other groups. if a person is in a gang or terrorist group, there is other people they are interacting with that can shape their decisions. parents, social institutions, churches, what have you, people the influence behavior. if we are talking about the internet, it could be an internet service provider.%+ it could be a plant manager or some kind of supervisor. and other guardians who oversee and protect the targets of other victims. law enforcement organizations, surveillance, individual citizens who are walking around in the community who and witness something, for exammle. the idea is that we need to understand all of these

different elements of the the crime to develop a the a specific response. in so doing, weekend fuel that problem solving model. -- in so doing, we can add fuel that problem-solving model. there are theories that have been established in the literature about ways of reducing crime. we have talked about some of those this morning. increasing the effort to commit crimes. these offenders are saying, hey, you know, it is easy to do, there is less risk, i prefer. well, increase the efforts it takes to commit the crime, committing the crime, or removing the excuses people have for engaging in that crime. like they are a victim. there are all sorts of theories that can be drawn on to help us tailor-make solutions. these have been established time

and again in the criminal justice literature, from traditional street crimes and burglary and the rest the more complicated crimes like the drug market and youth homicide. people may have heard of the boston cease-fire project, where they developed a working group of researchers and law enforcement and clergy and others and tried to tackle violence in boston. it was not, "well, we need to do something about violence." it started that way, but it was really a problem of youth committing homicides, and they and had a declineesse in youth homicide. the solution must be focused and the assessments on going. we can apply all these bandits to counterfeiting -- we can apply all of these tenets to counterfeiting.

the goal is to use these established tenets to do the analysis. we started compiling information on all the u.s.-related cases from 2000, drawing on the open source literature. we don't claim that is the only database out there. you have already heard today about several other databases that are collected. these are usually done by organizations based on their own collection, and for their own use. [laughter] what makes this unique is that it is based on open source information and it allows us to have a set of data that we can use to analyze for the public good. as an example of linking this together, and one of the cases in our database involves a sophisticated pharmaceutical products getting ring. we have information on the drugs that were stolen, that they were diverted, undiluted -- diluted, relabeled and distributed.

we are capturing information on the different elements of the crime triangle. we have information on at 19 individuals were involved in the process, what states they were from, additional information. we know of the places that were involved, the label manufacturers, hospitals, medical distributors, wholesale drug distributors, health programs, and the like. we have information on the victims. for example, in this case, there were hundreds of elderly patients and medicaid users. in terms of quantification of harm, with information that the incident likely contribute to the deaths of cancer and aids patients. we have information on guardians. we see through the list here various local and state law- enforcement agencies. this is a snapshot of how the data we are collecting can be used to fill the pieces of the crime triangle. so through this data collection,

we are able to identify the factors that contribute to the problem, such as the victims, offenders, places, products, and then we can identify the problem controller. what this lets us do is articulate the crime process from start to finish and identify intervention points where we can inform the detection and investigation, prevention, and response to the crime along the way. in the database, it will also be helpful for longer-term research opportunities such as doing systematic risk assessments to see how risky is changing over time in terms of products, regions, industries, and how can that be used to inform the risk governance and his communication strategies. it also be used in evaluation formats, so just if we create an -- such as if we create a new national strategy on anti- counterfeiting. this can be used as a gauge of

the effectiveness of such policies. so our process is systematic. first, we begin by identifying incidents, research open source -- we search open source applications, and we've begun by compiling a list of stigler organizations, and many of those are represented -- compiling a list of stakeholder organizations, and many of those are represented in the room. we stand websites for reports, toe studies, press releases, read and we did a review of the academic literature and media. we went down into a more sophisticated process and develop a a -- we then went into a more sophisticated process and developed a meta-search

engine. we developed two of hese interfaces that combined searches for all of these with the single search. so we have information from the initial list. we plug the information into the meta-searches and fined as much information out there that is possible. we go through this and do this systematically and capture everything we can find from media accounts, government documents, blogs, court documents, watch group reports, and what have you. we have implemented several quality checks. we give at the same cases to multiple searchers to see what they are giving back to us, to see that they are consistent, they are not missing anything. these files go to a graduate assistant to look at it again and see if they are not missing anything. then there is a database manager that reduce the completed search file. i'm trying to give you a sense of the throne -- the

thoroughness thoroughness of the process here. " we have done is start with the pharmaceutical cases. we're getting a lot of information on members and attributes of offenders, links to other interested groups, so long -- and. to otto other >-- links on. illicit groups, so think of a survey instrument where you want to capture as much information as possible from the hundreds of pages we are gathering on these cases. that gets translated into a database, which weekend and spit out into datasets on incidents, products, and then do analysis on those. here is an illustration of how our process is working. we started -- and we have reviewed over 3100 sources to identify cases. out of this, we found 568

incidents were all products, and the products going back to 2000. by certain information on those cases, we found another two ordered 53 cases -- will go by searching information on these cases, we got another 253 cases that we will cross-check. we want to start with something a little bit more discreet, so we started with the pharmaceutical cases, and there were 77 of those. we've got an additional 35 as we were moving forward. we or will likely have more of those. as an illustration of the amount of information, here is a handful of cases, and for some of them we have upwards of 350 pages of information that we compiled from all sorts of sources to get that information. again, what i would like to do now is talk a little bit about what some of the cases are in the database.

we talked a little bit just previously about to what extent is organized crime and terrorist groups involved in product counterfeiting. what i did for the purposes of this threat -- of this -ppresentation is to pull out se of the cases to illustrate that yes, we have those in our database, and what some of those will look like, and some of the data we will be able to analyze it will we will not be able to tell with our dataset as we compiling and move forward is to what extent these cases are representative of all the cases that are out there. maybe this is a smaller proportion of all of the cases. maybe this is a larger proportion. again, we are not reporting any sort of lessons at this point. you're just illustrating the cases that are in there. we talked about the case with the u.s.-based sell in new york, new jersey, and connecticut. we have details on dozens of vendors involved.

they rent a counterfeit clothing and electronic -- thereat a count of a clothing and electronics operation --. they ran a counterfeit clothing and electronics operation. a crime ring operating in new york's chinatown. 51 people were touched with racketeering and attempted murder, including trafficking in counterfeit goods. $4 million in luxury goods were seized. in a potentially related case upon the leader of the new york organization was sentenced to 10 months for murder and illegal gambling. court records show that this group was engaged in trafficking counterfeit groups and -- trafficking potiphar goods as well. in 2009, police seized about 50,000 pirated dvds and cds dropped into russian. investigators believed -- they

were -- dubbed into russian. investigators believe they were part of a counterbid group reporte -- out of a group. bottom was thebottol- operation in los angeles. clothing was traffic around los angeles. the general sentiment was that the shop owner appeared to be linked to hezbollah. this person was arrested earlier try to smuggle money out of the u.s. into lebanon. some of these cases illustrate that we will be able to find out these offenders were involved in and the tactics of their operation, how the cases came to light for law enforcement, so we can identify the ways of information in the future. in another case, 19 individuals

in detroit were charged with operating a racketeering enterprise that included counterfeit viagra, cigarettes, and others, and the court reporter that the -- and they reported that the profits went back to hezbollah. and finally, a man was sentenced to 110 months in prison for money laundering and terrorist financing, and we see the connection to product counterfeiting, where the funds were transferred to al qaeda and its affiliate organizations that operatives. let me conclude with this -- what does this tell us so far? again, a bit of a teaser. some of the information we are capturing. but even in his infancy stage, we see the data we are able to gather from the open sources are very rich in detail.

the process holds a lot of promise for us in informing policy and practice, in terms of placing it in a problem- solving framework. by articulating the process of the crime, those who were involved and other features, we can identify the kinds of intervention, and then using these established tenets of crime prevention strategy, we can come up with sort of the substance of intervention, what does it look like, when and where does it take place, how does it apply to the supply chain, but also the goals of the intervention. is it to make the crime harder? is it to reduce the reward that offenders that? is it to make the harm to the victims last? and so on. with that, i will close this out. [applause]

>> we have just a couple minutes. does anyone have any questions? >> are you waiting for data for this thing, or do you have a hierarchy of data? >> we have not put any weight in place yet. our process now is to gather all the information that we have. but as part of the logs that we're keeping, we are tracking where those data sources are so that when we go in to do more specific analyses, weekend know whether these are mediate -- wheat can know whether these are media accounts or investigative accounts. we have that information, and going back to this original sources, all of the information that we have collected, we have included the original source of that and the links to go back to it. we can do those sorts of assessments. >> [inaudible] >> right now we are starting

with -- what we have done is get the official list of products, and then for the pilot phase, we are doing the search and the coding for the pharmaceutical cases. we expect to get the pharmaceutical cases done probably by the end of thh summer in terms of the searches, and then we will go into the analysis. hopefully by next spring or so, we will have some results to share on the pharmaceutical cases. the ultimate goal is to create in all industries, all geographies, a database that would cover all incidents going on at all over the world so that we could come up with an annual report on trends and changes and what not. it is a kind of baby steps along the way to build support for the database and be able to expand >> thank you, jeremy.

appreciate it. >> coming out about 10 minutes, attorney general eric holder speaks to the american arab anti-discrimination committee. they are holding a civil rights legend, and the attorney general is giving the keynote speech. that is at 12:45 eastern on c- span. president obama spoke at carnegie-mellon university earlier this week on the economic recovery impact on the economy. he cited an estimated 720,000 2012 from tax credits and loan guarantees and economic stimulus. carnegie-mellon economist, allen meltzer, responded to the speech, saying that stimulus spending has done little to reduce unemployment and that long-term unemployment has not been this high in 60 years. watch the president's remarks nd read allen meltzer's

response, as well as a statement from house minority leader john boehner, on our website. >> pulitzer prize winners today on booktv prime-time ad. david hoffman on the final decade of the cold war, t.j. miles on cornelius vanderbilt, and liaquat ahmed on what led to the economic collapse and great depression. today on c-span2. >> attorney general eric holder is expected to start his remarks in the next 10 minutes or so. until then, of your comments and phone calls from today's "washington journal."

as you can see, attorney general eric holder getting under way a bit early. live coverage on c-span. >> but above all, i want to congratulate all of you on your 30th anniversary, which i think deserves our round of applause -- deserves a round of applause. [applause] get for a 30th anniversary.ou i just passed by 20th. i don't remember what that was, but i did the right thing. but you deserve for your 30th whatever a wonderful prizes -- whatever the wonderful price is. for three decades you up against -- you have advanced citizen -- you have advanced so

rights for all citizens. you have promoted the basic principles of dignity that defines the best of this country and brings out the best in all of our communities. it is a special honor to be part of this anniversary and to continue one of our nation's most important conversations, the crucial ongoing dialogue between law enforcement and members of the arab-american community. advancing and strengthening this dialogue is a top priority for my department of justice, and it is a top priority for the obama administration as well. i would have been happy to speak to you any day of the year, but i am especially pleased to be scheduled today, june 4. exactly one year ago, in cairo, egypt, president obama addressed the arab and muslim world in a landmark speech that in elegant and heartfelt terms captured the importance of our discussion today. i would like to quote just a

bit of that speech. "america hoods in her the truth that regardless of race or religion or station in life, all of us share common aspirations education and work with dignity, to love oor family, our communities, and our god. but so long as our relationship is defined by our differences, we will empower those who sow hatred rather than peace and promote conflict rather than cooperation that can help all of our people a chief justice and prosperity. this cycle of suspicion in this court must end." president obama may have been addressing one region of the world, but his words were as much as a guide for diapers committees today as they were for drivers commit -- diverse

communities today as they were for diverse communities around the globe. those who sow hatred rather than peace must not prevail. allow it to happen. -- we cannot and will not allow it to happen. [applause] since becoming attorney general last february, i have heard from arab-americans and muslim americans who say they feel uneasy about their relationship with the united states government. i have spoken to arab americans who feel they have not been afforded their rights, or just as important, the full responsibilities of their citizenship. they have told me that throughout they have felt like it is just versus them. i have had very, very frank conversations. that is simply intolerable, and it is inconsistent with what america is all about.

in this nation, our many faiths and origins and appearances must bind us together, not break us apart. in this nation, the document that sets forth the supreme law of the land, the constitution, is meant to empower, not excluded. in this nation, security and liberty are, at their best, partners, not enemies, in ensuring safety and opportunity for all. [applause] the community is that we serve must see that the federal government is really committed to the impartial and aggressive enforcement of our nation's laws, and they must know that we will do all we can to enforce the laws that protect civil+ rights with the same vigor that we enforce the laws that protect

security. these are not mutually exclusive goals. the justice department will do both. under my leadership, that is the commitment of the justice department and every united states attorney throughout this nation. it is also my personal pledge to each and everyone of you. but what exactly have a debt to ensure the equal enforcement of our nation's -- what exactly have we done to ensure the equal enforcement of our nation's laws? itsrestore the constitution t proper place in the law enforcement agency. [applause] assistant attorney general was this your summer today -- with us somewhere here today -- yes? he is on his way. he will be on his way in speaking with you tomorrow, and has made it a priority to transform the symcivil rights

division to tackle the civil rights challenges of the 21st century. the division has been substantial and meaningful progress to bring the promise of equal opportunity it for all americans and i look forward to building on that work. but it is not enough to say that the division will be more active. the real question is, to what end what it dedicate its resources at its energy? it so long as i am attorney general, that answer is pretty simple. we will dedicate our resources and energy to enforcing the law neutrally and fairly and working to provide all americans with an equal opportunity to pursue their dreams. that is what civil rights enforcement is all about. among the civil rights divisions, many goals, including ensuring fair housing, lending, disability rights, education opportunity, and more, there is one issue in particular that i know is of particular importance to you, and that is combating hate

crimes. for this administration, and for today's department of justice, the prosecution of hate crimes is a top priority. we are employing new tools given to us by the mackey shepard and james burge, jr. prevention -- matthew shepherd and james byrd, jr prevention act, and we are working to train attorneys and law enforcers in this enforcement. i want you to know that we're working with local law enforcement to look at the recent pipe bomb attack on the floor of moscow. the top concern -- the recent pipe bomb attack for the florida mosque. this is a top concern. [applause] the department is committed to religious freedom, a deep the

addition of our democracy. we of worked to encourage the state of oregon to repeal it longstanding law, passed 100 years ago, to prevent catholic nuns from teaching at public schools. it was reaffirmed as recently as 2009. it effectively force some women to choose between their careers and their faith are preventing the wearing of reliiious garb in the classroom. following a letter from the civil rights division, the oregon legislature and gov. work to repeal the law in april [applause] the bottom line is that the justice department's committed to civil rights has never been stronger -- commitment to civil rights has never been stronger the civil rights personnel at its regular meetings at gi justice to bring to other muslim

-- bring together muslim and sikh members in an effort with law enforcement to the end racial profiling in the united states once and for all. [applause] as many of you know, the department's current guidance for the use of race by law enforcement agencies was issued in 2003, and it has been the subject of criticism. i am committed to ennuring that the department policy allows us to perform our core law enforcement and national security responsibilities with legitimacy, accountability, and transparency, and that is why last fall i initiated an internal review to evaluate the 2003 guidance and to recommend any changes that may be warranted. but today i want to be clear about something, and i want to be very, very clear about

something. racial profiling is wrong. it can leave -- [applause] it can leave a lasting scar on communities and individuals, and it is quite simply bad policing, whatever city, whatever state. years ago, as a college student, i was driving from new york city to washington, d.c., when an officer stopped me on the highway. he said he wanted to search my car for weapons, and he asked me to open the trunk of the car. i had done nothing wrong. i had not done anything that might have aroused suspicion. although it has been years since that day, i can still remember how humiliated and how angry i felt as i opened the trunk of my car. but my story was not unique, nor does it represent a worst-case scenario. we have all seen heart wrenching stories of misguided racial

profiling in the past few months alone. but we must always remember that virtually all of our nation's law enforcement officers serve their communities honorably and risk to their personal safety every day. their work it improves all of our lives. the justice department will not stand idly by as the discrimination by a few unfairly punishes the a standing work being done by some money, and nor will we stand idly by as law-enforcement agencies engaged in discriminatory policing of any kind. our nation is better than that. [applause] third, and finally, in addition to prosecution, we have made a historic commitment to outbreaks by keeping lines of the medication open and meaningfully in beijing -- commitment to outreach by

keeping lines of communication open and meaningfully engaging in communities we serve. the fbi hold conference calls with local community leaders, and each district office employs a community outreach specialist to engage the whole community through town hall meetings, public speaking, a youth initiatives, and citizens academies. likewise, the fbi's at specialized community outreach team is working to strengthen engagement between the fbi field officers and communities of every ethnic background. other components of doj are also engaged in out rich opportunity to the arab-american community -- outreach opportunity to the out-american community. -- arab-american community. the office of justice programs

have sponsored events that emphasize community engagement, and u.s. attorneys across the country are actively engaging arrant and muslim communities to -- arab and muslim communities to act on the challenges facing them together. this is only a snapshot of our effort. you're working constantly to improve them and build stronger relationships -- we are working constantly to improve them and build stronger relationships with communities that we serve. i launched an advisory group with the goal of protecting our common security of preserving the values that we all share, the same values and patriotism and adc's worked inspired countless arab americans. it was a muslim-american man that first alerted police to a smoking car in times square.

[applause] and the vigilance of that man that date. he did his part to avert tragedy, it just as many other arab-americans are doing their part and proudly fulfilling their responsibilities of citizenship. the contributions of arab- americans help to this nation become what it is today. they serve as police officers and teachers and civic leaders, strengthening their local communities and country. we must remember this and we must also, i believe, remember the wisdom of the engraving on a statute that sits next to the department of justice, and it reads, "what is past is prolonged." our past reminds us that we are a nation of immigrants, reminds us that when we get together across identity and background, we can advance souder policies

and promote safer communities, and our past reminds us that if we are to prosper together, we must start working together. we have no other choice. the era of us versus them that some of you have experienced must end. in some ways, at long last, it has ended. [applause] together we can make sure that it is replaced by a new era, one that recognizes the truth is reflected in this organization's name, that regardless of our faith or backgrounds, we are all americans. i am grateful to this committee and i am grateful to all of you for your three decades of work, at your advocacy, and above all, your partnership in helping to bring us to this point in our history. i am looking forward to our continued collaboration in pursuit of a more perfect union

and a more peaceful existence for all americans. thank you all very much. [applause] >> an update on our live coverage. general re are we are now, commander in iraq -- general ray odierno, commander in iraq, will give an update on the situation in that country. we will have live coverage of that at 1:00 p.m. eastern on c- span. president obama is traveling to the gulf coast today to inspect for the damage to the coast and there to to the oil spill.

we will get video of that and show that later in our schedule. congress is out all week on memorial day recess. in some cases, they are campaigning for reelection. early today on "washington journal," we reported on the race affecting senate majority leader harry reid in nevada. update on campaign 2010. >> it is primary day in nevada on tuesday june 8. the winner of the republican primary willace harry reid in the general election. joining us o the phone is the political reporter with the reno gazette journal. mrs. damon, the latest poll yesterday shows sharon angle is leadg for the first time backed by the tea party movement. she has 33% over danny tarkanian with 26% and sue lowden with

25%. saw lowden is the party establishment campaign. what happened with the change in polls? >> ts has been a wild ride for the republicans. early on they were not able to recruit top tiered candidates and other candidates. so they got a dozen no-name republicans and lower chair republicans. sue lowden led for months and looked almost unbeatable. senate majority leader harry reid started taking significant reverses. but were hopg up an opportunity for sharon angle who has been considered conservative ly pure candidate. relying on a small contingent of

passionate conservative supporters for years. they have large mirrored the tea party activists. so, sharon angle got the endorsement of the tea party express and get the endsement of club for growth. they have infused her campaign with cash and gone on tv supporting her. athe same time lowden's mpaign made a lot of stumbles so you have seen her decline. >> you said these are not the most high profile republican candidates. what about their ability to attract money for theiraces given they are returning against the senate majority leader harry reid? >> harry reid probably has the biggest bull's eye on his back of any democrat. republicans are very keen t take him out not just because he is the leader but heeems

extremely vulnerle. incumbent it is no sprise they will have a difficult time this year. harry reid because haste don't know on a partisan leadership position an seen his approl rangs in nevada fall since then. nevada is typically purple state. they have pretty even voter registration although democrats have taken the lead so he has seen his approval rating fall not just with taking the party leadership position, the enomy has been hit harder in nevada than the rest of the country so heas been suffering and is seen as extreme vulnerable. so, republicans have put a the lot of resources into these. >> have the republican candidates been able to raise a good amount and how much does rry reid have? >> harry reid has said that he will spend $25 million on the race, which is a huge sum for nevada statewide race he is

well on his way to raising that amount. the republicans have been raising money at a slower clip but they have been spending it and lowd everyone n is pretty much broke and angle has been able to benefited from the outside money advertising. at the same time you have got groups that are involved in the campaign. a democratic backed group is involved. >> michelle obama was campaigning forarry reid in nevada. is she popular in the state of nevada? d what is the schule for the president of the united states to come out and campaign for? >> by virtue of his leadership position harry reid is able to attract t biggest named

democratic surgates and potentially barack obama and his wife the president has been to nevad twice. once specically with a number of campaigns fund-raisers. michelle obama was advocating for her position foromen's an children's health. but she is immensely popular with the democratic base in va