the president says, but i disagree with about 80% of what he does. while the rhetoric gives a nod to reducing the deficit, he punts the problem to a commission that does not yet exist and whose recommendations may never see the light of day. we have to do better. additionally, president obama's proposed spending freeze unfortunately is not really a freeze at all. it exempts 86% of the federal budget from the freezer, doesn't turn on the freezer until next year, and then turns it off shortly thereafter. when you run the numbers, the president's idea of fiscal responsibility unfortunately amounts to choosing to grow government by 49.01% over 10 years instead of 49 bt 27%. we have got to do better. fiscal responsibility requires more than just tinkering around the margins. republicans have proposed adopting strict budget caps that

limit federal spending on an annual basis and are enforcible by the president. these caps are a critical plank in the fiscally responsible budget alternatives proposed last year and yet they are absent from the president's budget. the federal budget must never be allowed to grow faster than the family budget ability to pay for it. you can learn more about our better republican budget solutions on the web at solutions.gop.gov. so you pile up all this democrat spending, all their borrowing, all their debt. you add it to their government takeover of health care, their cap and trade national energy tax and their continued bailouts. is it little wonder that job growth is lagging in our economy? small business owners and investors tell me every week, we're not taking the risk to start or expand a business in this climate. we cannot continue on this reckless path. and the american people know it. but now it's up to democrats in washington to listen and change

course. we're willing to work with them. but we will continue to stand on principle. we will oppose more reckless washington spending. and we will fight for better solutions that make government live within its means. our budget plan will help create jobs, prevent a fiscal clamty and give our children a brighter economic future. thank you for listening. . .

racial discrimination, and liability. >> the complaint said that he should be liable as an individual because he owned the corporation, and the complaint said that he should be allowable because he was the officer broker. >> listen to the argument on c- span radio. nationwide on xm, and online at c-span.org. >> former vice-president dick cheney is the featured speaker at a closing banquet marking the 100th anniversary of the birthday of president ronald reagan. it begins tonight at 10:15 p.m. eastern here on c-span.

>> both chambers of congress are in session next week. the senate returns monday at 2:00 p.m. eastern to continue work on a measure that we authorizes the federal aviation administration. we expect to see it debate on amendments with several votes. watch the senate, live on c- span2. the house returns tuesday that it 2:00 p.m. eastern for legislative business. they plan to debate a few non- controversial bills next week. that legislation comes to the floor tuesday afternoon. follow the house, live on c- span. >> i will not make age an issue of this campaign. i am not going to exploit for

political purposes my opponent's youth and inexperience. [laughter] >> a look at the life and presidency of ronald reagan, -- look at the life and presidency of ronald reagan, online at the c-span library. >> for 13 years, the potomac institute for policy studies has held a seminar looking at the previous year's terrorist attacks. this year, the ambassadors from spain and morocco to the u.s. joined former intelligence professionals and scholars to discuss 2010 at the events -- to discuss the events of 2010. this is almost two hours. >> my name is michael swetnam. it is my privilege to welcome you here, today, which is

unfortunately another gathering to talk about terrorism. for more than a decade, the potomac institute for policy studies has been posting of these sessions, reviewing terrorist acts and the status of terrorism over the past year. unfortunately, it appears the scourge of terrorism continues to grow and spread around the world. we will have -- we will probably have these meetings for many years to come. said, the privilege of the potomac institu to at theat the potomac institute,e have the international center for terrorism studies, headed by professor alexander, who i'm sure most of you know has been responsible for studying and writing about terrorism academically for more than 40 years and is the author of more than 100 books on almost all bjects of terrorism. cosponsoring today's event is the into university center for

terrorism studies, also directed by professor alexander. we are very privileged once again to have our partner, the into university center for legal studies at the international law institute as a cosponsor, and we will have closing remarks from prof. richard professor wallace, chairman of the institute, told us join us here today. they've been a longtime partner and friend in the study of these very important issues. as i mentioned at the outset, unfortunately, terrorism as an act of as someone said political discourse, continues to grow. you will find in one of our more recent publications outlining the facts and consequences of terrorism through 2010 in northwesrn and central africa, and i just this part of the world alone, the number of events that have occurred over the last year has continued to soar and the exact death and

carnage in its wake. this is, as we witness on tv today, different forms of expressing political and social will of the people throughout the world. it is important to note th differences between that and what some would claim is a legitimate way of expressing their political desires and most of us considered to beriminal, illegal acts of violence against humanity, but most of us would term as terrorism. we have today with us -- we are fortunate to have today with us some of the world's experts on these issues, and they will -- starting from charlie allen, who has had many decades, as you know, looking at these issues from the intelligence community, ambassadors from two of the countries who have dealt with these issues for many lifetimes and many decades, and their experience will be of great value to us today.

all of this, all the way through to our legal representives at the end of the table from t international law institute and banned from the potomac institute of policy studies to talk about the illegality or legality of these types of acts. with that, i would like to turn the program over to professor alexander, who, as most people will recognize, is a man who does not need much introduction. he quite literally has studied almost every aspect of terrorism for more than 40 years and is a world authority on the topic. we are privileged to have him at the potomac institute. we're privileged to have him heading up the sessions every year. professor. >> thank you, very much, mike, for your generous introduction. clearly, we are grateful to you and to the potomac institute for

hosting this particular event to review the terrorist acts the year before and the outlook for the next year, and mike is very modest. we worked together on a number of studies, al qaeda before 9/11, and also other terrorist groups, and fortunately, we do have the ambassador to spain, who will discuss also the issue, and we are dealing also with the issu of cyber terrorism as well and strategic communications. first of all, let me welcome again the panel, and we are going to introduce you in a few minutes. i would like to welcome the audience.

if i may, i would like to introduce two people from the potomac -- vice president clifford, would you stand up? in the general right here, was working the cyber issues. i would like to also introduce ,ur young people, the intern's the next generation of scholars and experts in the field. where are you? we have three in the back. there are some more in the back. in general, we would like to welcome all of you. just one technical word -- please turn off your cell phones because this session iseing broadcast by c-span. we want to thank c-span and also the voices of america and others for covering this event.

now, i would like to say that in particular, this stage of strategic development -- of course, we see the reason the effects of, for example, in moscow and afghanistan and so forth. what has emerged as the so- called new middle east. some people call it the 9/11 of the middle east. clearly, all these events are interconnected with the problem of terrorism because it might trigger some terrorist attacks worldwide. again, we have to watch the situation very carefully in the coming months and years, and the panel is going to deal with some of these issues. now, as far as the presenters, each will have about 15 minutes

to make their remarks, and then, we will have q&a discussion. before we introduce our panel, i would like to make two remarks. one, on a personal level, i would like to report to you that a colleague of ours just died, prof. edgar brenner, who cooperated with us for the first 30 years of the potomac, and i had the privilege of working with him for the past 35 years. we are going to have a special memorial serce to celebrate his many contributions next month, and we will keep you posted. if i may, i would like to mention three publications that we worked on the past year. one has to do with for an affinity to terrorists in our midst, basically focusing on the

crisis of identifying the question o loyalty to home american citizens and others ll somehow become members of the terrorist groups, and i'm sure we are going to deal with that. this was one publication we had last year. the other publication is a new nato interdisciplinary journal that we are publishing in cooperation with nato, and a particularly, with the nato center of excellence and the partnership for peace. this publication will be available to you. third, the publication that might just mentioned -- that might -- that mike just

mentioned. i was able to look at the situation earlier this month in the region. just a few words about some of the findings. it seems to me that unless we see this strategic map in a way that we do not miss the quarters, then i think we are going to be in a good situation to realistically assess the nature of the threat and what can be done to deal with the problem. if you take, for example, this issue of north africa, and we can see the developments in the past month -- for example, in geneva. we have to look at the situation in algeria and libya, mauritania, morocco, tunisia, chad, mali, and niger. on the basis of our studies since 9/11, we recorded an increase of some 558% of the

number of terrorist attacks in the region. but my friends, it is not just the number of bad tax. it is the impact, and i'm afraid that with the new developments, we are going to have an increase. clearly, it will look athe various open sources, there is no question that al qaeda and the moderate, together, jointly, with various al qaeda affiliate's, for example, the arabian peninsula -- they represent the most dangerous threat, both regionally and globally. the problem of fail-safe -- the

terrorists are exploiting the open spaces inrder to recruit, in order to be involved in narcotics trafficking, in human trafficking. it is unbelievable. if you go to the region and see what is going on, the links. now, what can be done? we now have quite a number of recommendations. i would like to mtion at least two. one of them is on the intelligence level, and we do have experts on intelligence who can discuss it today. intelligence, intelligence, intelligence. and sharing of ielligence is really the key. number two, a political solution to some of the problems in the region and beyond. in the region, particularly, the

conflict between algeria and morocco. it does require a solution. if we are not going to have it, we are not going to have stability in europe and elsewhere. i would suggest that all of us, meaning governments, the civil society has to participate in this effort. in the interest of time, i would like to just mention that these people who need no introduction have contributed to the natnal security concerns of the united states and the international community for many years, and, fortunately, they supported the academic work of the potomac and other institutions in the past

30 years as well as before that, so i'm delighted to participate in this panel, again, with our friends and colleagues. >> thank you, very much, professor. it is great to be here with you once again and with this distinguished company we have. i'm going to speak primarily about al qaeda, not talking about other terrorist groups like hamas or hezbollah. my focus will be almost entirely al qaeda and where we stand. professor alexander just talked about the events on the 24th of

january at moscow's busiest airports. demonstrates how certainly these events can occur and the damage that can be done to the entire psyche of a nation, as what happened to the united states, as you know, on september 11. this fall, on 11 september, if the current situation prevails, will be 10 years since we had a successful al qaeda attack directly against the united states, inbound. i think this is pretty remarkable. given the fact that we have engaged in two multi-year wars in afghanistan and iraq. we have had a global intelligence-led offensive against al qaeda in all dark corners of the world, not just iraq and afghanistan. and given the complexity of the attacks at occurre back on september 11, the intelligence community forecasts there will

likely be future attacks of equal if not greater intensity than wt occurred on september 11. part of the reason for this pessimistic forecast washat the intelligence community's lack of understanding of the full capacities of al qaeda and its ability to conduct intercontinental attacks against the united states. while i was never quite that pessimistic and never quite believed that, i did believe there would be additional attacks, small, violent attacks in this country, and we now know there would have been successful attacks, repeatedly, had not united states gone on the offensive to disrupt a whole series of plots that would have resulted in serious loss of american life, damage to her critical structure, and also to our national psyche. i only have to cite the aviation plot of august 2006, just to illustrate that that was disrupted because of

exquisite british intelligence. intelligence, intelligence, intelligence, as the professor said. the same can be said of the events that occurred back on the 26 and 30 of october last year where we had al qaeda in the arabian peninsula attempt to bring down airliners using a low pressure vapor explosive disgsed in hewlett-packard laser desktop printers. again, this was it intelligence, this time, from the saudis, prevented that from occurring. i've learned through my long career in intelligence, that there will be abrupt discontinuities. today, they are sort of called black swans, where there will be profound events that will change history, and we may be seeing that today in tunisia and egypt.

we have all been aware of the political, economic, ethnic, religious, and geographical lines, and some of the are certain to cause conflict. it just will not be avoided. camilla events are occurring in lebanonhat i think illustrates that very much. we will be fortunate to come out of that without real conflict. we also have a great youth balch around the world. part of that is reflective of what has occurred in indonesia, where we have the enormous percentages of the national population under 25 who are unemployed or underemployed. combined with the fault lines in the middle east center of the arab/israeli dispute, i think we can see a witch's brew developing over the next decade, which will test this country in particular. for this reason, i think we have

a look at terrorism in a much broader context, and i think we al have to look at the global threat from al qaeda, which stands apart from its predecessor organizations. develop a technology means some of the world's most dangerous capabilities can be placed in the hands of a few. the recipes on the internet that anyone can study appeared al qaeda in the arabian peninsula just issued in english the new explosive manual that contains some highly accurate information on how to make explosives. it is out there for all of you to see. global communications and mass media provide a mechanism that can be used to fuel terrorism internationally. communications today provide terrorists and terrorist groups with the ability to cross national boundaries and sustain a, ideology and narrative.

they permit groups to recruit new members, train them, and coordinate attacks virally. let's look back at what happened in 2010. little has changed when it comes to the objectives of al qaeda. their goal is to attack the united states, in flint massive casualties, damage critical u.s. inastructure, and cause permanent psychological damage to the u.s. psyche. al qaeda takes the long view. osama bin laden has written about this. does not believe that the united states has the resiliency to remain steadfast, to take heavy losses and resist over the long term. alaeda leaders have taken pleasure in viewing the united statess a society that recoils when there is a threat or even when there is a blame game that occurs when there is unsuccessful attempts to attack this country.

i have read some interesting material over time. the united states and global alice in 2010 continued its relentless attack to disrupt, dismantle, defeat, and destroy al qaeda leadership in the federally administered tribal area. that is john brennan's phrases, special assistant to the president. according to the press, we launched 115 so-called drone strikes in 2010 against al qaeda leaders, offered its, propagandists, and trainers. the strike still reportedly a number of al qaeda leaders. al qaeda acknowledges that the number 3 man with an al qaeda and general manager died may 2010. al qaeda central is not entirely cohesive. the nctc says there are perhaps 300 al qaeda members active, and it estimates that may be less

than 100 are active inside afghanistan. contrary to popular thought, and i read this in the press and do not believe it, al qaeda leaders are not easily replaced. it takes a long time to replace good leaders. al qaeda's diminished strength in the fattah however offset, as it tribally based pakistani group, has deep links into al qaeda central and is involved in supporting cro-border operations into afghanistan. and it has vowed to take vengeance on the united states, which it blames for the death of mature love sued back in 09. august. you will recall that faisal sha

hzad, the times square bomber, allegedly was trained by t ttp before he made his own attempt last may. it is challenged, however, i believe, extending its threat transcontinental lead to the united states. it is a tribally based hushed tone movemt, primarily. the other regional supporter is the harkani network. he was minister of trouble affairs in the taliban governnt. the networks provide the manpower to al qaeda for cross border operations into afghanistan, and the al qaeda network allegedly, according to the press, made room extremists for suicide operations. we could always spend time talking about the kashmiri-based

group focus primarily on conducting attacks in india, but none of these affiliated groups really are the type that have the intent and objective of really attacking here in this country. al qaeda affiliat's, affiliated networks continued to decline in 2010. the one decimated back in 2007, 2008, 2009 remains dormant. in the philippines, the leaders are killed or captured. as you recall, this was more of a thuggish group than a purveyor of islamic extremism, but i do have, as professor alexander manchin, concerns about north africa and east africa. let's look at al qaeda and the islamic mahgreb.

it functions as a umbrella organization for a collection o organizations determined to attack what they see as apostate regimes. the bulk of the forces are located in southern algeria, no. bali, and mauritania. they have rated archaeological sites and tourist areas. they specialize in kidnapping. and extracting significant ransom in order to fuel their operations. as you know, they havkidnapped a significant number of westerners, including a number of frenchmen, which they still hold. i think we have not seen them attack into western europe, but i think they may become more emboldened as the kind of disturbances occur as occurred in geneva. i think we have to watch aqim closely, and i'm thankful to

professor alexandefor studying this initiative. we know that al qaeda and tunisian merge with al qaeda in saudi arabia in 2009. it is veryuch an insurgent group, resurgent i its effort to attack the united states in the west. it thrives in the in government areas of yemen. it conducted numerous attacks in 2010 in south yemen, particularly in the government's. most prominence extremists we know well. a u.s. citizen who provide spiritual sanction for those who may wish to commit suicide in the name of al qaeda. it also -- it also continues to provide propaganda efforts against the west. although didn't and under pressure, the voice is still heard. on the ninth of november 20, he issued a of a w video.

if you read it, which i did, it could be summed in two words -- kill americans. we have already addressed the hewlett-packard laserjet cartridges, but it has done something else. a published last year its firs edition of a web-based journal of propaganda directed at inciting violence acts, especially young muslims, living the united states, the united kingdom, and other western states. this is an eleconic magazine, potential to trigger youngnd alienated muslims to commit acts of violence in the united states and canada in particular because there are many canadians that really follow al

aki. there is no question about that. it is directly linked to al qaeda central, operating in somalia, and it continues to wage a fairly successful insurgency against the transition of national government, backed by the united nations, certainly backed by united states. several thousand young americans of somali descent have travel to somalia to fight for them. at least a couple have murdered themselves, committed suicide operations in that fight. our concern is not about an inbound threat directly from central, but from those who have gone to somalia, train, by in military operations, andeturn. many still radicalized and capable of committing terrorist

acts. al shabab remains a fertile ground for recruiting extremists not only in united states but also in western europe. one of the things that has occurred in the last year, i believe, is a greater prominence of radicalization, especially among young, muslim youth in the west. in europe as well as in north america. according to a study that was published in 2010, there were only 46 publicly reported cases of radicalization and recruitmento g hottest terrorism in the united states between september 11, 2001 and the end of 2009. only 125eople were identified as part of these 46 cases. 13 of those cases, however, occurred in 2009, which is a very sharp uptick. as you know, in 2010, the number

of cases has increased. we had the case back on november 26 where we had someone in portland oregon trying to detonate a car bomb at a christmas tree lighting. we also had an arrest of antonio martinez in baltimore, who was going to attack with a bomb at an armed forces recruiting center. the individuals involved were self-inspired and self- motivated. they were not directed from al qaeda central or from aqap over in yemen. they were u.s. citizens or held legal immigration status. the central theme of each plot involves placing explosives in areas that were murdered innocent americans who were attending very benign evens. western europe, and i know perhaps we will hear more from

our ambassador from spain, is also a focus of al qaeda otting, and there have been a numb of arrests across a number of countries in europe, including spain. there are reports involving radicalized individuals, se of whom were allegedly preparing to stage a mom by -- a mumbai-type attack. the threat was so severe that the department of state issued an intelligence advisory warning americans going to europe of possible attacks on europe's public transport system or tourist attractions. british authorities recently arrested in december 9 men on terrorism charges. the state of the individuals found -- they stated individuals found bomb making instructions

on the internet journal. if you have not read it, i recommend all of you do. the electronic journal is in an easyo understand english. it is not heavy on ideology like a lot of the old homes -- teh old -- the old tomes that used to come out of the propaganda arm. it is a lot more clever, a lot more persuasive but there is something there. we must keep our perspective on radicalization here in this country. the pier research study of may 2007 still stands, i think, alone, i am pointing out that american mlims are overwhelmingly, decidedly american in outlook, values, and attitudes. hard work pays off isociety. they have high income levels, a good education.

most american muslims, by a two to one margin do not see a conflict between being a devout muslim a living in a modern society. my concerns were only over a tiny minority of muslims, a number of whom are converts, and some who remain strongly linked with islamic countries overseas where extremist groups are flourishing. many of these new immigrants have arrived in the united states in the last 15 to 20 years as refugees and asylum seekers. some have become strongly attracted to the anti-western, especially anti-u.s. forces in their countries of origin. political, religious, and social tensions that exist in a particular community in the united states may mirror tensions in these other countries. these tensions may be reflected in t belief held by many muslim countries that the united

states is at war with islam. this affinity with violent groups abroad is reflected again in the somal case. soli immigrants coming to this country -- and i spent a lot of time working this when i was the undersecretary at homeland security. they found assimilation difficult. they felt alienated. many retain this clan affinity back to somalia with the civil war. and they felt attracted to the radical imams in this country. as i said, the first generation of those fighters, some of them have returned, and others will. i think we have just as much concern about the second generation. these are not naturalize like the first generation, but they are naturalized americans, young men in their teens who are still influence.

to date, the self-radicalized sells detected in the united states and canada have lacked a level of sophistication, experience, and access to resources of terrorist cells overseas. their efforts have been in the nascent stages, and many of their efforts have been amateurish, but it is not the success. it is the intent, and eventually, they will get it right. given what i have outlined, i believe we have every reason to be concerned about terrorism in 2011 and beyond. as we know how quickly al qaeda metastasized after 911. al qaeda central may be slowly dying, but its tentacles around the world live on in very remote areas, and those tentacles will remain alive for years to come, and i cannot overstate the power of the internet, for fueling the growth of radicalization in this

country and obviously in western europe as well. many of the extremists recruited in the united states began their journey on the internet where they readily found resonance and reinforcement of their own this committed use and people who with legitimate and direct their answer. so the outlook for al qaeda and its objective in inflicting major damage to the united states and western countries has not changed, and the threat is very much with us and will remaino i 2011 and beyond. i look forward to your questions. thank you. >> thank you very much, charlie, for this overview of the past year and outlook for next year. no wonder that you are considered a legend and

extraordinary senior official working in the field for over 40 years. our next speaker is also a official who had an opportunity to work in this area for the past four decades as a senior diplomat, ambassador in a number of countries -- for example, more of go he served, also, and malta, montevideo, more recently in new york, but in addition to his diplomatic background, he was also the director of spain's national center of intelligence, and we appreciate very much, mr. ambassador, for participating in this event. we have the honor to hosting you as well as your cleagues.

i recall the prime minister spoke at one of our seminars, and i found one of the interesting quotations i think the best describes what is the nature of the terrorist, and he said, "whoever murders in the namef a country, a guide, for a social and economic system is neither a patriot, a believer, or an idealist, just a murderer ." mr. ambassador. >> thank you very much indeed. thank you very much.

i would like to thank michael, the potomac institute, and my friendho was instrumental in bringing me here today, and for thinking that my remarks might be of interest to you. i will do my best. i will try to say something practical and direct. i rember a long time ago, i was traveling with by foreign minister at the time. traveling with the irish minister at the time. we were waiting one morning in madrid airport for alane to come down from paris to pick us upnd go to tunis. i remember the prime minister called that morning to the foreign minister and ask where weere. i said i was at the airport, sayinghat we were going to to the ship, and he asked if we're

going the wrong direction, because that same night, the regime had fallen. today, we talk about terrorism, which is important, but the center of attention is in the arab world, happening in those countries, so close to spain, too. but charles bowen is giving us, i think, an excellent overview of the current situation, the current threats that we face, the situation of terrorism in the world, the difrent factions, what they are trying to do, and my conclusion would be the we had better be worried. do not be at ease because a terrorist attack is possible. they keep on trying all the time. sometimes, we have been able to prevent them from carrying out their purposes.

i can tell u that during my experience heading of the intelligence service in spain, we boarded some terrorist attempts in my country. i know because president obama has said in a public the you have done the same here in the united states, all the security forces keep on working day and night, as you say here, 24/7, working on that. but at the same time, as i say, they keep on trying, and they have all the advantages in their favor because they can choose the wind, the house, the moment. bake at -- they learn all the time. -- they can choose the when, the moment.e we learn from each other all the time, and the more we cottbus make our tactics better to

combat them, the better prepared they are. sometimes, we are just lucky, as happened with the terrorist that trd to blow up a plane one year ago and ended up burning himself. or in the case of times square more recently. so they keep on trying. i can see different types of terrorist. on one hand, you have the ethn national terrorist. then, you have those who try to use religion as an excuse, a preferred form of religion, to suit their interests and to use

in their benefit. then, we have some sort of anarchistsr -- i think anarchism belongs more to the past, if you wish, but badly adapted people carrying out their frustrations. then, we have a more organized sort of terrorism in the case of narco-terrorism. we are having it in mexico nowadays. it is very sad, but we have terrorism of the service of the state, states using terrorism to foster their objectives. let me say a few words because i was not going to talk about that because i do not think it is

clearly looking for oxygen, you know. it is my belief that they are reliving their last moments, and i'm very happy to say so. it is very easy to kill one person, and they might do it again, but it is becoming expensive to kill. people do not condone that any longer. eta has killed over 900 people -- members of the military, members of the police force, judges, journalists, politicians. i'm on their list, but it isnot an honor, which i can tell you. i do not know how many truces they have declared. and all of them have ended when one has been coming for them. it is my sincere belief they are looking for oxygen and trying to

internationalize their cause because they know it is the last possibility they really have. i do not think that the policy followed by the prime minister was very effective. what he tried to do was isolate eta from its social base and declared the new political party. that decision was declared just unfair by the european court of justice. so there are ways -- they are cutting their ways of obtaining money, cutting their ways of obtaining weapons, and isolating them, and i think it has been pretty successful. we do think that is the last attempt to get some oxygen in order to reorganize themselves. we are not going to give them oxygen. we are going to keep combating them andrying to take advantage of these moments of

weakness. the best country has its government, its parliament, its police force, its television in the local language, including those who are -- want independence from spain. there is a very small group that are illegal because they are pushing that objective through peaceful means. the only thing we ask is to lead the weapons inside and, and th will not explain because we will not give them any possibility to take political advantages of killing political components. that is a line we will not cross. i think finally, we will realize that it is better to push whatever political objectives

they understand through peaceful, political means. i would say that intelligence services on police forces nowadays have a lot of information, and are drawn on information, be it through intelligence -- how do you call it? intelligence of signals, being human intelligence, open sources. there is a lot of information. the problem is connecting the dots. that is the main problem, and the most -- connecting the dots in different ways. on the one hand, among agencies. what happened here september 11 -- that is what happened in spain march 11. different services in charge of the police and intelligence

services. had we put all the information on the table that we had at the time, probably, something would have come out. and i think the same happened here. it is also important to be able to connect the dots. sometimes it does not happen. it is important to connect the dots with all the services because sometimes, there's almost nothing you can do. if you steal a credit card, or you rent a car with false documents,r you take a bus from one place to the other, you put all of those things together, you have a terrorist plot, but if you consider them in an isolated way, if you only have minor crimes, very

difficult, and we were experiencing that in europe. i do not think that great progress has been made in this field over the last year's because it was very frustrating. we've got everything together. it was impossible to hide that. so, connect the dots, i think, is the main objective. and i think we have to have our priorities clear. i mean to combat terrorism and reduce our vulnerabilities. we have to protect our critical network. we have to protect our border. we have to be clear on immigration. we have to be able to change data and to incorporate it into passports from documents or id's period change information

on banking. the european parliament has approved the agreement, and now, we have a passenger name record. we expect that that will be solved in the near future. but because of the limits and protection of personal data, but at the same time, we not only have to combat terrorism immediately, but we have to ve a longer term vision, and we have to fight against the reasons, the causes, which are sometimes the frustration in the lack of political channels,

participation, or the inequality, poverty, failure, in the process of modernizati of certain societies. for example, they have copied the models imported from the west and have produced political corruption and economic inefficiency sometimes. we have to fight against double standards, and we have to look at ourselves. we bridge one thing, and sometimes, the other. we are bridging democracy, but when it comes out that hamas is the outcomef that democracy, we take a step backwards for -- i mean, you know what i'm talking about. at the same time, a global approach and cultural dialogue, religion dialogue.

. we are talking about democracy. if you told me, listen, you and europe -- your present situation after a long revolution and then you went through the administration and then finally, -- in your way, you chop off a couple of heads in france and in england. you let us go through our own process. we need some time.

we have to get to know each other. sometimes, not to pretend to export our system of values. sometimes, it is based on our own experience. evolution. i would say we're worried about what might happen in europe and the moon by attack -- the mumbai attack. we have inrest in africa and we are at war with what is happening in the city into the atlantic, which ideas, weapons. everything is a you know running out of control.

with all of this, well, in the case of the cyber attacked is the name of the game nowadays. it is something very new, and i do not know if we are well prepared to protect our essential lines in this field, at the banking, stock exchange coon defense. it happened here, it happened in the subway in tokyo. then we worry by what is the greatest nightmare, which is the lone wolf. what happened in [inaudible] recently. it is a very interesting program in the framework of the european union.

copra was salvaged back in 2008. 14 countries are working in participating in that. it tries to work on the early detection of these velone wolves terrorists. apparently they follow the same pattern of evolution. in any case, what is very important is that anything to combat terrorism has tbe done within the rule of law, creating

a balance between security, pprofessional freedoms. our world is more secure than 50 years ago, but it is more than certain on a private and personal level, the risk is overreacting. security is impossible -=- the other day i was listening to radio attack talking about the program talking about a terrorist attack. we should do something in order to go through security at the airport. we have to go through security outside there. moscow has 20 million passengers

per year. you know, my impression is that it can be done, but then you find the attack difficult and could they will go somewhere else. you cannot protect everything over time. then it will make flights terribly uncomfortable. we have been accepted more and more things every day on the sis of security. i think that we have to learn to live a certain degree of vulnerability. we're crumble and that is pt of our freedom of the same time. -- we are honorable and that is part of our freedom of the same time. any restrictions personal freedom has to be clearly defined to avoid abuses, taken only when absolutely necessary, always of the minimal psible

level, always temporarily limited, and always under the law and parliament control. because otherwise we will give a victory to the terrorists. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you very much, mr. ambassador, for your great insight and extensive experience. the bottom line is to strike a balance between security and considerations -- between security considerations and human-rights. clearly this will be on the agenda in the coming months and years, and only in the united states but throughout the world. our next distinguishing kidder ispeaker is an abassador who

also has an extensive background of diplomatic serving in italy a moscow and elsewhere. we have the honor and pleasure to have the ambassador speak at the number of times, and one of the most learning lessons that you gave us i remember when you send that we are all in the same boat -- you said we are all in the same boat. so either we are going to sail the sea and be safe on land or sink.

>> thank you. it is a pleasure to be here at the potomac institute. we have been working together for a number of years, and this is another opportunity for me to speak about what is going on in the region and how we work on terrorism. i am very honored to be with this panel, especially with my friend and colleagues. you know that we have been working quite strongly, the united states and morocco, but also spain and morocco. spain and morocco are neighbors and we are threatened by common threats, especially terrorism, and we have been working very closely together. morocco has suffered terrorism a

few years ag we have the terrorist attack in 2003 and some others in 2007, although in 2007 i think that that was what my friend sen called the solitary are lower tariffs. some borrow them up and what part of an organization. -- someone blew them up and was not part of an organization. we never thought that something like that could happen in morocco, especially from the doings of morocca. we immediately had huge demonstrations. 1 million people in the street against terrorism. this is something i would like to underline, which is important purita.

here in the united states and europe people find that muslim people cannot stand against terrorism it is very opposite of the press and tv is that terrorist attacks, it is never what the reaction is. in morocco we have brought reaction from the people, 1,500,000 people in the streets against terrorism. that was news. and that is torn to know. -- important to know. in 2003 we found ourselves in a terrorist attack, and we seriously thought morocco was immune. no country is immune as i said a few years ago. we are on the same boat and everyone can be struck by terrorism. it can happen here and anywhere. in let me give you an example of

what has been happening in morocco for the last few years and how we counter and try to counter the terrorism. well, through many ways. first, security. in the wake of the 2003 attack the parliament passed an anti- terrorist law and our security forces are working 24/7. every now and then, every few months, you hear statements from terrorists saying we have dismantled a cell here or there. it has been working pretty well. that is the security part of it. i think that thsecurity services have been working pretty well with good results. we have not had any terrorist attacks in the last few years.

that is good. we hope not to have any. lately, months ago we dismantled a cell where we found some -- sl in the the stuff rf -- a cell in the samara. that shows we have to be always aware that anything can happen, and the security forces in morocco work pretty well and have had some very good results. so that is the security part of it, but we also felt there were many other things to do, and particularly make sure that the trorist groups will not find easily people to highere to

organized terrorist attacks. we thought that through democracy, opening up social reforms through poverty reduction through also reorganizing the religious field was very important. tely we have heard about terrorism and mainly islamic terrorism. this is where among the most of the terrorist attacks in the wod are coming from so-called islamic groups. well, it is important that people know exactly what religion is. as long, like every religion is against violence. -- is lonlam, like every religi,

is against violence. iyou know the famous first that says killing one person is like killing the whole humanity. so people have to know -- that was very important. we reorganize the religious field and morocco. you cannot -- you have to talk about religion and go through many years of studies. this is how we use to be before. suddenly we found ourselves in the beginning of the 90's just because someone had read two pages of the car rokoran. in morocco we have the council religious scholars, and only

then cam can give opinions on islam. we went through the textbooks. we are teaching islam in schools the right way with very precise way of what it is come of the real islam. that is important. we also created a tv network, and interactive tv network where people can put questions and havenswers on religious issues, and it is very important because rock fans are very religious. 99 percent son of moroccans are muslims, and probably 99% are

believers. in religion is a very important part of life in morocco. we also trained women who are working in places like mosques, hospitals, prisons, schools, because it is easier for women and families to interact with women. that is a very important thing that we have done. we tried to restructure and make sure the religious field is what it should be in moroc. people are more aware. going to making sure that having less and less people -- the moroccan people thinking that the whole country, that they have a stake in the future of the country, that is very important and what we try to do.

the level of poverty, the number of people living under party -- poverty, and i think we have had some success -- the nuer of people living under the line of poverty is around 9%. that is a rest of what was called the national human development initiative that was announced a few years ago. the initiative was to make sure that the economic development that we have had in the past few yes would trickle down to everyone and make sure that everybody in the country would have a stake in the fure of the country. that is also something very important that you have to do in order to make sure that the terrorist groups will not find a

place to hire people. iagain a something that i say very ofte the best place to find terrori is security, the services, but the best way is also to review the people themselves. they're often we dismantled cells because the people called the police and security forces and told them there was something strange happening and this is how often we dismantle cells and we prevented some terrorist attacks. so again, reorganizing the religious field, making sure the economy, making sure the country is business friendly to have a rong economy, making sure

that the benefits of the economy trickle-down to the lowest levels of the population, those are the measures that the country has taken in the last few years also, opening up of the political field, meaning that we have had since the late 1990's a political system opened upn the sense that we have had free and fair electio, political parties. we have a very brighvibrant political society. we make sure that eveone has a part in the future of the country. of course not everything is rosy, and we have many challenges that are detailed in

a report that was written by a commiion that was appointed by the king and the report is called h.d.r. 50. ihink th same people are going to write another report in publish another report in the next few months to say what is the status and what has happened in the last five years after the first report was written. the report was h.d.r. 50, meaning what happened in morocco in the last 50 years. the good decisions, the bad decisions. the good thing that has happened in morocco is the debate is there. everyone talks. the press is pretty free. the government has its share of attacks from the press, but the debate ishere, and that is important. and this mmission that was appointed by the king states and

does exactly what the problems and the challenges are and how and what will happen if we do not address the challenges and what should be done to address those challenges. that is important, and you can find that on the internet. that is the good thing about internet. and let me talk about what we have been doing internationally. we have been working with all the countries around the world to defeat the threat of terrorism and intelligence, intelligence, intelligence. i think that is the most important thing. we believe in morocco there is no other way. that if there is not the cooperation between all the countries in the world globally but also regionally, we wl never be able to address the challenges that we ar have in ft of us. this leads me to talk about what

is going on in the south. let me tell you we're very worried about what is going on in the south. it goes from the atlantic to the south sea. in it is a huge area. it goes from morocco to somalia. it is morocco, chad, and other countries in the region. we are worried because as you have read and heard, there have been a lot of -- al qaeda has been more active lately. al qaeda was arted by -- a change of name from the terrorist group and algerian terrorist group that is trying

to get as many people in the region as they can. they're very difficult to control, and this is a place where they can do what ever they want and they are very mobile. and we are seriously worried about what is going on there. then we have seen many kidnappings, and probably they will prepare a tax and countries of the region. in the kidnapped atourists, and have killedeople, but another thing that is really worrying is basically we are seeing people -- the drug traffickers are using these places, this huge

enormous places that are very difficult to control to convey drugs to europe, which has become and i heard a few days ago that europe now is a bigger market for drugs in the united states for the first time in history. so we see the drug traffickers using west africa to convey drugs to the market in europe. that is very dangerous. you will see in the future this combination at of al qaeda dg trafficking and human trafficking.

basically what was happening in columbia a few years ago. this is very dangerous and very difficult to address. they will have the drug money coming into the countries, which are really poor. it will be very difficult to defeat that. because then everything is a libel an. if we do not address those issues immediately, we will have serious problems in the future. to address those issues, there is no other way than regional cooperation. cooperation between all countries of the region. all the countries in the region talking about the country's one by one, countries of the south, but also europeans and of course the united states. all of this is very dangerous. this is just across the atlantic from the united states.

it can be a really serious threat. i think that we should address that. the only way to do is to work altogether and countries othe region should releasereally exce information and work together. that is the only way. that is the message i am going to send here. and when i say regional corporation, i am talking about regional cooperation in security, but also regional cooperation between the countries of the region in terms of economy, development, and that will lead -- let's say that what we did in morocco and what we're trying to do and rocker to address the terrorist threat should be done regionally, but through development addressing all of the issues and trying to address the issue through the security cooperation.

thank you. [applause] >> thank you, mr. ambassador, for alerting us to the nature of the threat in the region and what must be done in order to reduce the risks. as you know, my recent trip to the region confirmed that some of your concerns, which is not only concerns of morocco and the region but the international community and we see the writing on the walls. what i would suggest is we open up some discussion for about 15

minutes and then we're going to have some closing remarks. i would be very grateful if you identify yourself just for the record, and keep your question very short periot. >> [inaudible] i would like to ask, regarding egypt, where there could be risks of more radical groups. have you see that current situation in egypt? how you see the events unfolding there? -- how do you see the events unfolding there? >> i think it is very difficult

to say how it will unfold. i think that' i am not on the ground and have no information, so i cannot comment on that. i am sorry. >> i would just lke to say that we are obviously concerned about radical elements taking advantage of this serious national unrest, which i think is -- has spread broadly throughout the country. how far this will go is much too early to say. there are radical elements that we have seen in the past and egypt and the muslim brotherhood and we have to just wait and assess. >> ok, stand up, please.

>> what youid in your country, why is it not done in other countries in the region? thank you. . . i think it's very specific because of the reality is very specific.

>> thank you, jeff steinberg. at the height of the 2008 financial crisis, the head of the u.n. office on drugs and crime said that about the only liquidity was the drug money. i would like to get a sense why it seems there's such a impediment to reaching a really international consensus and strategy for tackling this drug dimension when it's so obvious that 95% of the world's opium and heroin's coming out of afghanistan. i understand there are splits in nato over how to address this drug and drug money aspect of terrorism. -- i was the

ambassador to morocco. there is a lot of cocaine traffic from colombia, for example, reaching europe through western africa and spain. in the case of morocco, corp. between security forces of both countries seized about 300,000 tons of marijuana in a single year, for example. if that is seized, how much goes through? i do not know. it is difficult to know. cooperation is pretty good. these agreements -- in the case of both countries.

corporations are extremely good. when you're talking about poppet coming out of afghanistan, i do not know. but you are probably right. one of the things that we have seen lately is the cocaine flow into europe. until now, it was paid in money. now part of the price is in cocaine itself. so cocaine consumption is growing in northern africa this is a new development. we have to find out how to fight against that. i can tell you, and that worries a lot of the security services in the world. we have not been able to come to an agreement on exactly what is terrorism what is not terrorism.

i know what it is,ut try to define it. >> kimberly dozier, ap. a question for the ambassador and 14 charles allen. charles, the revolt that we are seeing in egypt, indonesia, was it a failure of the intelligence community to see it coming? to the ambassadors, you both spoke about applying that is to decrease radicalization in yo country that leads to militancy. many methods that could be applied here? >> let me answer the first question. there had been a series of assessments over the years which spoke about problems that could

develop, cerinly in north african countries, like tunisia, which was up or tearing and had corrupt elements. there werelso concerns about egypt and its long-term ability to lastnder an authoritarian leader of 30 years. on a strategic bases,he intelligence community has done well. for 10 years, i sat on the national intelligence board and pass judgment on many assessments. on the technical front, it is extremely hard to say what will set off this and dry tinder that exists in certain countries. >> ok. anyone else? >> metz's to decrease

realization -- radical -- methods to decrease radicalization in our own country? >> it is difficult to give advice to american officials. i think on the is on the side, it is teaching the right is long. people know exactly what their religion is. -- right islam. we have to make sure people are not disenfranchised. of course, security is an important component of addressing the issue. >> something which it astonishes me, as a european, is the facility by which you can get weapons. i know the first amendment and everything but it is difficult to understand.

>> voice of america television. al-qaeda and other extremists have been taking a advantage of unemployed youth, taking advantage of the inequalities and oppression. in this situation, do you believe al-qaeda and other extremists will take advantage of this tinderbox? >> al qaeda worked very hard through its affiliates, as you know, hundreds of affiliated extremist websites. they have continuously argued there are apostate regimes in the middle east that need to be overthrown, violently, in some

cases, and they have been able to continue. weather is in yemen, north africa. -- whether it is in yemen, north africa. this is a long standard in the logical campaign that has been relatively unaffected. in this country, it is not so much the poverty, but the conflict that has attracted somalis. pakistanis who may see america at war with islam, which is not the, but reportedl, incessant made month after month without counterrom the countries in the region helping counter this, it does take a toll and people to become

radicalized. young people, in particular, where you have some people using hip-hop, speaking english, not using the traditional al qaeda chance, which we know are wrong about his long. those are very enticing to the youths. -- about islam. >> the u.s. has been supporting president mubarak for the past 20 years. do you think and this anti-u.s. feeling cabe exporteexploited bl qaeda? >> statistics, polls indicate that there has been a problem of

perception. as we know, president mubarak has been pivotal in the middle east. he has helped to move toward a palestinian-israeli settlement. ma a great contribution he has made over the years. so we need balance between security and independent expression. >> my question is for charles allen. are you expressing concern over use of the internet by terrorist groups to transmit their doctrine, structions to blogs and social networks? intelligence agencies, with all of their means, are they not able to use this information and analyze it to

find out information about these terrorist organizations? isn't this a twoay street in some ways? >> you are absolutely right. intelligence agencies do asses the ecological propaganda and look at trends, clusters, groups of individuals who may be engaging in some kind of nefarious activity through the internet. we have a very good ability to look across the most apparent weites and interpret and analyze and provide quality assessments to our policy makers. but it is also a means of turning those arguments against

them. it is a two-way street. we work to exploit and send messages the other way affectively. >> we are going to take one more question. >> voa news and broadcasting in pakistan. you talked about al qaeda. in the past couple of years, we have seen pockets of radical organizations showing up in pakistan. do you think they have the potential to become as in cities as al qaeda? what would you advice to intelligence officials in pakistan -- not that they need help -- i do not want to offend them. but is there any help that you might give them in terms of handling these pockets of new radical organizations?

>> the taliban has been around in pakistan for a few years. these are regional, tribal-based organizations. i do not believe they have the global vision or interest that canada usama bin laden -- an usama n laden has. are there dangers organizations there? we saw what happened in mumbai, and horrific event that occurred on november 31. but their primary interests relate to india, disputes over

kashmir. their goals are not to become an extremist organization. there is an old minister, the head of tribes in taliban, he is now running the network. again, that is directly linked with al qaeda. it does take opportunities to train operatives, and make room operatives for future operations for al qaeda. but again, it is tribally and regionally based. it is not al qaeda. >> the former general counsel to the senate mmittee on intelligence and former deputy

head of the intelligence agency. he is going to make some brief remarks. >> thank you, yonah. my job here at this stage in the proceeding is to throw a bomb or two at the audience, intellectually, and get people thinking about more fundamental issues. i am a veteran of the cold war. i not only served in the senate as counsel for the intelligence committee. i spent 15 years of my life overseas as well. i was on the start delegation for four, five years. i retired couple of times and was called back to serve in the transition in 2001. i was in the pentagon but it was hit by the airplane.

that is an experience i have written aboutersonally. i served in a bunch of jobs there before retiring and coming to work here at this organization. so my views are not going to be legalistic here. i am going to be talking essentially about policy-kinds of issues. and also, i am not talking about all kinds of terrorism. i appreciate the ambassadors articulation of the different categories of terrorism. i will not talk about all categories. i will be talking aut the big ones. it is scary. we all knowhat is coming.

we had a congressional panel last year that said, it is not a matter of if, but a matter of when we are going to have another large attack in this country which is going to be characterized by the use of wmd's of some kind. so my comments are aimed in that vein. as a veteran of the cold war, the cold war was long, arduous. we spent a ton of money on it but we had some really smart people writing our policy doctrine. that guided us to deal with the cold war and ultimately wind iw.

the war on terrorism, or whatever you want to call it, has not been characterized that way. we do not have the same kind of thoughtful headwork that should be guiding our policies and doctrines. we just do not have that. i could tell you the reasons for it, and that is another subject, and it is essentially a jurisdictional issue in the u.s. government for us not having cold war-types of policies. that has been a central theme of the writings i have done. i have been critical of our government's policy, or lack ere of, for the past 10

years, andt has remained consistent through the bush administration, now into the obama administration. all this reminds me of a story. i like to tell stories that illustte basic points. my dad once told me about the pig with the wooden leg. i sort of put us into a category where we are the pig with the wooden leg. the farmer was prosperous, but all his friends asked him, you are doing well, so why you have a pig with a wooden leg? he said, that is my most voluble take. i do not want to eat it all at once. so we are in a position of sawing off our interests one piece at a time when we do not have the kind of basic policies we need.

i want to talk about three things we need to talk about. attribution, deterrence, and targeting. the first of these, attribution, probably is applicable to the early stages of a terrorist threat as it begins to manifest itself. we need to be thinking really hard about when we attribute acts to a particular terrorist organization, or more rticularly, a state sponsor. and we need to feel comfortable doing that with circumstantial evidence. we do not need smoking guns here. we are talking about risks over

measure the benefits here. what so when do we and how do we the tribute acts, and who do we attribute them to? in my assessment, we need to be prepared to say that we are going to do it on the best judgments of our intelligence community, leg community, political community -- whoever else -- but we ought not to be afraid to make a state sponsorship attribution early on when a terrorist teat manifests itself. secondly, deterrence. a lot of people say, well, you cannot deter these crazy guys. they are going to kill themselves. you cannot deter someone like that. possibly true, not that guy, but you have to find out who you can deter and come up with policies that deter that person or group

or entity. part of it deals with attribution, but you have to come up with ways to deter. is it that you cannot deter terrorism, or is it that we have not figured out how to do it? >> we have to think hard about that. there are some smart guys i the room that have to come up with some of the things we have to deter. targetin. again, sort of a pig with a wooden leg story. i went to genev in 1985 when we were to resume talks with the soviet union. this was after president reagan announced the star wars initiative, which got the soviets attention and got them to call us back to the start

negotiations that they walked out of in 1982. you might remember that. i was asked to be the secretary representative on defense and space talks. we went over there and expected to get all kinds of propaganda, political messages on the evils of strategic defense, that sort of thing. we got some of that, but you know what we got more than anything else? i may have gotten it more than anyone else because i was representing mr. weinberger ther what we got was, tell us about pd59? that?do you mean by if you do not know what that is, pd59 was written by on/enter.

perhaps not known for his aggressive stance toward the soviets. he wrote a targeting doctrine. it was quite intricate and it was hotly debated. but it was signed off on by the president. the targeting doctrine was, look, leaders inhe soviet union, in the event of a war, you are all going to die. we are going to kill you. we are going to target you and here is how we are going to do it. it went through that in graphic detail. if you are interested in pd59, i encourage you to go on line and read the declassified parts. that iwhat they asked me about. they wanted to know why that doctrine came out under jimmy carter.

it seemed different from his approach in general u.s.-soviet negotiations. and whether it was real. soviets believed at the time that everything was a conspiracy. is it really the doctrine? i had so many people asking me, i knew they must have been testing and asking all members of the delegation. it was later transitioned -- when ronald reagan came in -- but the concept really got their attention. it is the kind of thinking we need to be doing to put teeth into state sponsorship of terrorists. we need to be thinking about targeting leaderships.

i am not talking about drone attacks. i am talking about the strategic-kind of thinking that goes into the kind of war i began talking about. that is what will bring a weapon of mass destruction to this country, as the panel says, before 2013, not a matter of if, but when. so attribution, deterrence, and targing. we need that kind of thinking, basic, strategic thinking that will contr our doctrine and political responses to the terrorism that threatens our bibles. thank you very much. -- vitals. [applause]

>> thank you for your analysis. as i was thinking -- when you spoke -- i was thinking, we just marked the release of american hostages from iran. you trigger a lot of questions, whether we should have similar policies with the iranians continuing to develop weapons of mass destruction. now i going to call on my friend and colleague, the chairman of the international law. >> i would rather sit here if you can hear me.

i am not an expert. this is going to be a different kind of closing from the last one. i have listened carefully to our speakers and have just a few thoughts. it was clear, today's discussion was going to be bright and energetic. i am grateful for the review we have had on intelligence. a few words on perspective. one, the importance of the rule of law. i am a law professor. the rule of law is very important. in every society -- thinking now it is the u.s. n-- important for us to balance our values and our liberties. i once worked for a law professor that said we cannot afford the luxury of civil liberty. i thought it was a stupid observation when i was younger. the second observation is, yes,

we have to deal with the issues of security, but there are greater security is there. the security of an open dynamic. we must never lose sight of the overwhelming portion of open society. when you think of security, you kind of close down, so that will be an important tradeoff. egypt reminds us that maybe the greatest security issue is having a highly intelligent foreign policy. the u.s. is so entangled with some of the interests, the trade-offs and balances are awfully hard to get right. it is so easy to cticize and so much harder to do. i think the american psyche also remains important. i have heard that expression used. i think of the u.s. as the greatest shows will periment

in history -- social experiment in history. as a society, we all have to grapple with these things. . >> ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for coming to the 13th annual review. please join me in giving another round of applause and profound

thank you to the time and expertise that's been shared with us today by this tremendous panel. thank you very much. please come again next year. >> here's our schedule. next, agriculture secretary tom vilsack and health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius release the latest dietary guidelines from the

government. later, nasa announced it's identified over 50 planets may be in the, quote, habitable zones in our stars and galaxy. and then the communicators ucks former e-governor karen evans and press director timothy carr on the ability of the u.s. to shut down the internet. >> former pt vice president dick cheney is the featured speaker at the closing banquet marking the 100th anniversary of the birthday of president ronald reagan. our live coverage from the reagan ranch center in santa barbara, california, begins tonight at 10:15 p.m. eastern here on c-span. >> sunday often "washington journal" george washington university professor nathan brown discusses the latest developments in egypt and how a change in government could affect the entire middle east region. then democratic strategist tracy sefl and former communications

director doug heye talk about president obama's re-election efforts and senators who could be in danger of losing their seats in 2012. and after that, presidential historian richard norton smith marks the 100th birthday of ronald reagan and talks about the legacy of the nation's 40th president. .

>> sunday, a documentary producer on hubert humphrey, the part of the possible. >> it was to show another side of this. everybody thinks of humphrey as somebody who is within johnson's lackey and people did not understand the pressure. > >> sunday night at 8:00 on c- span. >> next, agriculture secretary tom vilsack and health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius release the data it --

the latest dietary guidelines. there recommend less salt, more fruits and vegetables, and less calories overall. they are designed to reduce the risk of obesity. this is 45 minutes. >> it is my pleasure to welcome you this morning, and i am particularly proud of today's announcement. our dedicated faculty works every day on food safety policy and epidemiology and public health, and many of them are in attendance today to study how these issues affect the public's health. i also have to acknowledge and thank our wonderful staff at the usda and hhc for putting this together this morning. share the commitment to promote health, wellness, and nutrition. our urban food task we're looking at ways to have

sustainable food policies and have practical information on healthy eating and food preparation for the greater g.w. committee. particularly acknowledge diane robinson napp wife of g.w. president. for her work and involvement in leading this effort. thank you very much. we are honored to have here today two of our country's leading health and nutrition advocates, secretary of health and human services kathleen sebelius, and secretary of agriculture, tom vilsack. as a state insurance commissioner, governor of kansas, and today as the country's highest ranking health official, secretary sebelius has been a leader on health care, family and senior issues for more than 20 years. secretary sebelius is guiding the implementation of the historic affordable care act. she also is at the forefront of the obama administration's efforts to build a 21st century health care system for putting a

new focus on prevention to promoting electronic health records to expanding the primary care work force. the partners across the cabinet, she has launched new efforts to make government work better for the american people, including working with secretary vilsack to build a 2112 century food safety system and new guidelines to be announced here today. throughout his distinguished career in public service as mayor, state senator, and governor of iowa, secretary vilsack has had a remarkable record of making positive change in the lives of those who he has served. in the past two years usda supported struggling farmers and ranchers, provided food aid to one in four americans, and implemented the recovery act to create jobs and build a foundation for future economic growth. under secretary vilsack's leadership, usda is working to conserve america's forests and private working lands, clean our water supply, and revitalize rural communities.

at the same time usda's strengthening the american agricultural economy, promoting agricultural production and exports, and working to combat hunger around the world. secretary vilsack is committed to improving the health of america's children by providing the nutritious and balanced meals, encouraging increased physical activity, and improving our food safety system. ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming secretary of agriculture tom vilsack. >> thank you very much. good morning, to everyone. i want to thank the dean and also thank president napp and the george washington university community for giving us this great forum for an important set of announcements and discussions today. that are important to this country, as i'm acknowledging folks let me start by acknowledging dr. van horn who was the chair of our advisory group who was working for a number of years in establishings

these guidelines. her leadership was very much appreciated. working with folks from h.h.s. and usda they really put a great deal of effort into these guidelines as reflected by the detailed nature of the guidelines and the important work that's involved. also want to thank all those who were involved in publicly commenting on these guidelines. when we reach out to the public, we obviously have a more informed set of guidelines as we try to address to the needs of the american population and to folks who are very concerned about the situation involving food and nutrition in the united states. so this is an opportunity for us to celebrate the work of this advisory group, to acknowledge that what we announce today is certainly based deeply and steeply in science. the science behind these guidelines is unquestioned. and certainly it's important for us to send a message to american families that these guidelines are designed to provide them an

opportunity for healthy eating habits and healthy lifestyles. the president in his state of the union address talked about an america that outinnovated, outeducated and, and outbuilt the rest of the world. it's extremely difficult to do any of that unless we are a healthy nation. i want to acknowledge the leadership of secretary sebelius in particular as she is helping us sort of redesign our health care system as the dean indicated. a system that will be focused on wellness and prevention and not simply sick care. and it's a system that obviously we are in need of in this country. when we take a look at the high levels of obesity among adults and among children, it is important to have guidelines that will help us deal with that issue of obesity. certainly pleased that congress last year passed the healthy and hunger free kids act of 2010, designed to allow us to do a better job in school lunches and

breakfast programs and our nutrition programs in schools. and today's announcement is yet another step in the right direction. today we announce guidelines. these are basically an opportunity for families to understand and appreciate how to make sure that the calories in and calories out are balanced. i must admit personally that i had never read the dietary guidelines until i got this job. but i read them in detail. i read all of them. and i realized how significantly different my eating habits were from what constituted a healthy patern. so personally my life has changed by virtue of these dietary guidelines and my kristi and i are following the guidelines. we have our little sheet every day. we record what we eat. and we are very, very concerned about calories in and calories out. there are two concepts incorporated in these guidelines that i want to comment on before i turn the podium over to my

good friend, secretary sebelius. one of them is this notion of proper balance. if folks want to maintain a healthy weight, they obviously have to be sensitive to the calories in and calories out. and these guidelines basically talk about the need to balance good eating habits with physical activity. the first lady's let's move initiative has focused attention and resources on this notion of getting people, particularly children more physically active. that is certainly incorporated in these guidelines today. when we talk about calories in and calories out, we also talk about the density, nutritional density of those calories. not every calorie is the same. and these guidelines graphically point this out. we want to place a greater emphasis on meal paternses -- patterns that focus on lean proteins, including fish and seafood. we want to move away from our overreliance in the past on

sugar and sodium and saturated fat. we want to make sure that folks understand that eating real food as opposed to necessarily fortified or dietary supplements is probably the best way for you to make the best use of your calories. and the guidelines clearly point that out. we try to provide healthful hints to folks as they begin to try to maintain that healthy balance. foods to avoid. percentages of foods to avoid. and foods that you want to consume more of. over the course of time, we are going to supplement these guidelines with additional educational information that will make it easier for the american public to understand how to follow these guidelines. and these guidelines also place an additional emphasis on food safety which i certainly appreciate and i know that secretary sebelius does as well. we want to talk about clean, separate, cook, and chill as ways in which we can better handle food so we can

substantially reduce the number of food-borne illnesses that are still far too high in this country. whether it's maintaining a healthy balance, instructions in terms how you might be able to lose weight with calories in and calories out, focus on nutritionally dense calories as opposed to empty calories, the notion of physical activity and food safety, this is a comprehensive science-based effort we announce today. so with that, i'd like to turn the podium over to my good friend, kathleen sebelius, as the dean was correct there is no person more passionate about healthy lifestyles than secretary sebelius. she is a runner. early in the morning i suspect. the rest of us are sort of jogging later in the day. we -- i just can't get up early in the morning. but the secretary has been tremendous advocate and has an extraordinary responsibility with the affordable health care act and doing a great job.

kathleen? >> thank you. >> i'm going to start by also thanking the dean and president knapp and those of us on the g.w. faculty and staff and students for having us back here. the last time i was here we were making an important announcement on tobacco and we are back to talk about the new dietary guidelines. i think it's appropriate to be here at g.w. which has had such a leadership role in the health of all americans. and it's great to be here with my good friend and partner, agriculture secretary tom vilsack. you have heard the dean say that we both were governors and we are governors from food states, kansas and iowa. so our work on these issues did not begin with our new assignments. they have been long-standing and a great collaboration.

we also have worked on issues from food safety to making sure we reach out to children with healthy insurance programs and the partnership with usda has really been invaluable and continues to be, i think, an important initiative moving forward we have had a great team on the expert advisory committee that has been hard at work and i particularly want to recognize our leadership team who has been part of that effort and led by assistant secretary howard koh who is here who if you have tough questions he gets to answer them. later on. but there have been lots of dedicated public servants who make sure that we were basing today's announcements on the best science available and that we move this effort forward.

the mission that we have at health and human services is to improve the health and well-being of every america. we know we can't just concentrate on what happens when people come in contact with hospitals or go to a doctor's office. we also need to pay attention to what impacts everyone's health, that's the air we breathe, food we eat, the lifestyles we lead. and the obesity epidemic, secretary vilsack has mentioned, carries a really steep cost. obesity brings a far higher risk of heart disease, stroke, certain cancers. chronic diseases like these still account for seven out of every 10 deaths in america and most are preventable. 3/4 of our health care costs are directly related to chronic

diseases. the costs also weigh heavily on business owners, government budgets, also our ability to grow and innovate as a nation. you can't be educated if you're sick each and every day. you are not a good student. you won't be as productive or innovative as a working member of this society if your health condition is debilitating. this has a tremendous cost overall on america's prosperity. and it's why the administration has really launched a broad agenda to help give americans the tools they need, the information they need to stay healthy, stay well, and thrive and prosper. and one of the most important things we can do is to get people information based on the latest science and research. and we are updating that information all the time. so they can make the best choices for themselves and their

families. that's what the latest edition of the dietary guidelines are all about. concrete steps every family can take to incorporate into their everyday lives and improve the lives of themselves and their children. steps like controlling calorie intake, moving more and sitting less so you burn more calories. and altogether eating a healthier diet. more fruits and vegetables and whole grains. less sodium, sugar, and saturated fat. we know if we want to become a healthier, stronger, more competitive country we need to give americans the tools they need to make healthy choices. of so we have as a result a healthier student force and a healthier work force. and these guidelines are really powerful tools. now, we know there are also other obstacles to living a healthier lifestyle. if you are going to a grocery store and have one or two children tugging on your arms, you don't always have time to

read nutrition facts on the back of a bottle. so we are working on updating that information and making it easier to find and easier to read on the front of a pack. when you go out to eat, sometimes it's difficult to tell if you want to make a healthy choice what are the healthy choices? and that's why the nutrition information will be more readily available on menu boards. we are taking steps to get that information into people's hands. to work with the food industry, work with restaurant industry to give people additional information. and that's all part of the affordable care act passed last year. calorie information right at the front of a menu where customers can again take that information in and make the choices they want to make. the health care law also is reducing some of the financial barriers that have prevented millions of americans from

getting preventive care. we want to make sure that folks can access key screenings at no extra cost. to find out if they have high cholesterol or high blood pressure, then work on getting those conditions under control. even when people have the best information and a clear plan to translating it, there can still be challenges. when you have to walk two miles in some neighborhoods to get fresh producer at the near supermarket but only a block away it's easy to get chips or other kinds of high calorie foods, that makes it very difficult to eat nutrition meals. when it's not safe to play outside or send your children outside, it's very tough for kids to get the exercise they need. so again the recovery act is helping neighborhoods and cities invest in ways to make it easier for people to make healthier

choices from serving health irschool lunches to designing more walkable neighborhoods. what all these examples have in common is that our understanding that underneath the sticks about -- the statistics about our health care system are families and human beings. there are children and families, workers who really do want by and large to do the healthy thing, to eat the right diet, exercise more, follow the doctor's instructions. but they are not always the easiest things to do and often there are financial challenges to make healthier choices. with this new addition of dietary guidelines, we are putting some best information in people's hands and that's a real step forward. it's going to help us become a healthier country, a more productive country, and more competitive country. so thank you all again for being here today. i think we are going to invite tom vilsack to come back to the

mike. >> dr. post is from usda and dr. koh from h.h.s. just in case there are questions that require detailed scientific answer which the secretary and i would like to try to answer but probably won't do as much as you guys can. so with that we'd like to open it up to quiss folks might have about the guidelines -- questions folks might have about the guidelines. yes, sir. >> good morning, my name is james reed, a reporter for the campus radio here at g.w. i know as a teenager still growing there are not specific guidelines for teenagers and having noticed my friends in college and my family back home, many who like to eat more than

the recommended guidelines, exercise more, or often eat less and exercise less, what recommendations would you give to teenagers at such a critical time for their developing bodies and their health? >> before i turn it over to either one of these two doctors to respond to that question, i think it is important to note that these guidelines are beginning to distinguish between various stages in life and there are adjustments that have to be made as we move through various stages of life. which is reflected in the guidelines generally in terms of focusing on meal patterns. i don't know if one of you want to address the issue of teenagers. >> we stress these guidelines apply to all adults and to children over age 2. so the general theme is that both secretaries have put forward apply to teenagers as well. we are concerned about child obesity because one of three kids are overweight or obese.

these major themes are calorie balance and focusing on nutrient dense foods and also making sure that kids are active and meet physical activity guidelines. these are all themes that are relevant to teenagers. as well as adults. >> and i can also add there is an excellent resource that's found in the dietary guidelines that gives you a couple of different meal patterns or eating patterns that embody the dietary guidelines. so you will be able to find your needs at the various calorie levels and that could 24e7b be individualized so you -- could be individualized so you could find out what you need. >> at the usda website you have the ability to type in information about yourself, what kind of lifestyle you have, how much physical activity you are engaged in on a daily basis, and then that gives you a sense of how many calories you should consume if you want to maintain weight or lose a weight how you do it in the proper way. so there are ways in which you

can at usda.gov determine for yourself a personal eating. that's what my wife and i are basically doing right now. >> this report says that people should reduce their daily sodium intake to less than 2,300 milligrams and people over 51 and some others should reduce it to 1,500 milligrams and also less than 300 milligrams of cholesterol. can you tell us what is the current level of consumption for the average american? how big a change would this be? >> i think it's 3,400 milligrams of sodium. this is obviously a significant reduction that's being proposed. and one that we hope food processors in particular will take into account. again these two gentlemen could probably talk a little about that.

>> major recommendation from this report is that virtually all americans could benefit from a reduction in their sodium intake. and those two targets that you mentioned do apply to first the general population and then to specific populations. we are particularly concerned about the specific populations who need a 1,500 milligram target because that represents about half the general population and most adults. so there's been a lot 6 attention -- lot of attention to that issue for the guidelines. we thank you for your attention to that. >> currently men are getting over the 300 milligram a day target whereas women are getting somewhat less. we are hoping that's a reachable target for the future. >> katherine with the american

dietetic association representing 70,000 dieticians across the country. thank you so much for putting these guidelines together. i have a question. it's interesting that the secretary mentioned that he had never read these guidelines before he became secretary. and i think there's a problem in the way these guidelines, as excellent as they are, are marketed. the budget behind the guidelines , the material is excellent. the scientists put two full years into coming the -- combing the evidence and put together a comprehensive report for the committee. and then the staff at the center for nutrition policy and promotion work very hard to put excellent guidelines together for the public which almost no one sees. so how can this be remedied? what needs to be done? >> let me talk from the usda

perspective and i would like secretary sebelius to weigh in. she did an excellent job of pointing out the number of initiatives taking place today that have not been taking place for some time in this space. for example, in areas that we are involved with, our snap program, the supplemental nutrition assistance program, is currently working on a program to try to see if we can innocent the purchase of fruits and vegetables. that's not been done before. it's being done now because we are aware of the need for more fruits and vegetables in folks' diets. the issue of food deserts, we have a healthy financing initiative that h.h.s., usda, and treasury department are working on. so many in the areas in the country do not have access to a full-scale grocery store. we are working with the food industry on labeling which the secretary mentioned. so within schools we are excited about the potential for their healthy and hunger free kids act of 2010 to engage schools in a

meaningful way to improve school breakfast and lunch and do a better job of educating parents and students about the choice that is they make and making sure that the choices are consistent. so this is the dietary guidelines fit into this and allow sort of a road map, if you will, in all of these spaces to help inform. i think grocers, food producers, are becoming much more concerned about the obesity issue and are trying through the first lady's let's move initiative, to focus on this. i think there is a lot of energy in this space that hasn't been the case before. we are always looking for more creative ways to get information out. >> i think the secretary's right. not only have a lot of this information been sort of opaque in the past, but there really hasn't been much of a focus on how this impacts us as a nation. how it impacts our students. and i think that in addition to these specific initiatives that the secretary outlined, there

also is a very exciting set of programs going on around the country, putting communities, putting prevention to work efforts which is in everything from schools to neighborhoods trying to determine what are the best strategies to really begin to impact folks' behavior and how to get people's attention. so not only i think the information available that never has been available in an easy to read, easy to understand way, but understanding that information is step one, and having access to choices is really a critical piece of the puzzle. and we, frankly, have one of the best spotlight microphones with the first lady leading this effort. i think americans who have never really thought about this or didn't know where to get the information or didn't have an understanding of how this impacted themselves and their children now will have a great opportunity to do that.

i think what you are going to find is a lot more attention to the science. a lot more information being spread on a regular basis and a lot more ability of people to make better choices for themselves and their families. >> and also to add the -- to the discussion that you heard, there is a very good resource that is part of this dietary guideline that's found in the appendix. it's actually a listing of the key consumer behaviors and strategies to implement them. so we hope that this is a different approach than in the past in the dietary guidelines and that will be the jump-off point for a lot of our partners to take that information and magnify it. >> can you go into more details about the incentives for fruits and vegetables. how those programs would work?

>> we are currently experimenting in the state of massachusetts with an effort to see whether or not we can within the electronic benefit transfer card itself, we can incorporate a discount procedure where the grocer basically gets paid full value for the fruit or vegetable being purchased but it is -- it's only credited 70% or 80% on the card so it allows the snap beneficiary to expand, if you will, their purchasing power. we've got a year-long scientific review of this to determine whether or not that actually moves the needle in terms of purchasing decisions. >> recently i think it's been in the last few years the w.i.c. program has been expanded so that under the women, infant, and children program now fruits and veggables are able to be

purchased. with that -- vegetables are able to be purchased with that buying power. we also have as part of this community putting prevention to work effort, i know in louisville they are now subsidizing fruits and vegetables in what are basically dollar stores to make it much more convenient for people to buy fresh fruits. mayor bloomberg has a green cart strategy that literally is coming into neighborhoods in a way that old milkmen came throughout neighborhoods delivering milk. this is delivering fresh fruits and veggables in areas that they weren't available. i know secretary vilsack has done a great job mapping the food desert areas that we really couldn't even identify before because there wasn't a very careful calculation of how far people had to go and working with local leaders on strategies. part of it is access and part of it is pricing and i think both

are being addressed as we move forward. >> one other program is in farmers' markets. again making snap benefits beneficiaries available to use their cards at farmers' markets and many farmers' markets are developing discounts where you essentially for every dollar of fruits and veggables you -- vegetables you purchase you get a 50 cent discount if you will so you will be able to purchase twice as much. a lot of different opportunities here. >> i'm an mph student here at g.w. apart from what you just mentioned about fruit and vegetables. how can we recognize the fact a lot of other foods recommended by the guidelines are much more expensive than the foods we are supposed to avoid? >> well, one of the things that we are trying to do is to provide people with information at least on the usda website

about recipes and ways in which you can stretch your food dollar and still purchase foods that are good for you. it doesn't always have to necessarily be that it's more expensive. particularly if you know how to use these foods in very creative ways. one thing we have been doing is accumulating recipes and making that information available on our website. the second thing is, by encouraging community gardens, farmers' markets, and things of that nature, i think there is a growing supply which makes it perhaps potentially more accessible and possibly more affordable depending upon the local market. sometimes you don't have as much transportation expense involved in pricing those. the first lady's recent announcement with wal-mart is a good example of the kind of purchasing power that will potentially result in some of those products being far less expensive than they have been in

the past. i think there is a lot going on in this space, but our view is there are creative ways. don't necessarily have to concede it's always more expensive. >> marion, politico. at the very first dietary goals back in the 1970's said eat less meat for which george mcgovern was roundly criticized. so it got to be eat lean meat. why don't your guidelines which specifically discuss fruits and vegetables and whole grains specifically discuss meat? you have to go deep into the guidelines themselves to see that you are suggesting that ground beef might be one place where there's too much fat. why do you call it solid fat instead of porterhouse steak? or why do you call it solid fat and yet in the guidelines on dairy include cheese? it's confusing.

>> well, i'll let the two scientists talk about this. the guidelines do mention the need for more consumption of fish and seafood in the lean protein area. that's a specific recommendation which goes to your question. secondly, again the focus on calories in and calories out and food dense foods, i think is an important frame that folks are going to use to make decisions about where they want to spend their calories, if you will. once they understand how many minutes or hours they have to be on a treadmill to work off some of the areas that we have talked about in terms of sugar, i think they are going to begin making even more informed decisions. in those guidelines, i think there are specific references here, and we are going to object quousely -- obviously continue to educate folks about that. >> i would also add that dietary

guidelines stress variety and also stress building healthy eating pattern. there's a flexibility in building those eating patterns so your protein sources could come from a variety of places as the second mentioned, seafood is one of them. it could be that you have your protein from beans and other nuts and seeds as well. you have the ability to craft a pattern that meets your needs within your calorie needs and difference the nutrients you need without focusing on specific foods that should be eliminated from the diet. [inaudible] >> i'm saying, what i'm saying is you do not anywhere specifically -- why don't you specifically say, eat less meat? why not? >> in suggesting that you should

have more fish and seafood, you are essentially saying that that is a good substitute and it's a good lean protein. i think it's a way of saying what you're saying. there a he low-foot cheese. -- there's low-fat cheese. it does talk low-fat dairy. it's not as if we are trying to eliminate all foods and all categories. it's about making sure that you have a balanced approach to your eating. and that you are focusing on calories in and calories out. >> christopher exercise science here at george washington. i have kind of a two-part question. in the past i think we all agree that whole foods are probably the best way to get a balanced diet. but in the past the guidelines have often recommended foods like liver and kale, sort of

foods that are probably not going to hit with the american public at large any time soon. my question is, do the guidelines address supplementation in any way whatsoever? and i ask that question being from exercise science because the portion of the population who is interested in improving their performance it's not a small part of the population, either. people who want to gain lean body mass, it's not a small portion of the population. i'm interested in how the guidelines address that population to a certain extent and maybe to the extent that it involves supplementation are we addressing that at all? thank you. >> if you look at the report there are sections on food groups to reduce and then also food groups and minerals to increase. and if you look at the latter chapter you'll see items like vitamin d and calcium and potassium and nutrients like that being discussed. this is all again a part of a broad view on healthy eating and

on maintaining healthy weight. and that's where i think your question comes in. >> i'll also emphasize the guidelines are generally for americans 2 and older. we do recognize that there are some subpopulations in need of supplements for promoting health. women who may become pregnant for example. there are specific recommendations for populations like that. we do acknowledge where fortfication or supplementation is needed certainly to promote health or to avoid chronic illness. a of alice, national fisheries institute. you say -- you recommend higher seafood or eating more seafood but that differs now from the f.d.a. guidelines.

how do we explain that to pregnant or breast-feeding women when they are supposed to be careful about what they eat. they might be worried about differing guidelines on seafood intake. >> well, what we know is with the dietary guidelines become the action now for federal agencies to make changes to their programs in concert with these guidelines because they are in fact being national nutrition policy. we'll expect consistency as we move through this year and into the second years. -- into the next years. >> there is a special section on dietary recommendations for pregnant women, the spefpk issue of fish is brought up there. -- specific issue of fish is brought up there. and the balance again is to recommend fish intake for pregnant women while making sure they don't consume certain types that might expose them to mercury. there is dedicated language if you look at the report there. it's carefully put forward.

we have time for two more questions. yes, sir. >> peter, with the nutrition and metabolism society. there is a growing body of evidence that restriction of carbohydrate intake has a big impact on reducing obesity, as well as dealing with the chronic diseases you mentioned as well as metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes which you haven't mentioned. i was wondering if any attention has been given to that in the guidelines. they don't seem to be mentioned at all in the summary that you handed out this morning, thank you. >> we did receive an awful lot of public input on the issue of carbohydrates and the amount to be consumed or perhaps to be concerned concerned with. ultimately the evidence that was considered first by the dietary guidelines advisory committee and then translated in plain language in the document that we

are releasing today, really portrays or conveys the eating pattern -- that is one that deals with carbohydrates. most concerned with the empty calories, for example, added sugars, and it does deal with carbohydrates, but it doesn't specify a consideration that carbohydrates should come from any particular type of food or in an amount greater or perhaps in concert with those comments. the evidence is just not there to support the views that were expressed and the comments received. >> hi, brook, from the arrye tiss foundation. in your report you mentioned many different chronic diseases, heart disease, obesity, stroke.

one thing that i haven't heard mentioned is arthritis which serves as an underlying cause to many of these chronic diseases. what programming or marketing do you-all have going on now catering to the arthritis community which is very hard to reach that promotes these healthy eating habits and guidelines and a prevention of these other chronic diseases. >> certainly obesity drives many adverse health outcomes and osteoarthritis is a major source of morbidity for people who are affected. thank you for raising that point. the overall message is a healthy weight can help people avoid adverse outcomes like heart disease, stroke, diabetes, hypertension, and certainly arthritis as you mentioned. >> thank you very much. appreciate the opportunity to be

here this morning. this is the first of obviously will be many opportunities for us to highlight the dietary guidelines. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> sunday, homeland security secretary janet napolitano on how the u.s. is meeting current security threats and the obama administration's policy on border issues.

watch newsmakers tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> both chambers of commercconge in session next week to continue work on authorization of the faa. that bill aims to modernize the air traffic control system while improving the safety and availability of air transportation and the u.s. watched the senate live on c- span2. and the house returns tuesday at 2:00 p.m. eastern for legislative business. they planned to debate a couple noncontroversial bills as well as a measure that aims to reduce several expiring provisions of the counterterrorism law known as the patriot act. that comes to the floor tuesday afternoon. follow the house live on c-span.

>> mr. president, it is my great honor today to speak on the floor for the first time as a u.s. senator. >> the new class of senators have been giving their speeches. a follow their appearances on line with our congressional chronicle. track time lines, read transcripts, and find a full video archive for every member. that is at c-span.org/congress. >> up next, more about the new government dietary guidelines, and why eating more seafood, whole grains, and vegetables have been recommended. after that, nasa announces it has identified up to 50 plants that may be habitable in our galaxy. and later, former e-government administrator and the ability of the u.s. to shut down the internet.

and now but more about the new dietary guidelines and why eating more seafood, whole grains, and vegetables have been recommended. from this morning, this is 45 minutes. host: sr guest, robert post -- our guest, robert post, from the center for nutrition policy and promotion at the usda, welcome. guest: we are required every five years to review of the science and have an external committee look at nutritional science and the development in the scientific area related to madison, pediatrics, nutrition, and health. then, develop new recommendations, perhaps

improved recommendations from the previous edition. we do this every five years. host: what are we seeing, it generally? guest code today, americans are consuming far more calories from fruits or is there are empty calories, far more calories from food sec contained excess amounts of sugars and sodium as well as saturated fat. certainly, we need an improvement in the amount of fruits and vegetables and whole grains and low-fat milk and milk products. host: that is not a new phenomenon. guest: this time around, we spent a considerable amount of time examining the environmental impacts that affect food choices for good or for bad. we have also considered life spanned considerations. children are in need of changes

in behavior. older americans are in need of certain nutrients. we spend a considerable amount of time looking at the life span in this edition of the dietary guidelines. host: so behaviors' became a large part of this study guest: in the evidence that was reviewed, using the gold standard of research, we were able to look at environmental factors and consider them in these recommendations. host: televisions, computers? guest: yes, especially television. we see behavior's that contribute to obesity and overweight. today, we have an epidemic when it comes to overweight and obese city where two-thirds of adults are overweight or obese critical one in three kids are. that is alarming.

in activity contribute to this problem. certainly, when we talk about obesity, we are talking about the risk for chronic illnesses like hypertension and cardiovascular disease, as well as chronic kidney disease, being the subject of poor diet and related to this counterbalance. you need to be concerned about your calories but you also need to have a physical activity. host: is that being seen more amongst the children or across- the-board? guest: that is across the board. adults get about 150 minutes per week. they do not. children should get at least 30 minutes per day. that is needed to balance the calories in. host: looking at the specifics as far as the recommendations, people have probably seen these

before consuming a variety of vegetables, eating whole grains, increasing the amounts of fat free or low fat milk. guest: for the omega three fatty acids that are found in fish. those outweigh the concerns seen in the past. 8 ounces will give it the cardiovascular benefits from those amino acids. also, for women who may become pregnant or who are pregnant, there are some benefits from those of fatty acids in terms of cognitive and visual developments for fetuses. there is a great number of benefits. the risks are no longer significant. and they are minimal if anything. that leads to a contribution to

protein food. host: if we know what we are supposed to eat and how much, and how much we are supposed to exercise, why are we not doing these kinds of things? guest: i think in the environment we see a lot of tugs on our priorities every day. we have seen a change in the food supply. a greater array of more convenience foods. we see a change in the way we designed cities so people spend less time walking to school or to work or walking to the bus or train. we have seen what i call leading to the state of critical mass, where suddenly we have made a lot of effort to adopt our food choices and our environmental choices to meet the demands of today. but we need to consider redesigning those. host: it is too easy to get

food and the food that we get is not great for us. guest: in some cases, there is inadequate access to health the food. bringing access to healthy foods is a very important initiative. in a seemingly populated area, you could have an inability to get fresh fruits and vegetables because they are not perhaps in demand or not purchased and available at local stores. it could be because of the geographic area, miles to get to the nearest grocery store that gives you foods to contribute to a healthy eating pattern. host: our guest is talking about the u.s. dietary guidelines, and you can ask him questions in many ways. if you would like to call him --

if you want to e-mail us, e-mail us at -- or you can send us a tweet. do most people know how much they eat, calorie-wise, every day? guest: if you look at the overarching themes of the guidelines, why is calorie balance and the other is consuming more in nutrient-dense foods. one big message is people need to know that -- they need to work at building a healthy eating pattern. host: here are the dietary guidelines for americans from the department of agriculture. can we find this on the website?

guest: on january 31, the document was released and is available using new technology. it is there on the web. host: new jersey's, first up for our guest robert post. go ahead. caller: yes, i have a question. host: go ahead. caller: go right now? to alaska, and daniel is on our democrats' line. caller: i think your guest for his insights. i think this goes back to the whole cultural development of the direction our country is headed in. i am a commercial fishermen. i have had very many serious

injuries which drove me to the obese point. normally i am around 175. after injuries, i went up to 240 and had to readjust my metabolism back to where i could get my muscular body again. in doing that, i did not really adjust my food. i adjusted my activity. i consumed the calories that i put in my body -- in fact, i ate more. what i see happening now in our culture is that we have gotten so instant gratification- oriented to where we just take something off the shelf and shoved it in our face. our jobs have gone the same way. the screen time is what set me off on this.

that is what really set me off. we are in this mentality where we are dependent on corporations and the private sector to provide these 200,000 jobs a month that we need. what happened to the handyman? what happened to the independent two jobs here and there? host: we will leave it there. guest: i think we have to depend on corporations and businesses, particularly in the food area, to make a deliberate and affected changes to the food choices available in the marketplace. we know that and we recognize that. if you look at the recommendations for reducing the sodium content of foods, it is a very robust recommendation that demands a deliberate reduction in reformulating foods toward the lower level of 2,300

milligrams. that is an example of the expectation that we have with this set of dietary guidelines. host: is there a way to put that in perspective? guest: that is about a teaspoon of salt. the choices we should be making are the less salty snacks, for example, or replacing snacks with fruits and vegetables. that would offset the intake of that amount of sodium. today, we are on average consuming about 3,400 milligrams. that is what is leading to the millions of individuals, about 74 million americans, that are suffering from hypertension. host: off of twitter -- guest: let me say that canning does not dissolve the addition

of salt, so you need to be selective in choosing lower sodium products, certainly those that might be helped by labeling. always look at labeling when you look to your food choices. we have concluded that frozen vegetables, fresh vegetables, they all provide the nutrients that you need. you can make your selection among frozen, fresh, or canned vegetables. host: boston, mass., market is on our republican line. caller: i agree with a lot of what your guest is saying. i want to bring up the food itself has been debased as far as its nutrient value. the soil has been depleted over the years. also, the federalization that is being sprayed on the crops is

basically a chemical concoction of a very hazardous materials of different types of byproducts being formulated into fertilizer and being sprayed onto our crops. all of these chemicals and nutrients in the food are making people eat more to try to get the same nutrient levels that they did 50 years ago. i think that might be contributing to it as well. we need more legislation that would promote the smaller, healthier farmers that are more local-based instead of supporting legislation that only benefits large agricultural business, the scenes to the legislation supported by our government. i think that is where the big changes have gone on in the

past 40 years or 50 years, that there are no more small dairy farmers or small truck stop food anymore. the food out there is definitely low quality. guest: cuellar, the first thing i should emphasize is that both usda and hss in this effort use the latest methodology in our research. we do compile evidence, looking at evidence, the quality of the research that has been conducted since the last reiteration of the guidelines. the idea that the depletion of soil or any of those environmental or pesticide factors affect food could be found in the evidence. the questions that were raised about our dietary guidelines committee, they reported to boot secretaries this last summer. that is the basis for these guidelines. that is a comprehensive report

of the current evidence. so, the current evidence does not reflect the points that a been raised by the collar. the evidence indicates there isn't adequate nutrient levels found in foods today. it is a matter of choosing the right foods to meet your nutrient needs within your calorie needs. that is one of the basic points behind this set of guidelines. host: a revelation was made earlier this week >> i must admit personally that i have never read the dietary guidelines until i got this job. [laughter] but i read them in detail. i realized how significantly different my eating habits were from what constituted a healthy pattern. personally, my life has changed by virtue of these dietary guidelines. my wife and i are now following the guidelines we look at what

we eat and we are very, very concerned about calories in and out. host: is it hard to enjoy food in your line of work? guest: actually, no. we have learned to appreciate picking fruits that meet our preferences. that is also a point raised in these dietary guidelines. the secretary certainly is an advocate. we are glad to know that he is following the food patterns that are advised, because it is a matter of choosing more healthy foods. you can still have your indulgence is. there is a subset of calories that are those where you can have your slice of pizza or your piece of cake. i do that, too. but the idea is to certainly

choose more often those foods that have less calories from saturated fat or added sugars and refined grains. choose more often the foods that are in nutrient-dense. even something as simple as making half your plate fruits and vegetables, that will displace more of the food contributing to empty calories. host: does the report directly address fast food? guest: it does. one of the areas of research that develop the report on which the guidelines are based -- we found that the proximity and closeness of fast foods does in fact contribute to wait to gain. it is more of a concern for children because eating once a week out could contribute to the kinds of calories from those dietary components i mentioned it.

just once a week. perhaps, that is a consideration. choose more wisely when you eat out. choose foods that are the healthier options if you are going to eat out. that is not necessarily occurring today. host: jonathan is on our independent line. caller: do you recommend a vegetarian diet? also, if you could go into more detail about some of these programs he was talking about as far as availability of healthy food. it has become quite obvious to me how much more expensive is to eat a healthy diet. thank you. guest: on the issue of vegetarian approaches, one of those landmark differences in these dietary guidelines compared to 2005, there is a

look at the evidence of the research to show there is no one western-style diet. there is flexibility in these guidelines in building a healthy eating pattern. the flexibility considers taste and cultural preferences. what we have done in the way we have approached the group plan -- in fact, there is a fantastic reference in the back of the guideline which shows the usda food pattern. we have modified those patterns to account for a lacto-ovo vegetarian approach. your protein sources could come from nuts and seeds or all plant-based protein sources. you could live on a healthy eating pattern and thrive by just using those kinds of foods. so we have accommodated that

with these guidelines. there are many efforts working with the industry we have seen some tremendous efforts by industry folks. wal-mart is working together with the first lady, announcing a consideration for making more foods that are lower in added sugar and sodium, more healthy, and making them available. we have seen efforts to get more local foods available, certainly more fresh fruits and vegetables available in schools, so there are a lot of those programs under way right now. host: detroit, michigan, good morning. caller: good morning. i have a question. when i was growing up, it seems like kids in the neighborhood were always on bicycles. however, our rainbow of colors to eat was kind of based like on

fruity pebbles and cap'n crunch. recently, i had major back surgery. just like the gentle man that went to 240 pounds, the same with me. when i started embracing the rainbow of fruits and vegetables, i literally eat like a horse. i have carrots, all mins. it is amazing the kinds of things you get. we get bombarded by a marketing campaign, like little kids watching nickelodeon and happy meals and things like that. how do we get kids off of a high-fructose diet and embrace this stuff? this should be the foundation of teaching in our schools. i thank you for the call. guest: one important feature with these guidelines is that

they serve as the basis for nutritional education. on your last point, the guidelines will now help nutrition educators and health professionals develop educational programs that will get to schools and to communities where we need involvement in learning to change eating behaviors. we understand that there is a value in a variety of fruits and vegetables. one thing i should note is that we have acknowledged that there is a variety of vegetables. we have redistributed those that are beneficial. it read festivals' a should get their fair share of that distribution -- read vegetables -- red vegetables should get their fair share of that distribution.

host: illinois, good morning. caller: i am from illinois and i am a farmer. i heard the guy from massachusetts say how big farms are using a lot of chemical fertilizer and stuff. ever since i have lived out here, we have used chemical fertilizer. i get tired of the myth that is put on in these people in big cities, saying that farmers are not raising good food. anyways, i want to get away from that. one of the things you said you looked at about what goes on in society and the relationship of how people eat and whether they eat healthy or not -- one of the things that bug me is i will be standing in the grocery store line. these people in front of me got food stamps. they are buying all of their

food and everything. they will buy beer and sugar and stuff. as i am going -- did you ever look at what the food stamp program does to the people in society? we already have a policy of cheap food. you give us farmers payments, which i wish would go away to make cheap food. the other thing is our lifestyle. we have over a 50% to force rate. people stop their mouths full of food when they are upset. guest: obviously, the food environment is very complex. as i mentioned before, the proximity to a supermarket that has an adequate supply of fruits and vegetables becomes a concern and a point for change. there is a spectrum of issues here. we do know is that there is a

need for all americans to eat a healthier diet. we also know that about 15% of our american households are food insecure. getting food on a plate becomes a concern. the food assistance programs that the usda conducts are meant to provide food for those families that are food insecure. host: reagan, tenn., on our democrats' line. caller: i would like to thank the person on the program this morning. i think a lot of people get beat up on c-span for what they try to do. one question i would like for him to answer is how much do you think technology contributes to obesity and things of that

nature? i grew up in the 1980's on a farm. the labor laws were not as bad in the 1980's. i grew up on a farm. we all work together and played together. we were outside. the calories that we took in, we burned them off and used them. luckily, i was raised in a large family. we all work and we played and we did physical activities. now, everybody is sitting in front of a computer screen at work or video games. much ofthink it is so the food and sugar.

you have to burn those calories out. also, i was wondering why the government pays small farmers and stuff to not farm their land. guest: the point about technology and life style changes is an important point and is recognized in the science that went into building these guidelines. we do recognize that foods have reflected or do reflect our sedentary lifestyle, in some cases easier to pick up a prepared meal because of the kinds of life styles that we lead. even if it is a matter of convenience, those suits could be formulated to be healthier, lower in calories and in saturated fats or perhaps containing more fruits and vegetables. i think that is one change we

expect to occur. on the average, we spend about two seconds making a decision in the supermarket. there are ways to make healthy choices. for example, providing information on of labeling which is an instant picture of the saturated fat where the calories -- or the calories from recognizing that physical activity needs to balance calorie intake is an important point here and there is effort in the federal agencies to ponce -- sponsor and get more physical activity in schools today. host: are we the only nation that has food guidelines? guest: international a there are other countries that face the same problems we do. there are increases in the trend

toward diabetes type 2 and developing pre-hypertension or hypertension and it is not a matter of one style of diet. there is an influence because we find more votes globally that contain more saturated fats and more shares than beneficial nutrients. host: los gatos, calif., independent line. caller: i know there is a lot of sodium in canned goods. i try to stay away from canned goods completely. i know the reason is to preserve the product. can they make it without sodium? is that possible? thank you for being on the air. guest: actually, there is a trek to the food technology and that is another part of the answer to the technology question. food science has death to become more complex. to get to the convenience

aspect, food science has become more comprehensive. the idea that salt is needed for preservation or needed to form the food we expect, there is science to deconstructs the sole factor in making food. when it comes to vegetables, it is a matter of taste and a matter of adjusting tastes. these guidelines acknowledge that tastes need to change and there is an effort right now in the food industry to reduce sodium content slowly and perhaps invisibly so that our palates can actually become accustomed to lower sodium content which can occur over time. host: a viewer in alexandria asks that the ingredient content does not make good standards and to abandon the effort. guest: the dietary guidelines

are written generally for the u.s. population, the general population. we need to set a bar and targets for acre help the american public. there is a consideration that individuals because of their personal needs -- perhaps they are athletes or need a higher calorie intake -- the guidelines don't address that kind sub- population. it is a matter of setting the bar for the general population. i would say there are a lot of athletic organizations that probably will help build those eating patterns for those who expend more energy in exercise. host: please ask about the changing food pyramid. were they advising is wrong for decades? guest: the food pyramid has been

around since 1992. it is somewhat confused with the dietary guidelines. it is one way of communicating the dietary guidelines or applying them. there are many other ways to implement the dietary guidelines. nutrition facts labels is another way to implement the guidelines. the pyramid is another tool. it has to change to reflect the current the patterns that are advised. we have announced on january 31 when we released these guidelines that we are contemplating a new generation of the food pyramid, a different visual approach to signify the need for reminding people to make health here few choices. host: potomac, maryland, our democratic line. caller: thank you so much.

i think the sense of priorities should translate into a more multi-level approach. many different departments should be sitting on the same platform and discuss the issue. the school education, the public transport system, entertainment industry, food industry, and the health-care industry should all be on one platform and see the different facets into this massive issue which will affect the future economically, the obesity, the diabetes and all these things. do you see this kind of approach in the future? guest: that is an excellent

question. it is one we do address in this federation of the dietary guidelines. we considered that there is a social ecological from work and it takes more than an individual, it takes a family, it takes a community, it takes every layer of the public sector as well as state organizations and involves the private sector. everyone has a role to play to improve the health of americans and take these guidelines and apply them. there is a consideration of that comprehensive approach where everybody has a role to play. we would like to see these guidelines would be implemented and should be implemented where people learn in school where they receive health care and they should be applied and communicated where we prepare foods and purchase boots. that is the goal for the communications effort for these guidelines for this year and the next years to come. host: north carolina, you are

next. caller: yes, i use cane sugar. i used see celt which is not been processed. host: what is your question? caller: i want to ask a question about food. host: go ahead. caller: m y on the air? host: yes, you are. caller: i used sea salt and cane sugar which has not been processed but what about genetically engineered foods? i have read an article that they feted to rats and because their stomachs to swell up. i am scared of it. they are doing it simply because many people do not want that food. you talk about vegetable protein but everybody needs this in

moderation because it has certain vitamins that people need like b-12 and others. host: thank you. guest: i can't speak to the genetically modified organisms. they are not related to the science that went to building the dietary guidelines. there are many agencies in the public sector as well as organizations in the private sector that study the safety of any foods that are produced through biotechnology. i will leave that aside i will address the issue of protein and protein sources. in this iteration of the guidelines emphasize there is not one model or prescription for an eating pattern. you can choose your protein sources from a variety of places. we have read and what was known as the beans group that we are

advocating more seafood for fatty acid benefit. we are also advocating that you can source your proteins from nuts and seeds as well. we acknowledge that people eat meat and poultry. lean meat and extra lean has its place. in late meal pattern, a healthy meal pattern and that is acknowledged in this guideline as well. host: this is from twitter? -- guest: my response to that is that i go back to the evidence. i did not mention this earlier but there is a data base, nutrition evidence library.gov where any member of the public can look at and see the data

that went into the analysis to form these recommendations. it is publicly available and has been very transparent. the issue of sugar is there is naturally occurring sugar making more food choices in terms of fruits and vegetables that contain carbohydrates in sugar and other carbohydrates, there is nothing wrong with that. choosing foods that have excess amounts of added sugar is the problem. we are consuming far more -- 60% of our calories come from food that where there are excess of amounts of -- 16% of our calories come from food where there are excess amounts of sugar. we all need carbohydrate. s in the range of 45% but we don't need calories from added sugars. specifically looking at ingredients on labels is crucial

to decide if you want to buy that product because it has those added sugars which lead to empty calories. host: democrat line, next. caller: our recent new governor from michigan, rick snyder, said in the state of the state address that he will remove pricing on separate items and that will save $2 billion for grocery stores. doesn't that translate into a regressive tax? that $2 billion will mean that we won't know exactly what we are paying for until we get to the checkout counter. don't you feel this is a regressive tax in disguise guest: the issue of economic incentives or price issues with regard to food is not addressed in these guidelines. besides that went into building them -- the science that went

to building on top of any more food for choices in the supermarket that contain more of the nutrients that we need and more wholefoods that we need. my response to that is we hope the demand changes with the increasing demand, you would get perhaps prices for foods that decrease. with a demand for more food that are less process that contain large amounts of saturated fats, for example, that might very well lead to increased demand and an effect on prices and a good way. host: north carolina, is next. caller:are you there? wrong button. let's go to detroit, michigan. caller: good morning to you. my question regards the gmo's as

well. i assume the basis for these nutritional guidelines is to improve the health of the public. how can you set aside genetically modified foods when it has an impact on the system and there are studies that show it has a very detrimental impact on the system? guest: the effort to look at the current nutritional science -- this is evidence that is available at nutrition evidence elaborate.gov. the advisory committee looked at these recommendations. they did not find or refer to or even include the consideration of any concerns about biotechnology or genetically modified organisms or these foods.

the effort here is to get at the idea that we need to look at food for our nutrients. we need to look for more nutrient-dense food when we make selections. we need to balance that with calorie considerations and certainly with physical activity. host: the last call is from alabama. caller: i want to make a comment along these lines. 70% of health costs are self- inflicted. there are four factors and i have added a fifth concerning health costs. smoking, eating, eating, drugging, and lawyers. there is absolutely no incentive for people to take care of themselves. i go to wal-mart frequently and they have little buddies that

people ride around in. they still buy candy and sugar. i am wondering that if there is no incentive for people to take care of themselves, how are we going to solve this problem of last week with paying for health problems? guest: we have a road map with these guidelines for every level of society to contribute. there is the individual aspect or individuals and families need to be -- need to make better choices. there is a consideration that we need to help this through efforts to get more information on labeling but also to recognize there is a health-care costs. both secretary of tom vilsack and sibelius recognize that health care costs are importance of prevention of health concerns is what is important.

if these guidelines are a road map to preventing chronic illnesses related to diet, we have a chance and that impetus with a very robust and highly scientific, grounded document to set the path forward to improve americans' choices. health costs are a concern and productivity is a concern. a healthier america is a more productive host:: the information on the report can be found at the u.s. >> sunday on "washington journal," nathan brown discusses the latest developments in egypt and how a government could affect the entire middle east government. and then we will talk about

president obama's reelection efforts and senators who could be in danger of losing their seats in 2012. after that, presidential historian richard norton smith marks the one of the birthday of ronald reagan and talks about the legacy of the nation's 40th president plus or e-mails and phone calls. "washington journal" live sunday at 7:00 a.m. eastern here on c- span. >> i will not make age an issue of this campaign. i am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent's youth and inexperience. [laughter] >> on the 100th anniversary of his birth, look at the life and presidency of ronald reagan online at the cspan video library. >> former vice president dick cheney is the featured speaker at the closing banquet marking the 100th anniversary of the birthday of president ronald reagan.

it begins tonight at 10:15 p.m. eastern here on c-span. >> some day on book-tv, author and commonest the founder -- and columnist has written half a dozen books and his latest book, "after the hang over." join our three-hour conversation with your e-mails, phone calls, and tweets live sunday at noon eastern on book-tv. on cs bantu. >> earlier this week, nasa announced that has identified over 50 platts that may be in the closest habitable the zones of stars in our galaxy. the findings come from work done by the keppler mission who uses earth and space-based technology to find planets that may

support life. this portion is about 50 minutes. we are going to discuss the latest findings from nasa's hour and 15 minutes. >> keppler is detecting planets and planted candidates in a wide range of sizes to help us better understand our place in the galaxy. you can find out more information at www.nasa.gov /keppler. we will open the floor and the phone lines for questions. let's take a moment to introduce our panelists. first, douglas hudgins, bill

beruky, jack lasour, deborah fischer, a professor of astronomy at c.l. university in new haven, conn. i will handle the discussion to doug hudgins. >> on behalf of the astrophysics division and the keppler mission, i want to welcome everyone here as we mark the second data release and announced the discovery of a fascinating new planetary system with more transiting exo-plants than any system discovered before. there are clustered around their started or but smaller than the order of the planet venus. keppler is now as a possible first telescope dedicated to the search for other planets around stars.

that means that the milestones that we achieve with each and every discovery shaped the course of el all future exo- plant emissions. keppler has been in operation for one and a half years monitoring the brightness of more than 150,000 stars in a single patch of sky near the constellation of cygnus, the salon. the holy grail of the mission is the discovery of an earth-sized hot or britain in the capitals on of a star like our own sun. believe me, no one is more eager to get to that point than the keppler team. that will take time. we have only been in operation for a year and a half of it will require at least three years of data as well as painstaking observation from some of the world's largest grounded-based

telescope before those types of plan that will emerge from the data. in the meantime, keppler is revolutionizing our understanding of exo-planet systems. the first 15 years of exo-plan that searches from the ground turned up a little bit more than 500 planets. last june, our team announced the discovery of more than 700 candidates in just the first month and a half of mission death. today, you will hear that when you add the next three months of data released this morning, the number of candidates jumps to more than 1200. you might imagine that with more than 1200 candidates the key thing is to remember -- i talk

about exo-planet candidates. the reason for that is every time we see the evidence of some sort of signal, that requires analysis and observations to confirm that that signal is actually due to a planet and not just something masquerading as a planet. with more than 1200 exo-planet candidates, the science team has been basically trying to drink out of a fire hose to keep up with the observations. nasa is pleased to be releasing this data at this time. this is so they can harness the horsepower of the entire astronomical community. he did not come here to hear me talk endlessly. i will talk -- i will turn over to the scientists. i would like to acknowledge that the results you will hear about today and all the keppler

results are the culmination of years of tireless work by scientists, engineers, the chief cook and bottle washer is at the nasa research center, the jet propulsion laboratory, the aerospace corp., and institutions across the country and around the world. the success of the kepler mission is a tribute to those people's submission and i tip my hat to each and every one of them. i will turn over to bill now. >> i would like to present the results of the first four months of science operations of the kepler mission. the mission has been well- described. sized looking for earth- planets in a habitable zone. let's go to the first figure. this is a sketch of the spacecraft itself in orbit

looking at a plan that transiting a star and that is how we do this. we look for the beginning of a star. the data is a 155,000 stars we have been monitoring for four months. of the 1235 candidates that we have found and that will describe those, i want to start out first with a family portrait of where we have come from. let me have the next figure. this basically shows you are confirmed planet discoveries. these are not candidates. in the first season, we were able to find on the top road there, four platts better than jupiter, plus a planet that was about the size of neptune. the giant planets or a surprise. we did not think we would find that many. certainly the one on your far

left was an even bigger surprise. it is a planet with one of the lowest densities ever found this enormous plot has a density of styrofoam. it is astounding. the neptune was a surprise in that it is extremely close to its star. it is very hot. last year, one thing that we were able to confirm was a star with three transiting plots and that it showed that in the bottom row. two of these planets are platts about the size of saturn. one of them, the little blue object, is 1.6 times the size of earth record. a few weeks ago, we have another announcement and that was the first kepler rocky planets. a plan of 1.4 times the size they heard that a density

greater than earth. where are moving in the direction we want from the bigger plants to the smaller planets that might harbor life. what go and talk about not we found a look at the data itself that we released last night. could i have the next figure please? when we started out, this was our field of the view which covers 100 degrees of sky. the story were plans that were known before we launched. there in our field of view and we made measurements of them. next figure please. these are the 1200 candidates. we covered the field of view with all sorts of candidates. let's look at the next figure. we measured the size of these objects. we can tell you which are

earth-size and which is neptune- sized and you see that in color. the blue dots are earth-sized. the green ones and yellow ones are super-birth-sized. -- super-earth-sized. then we have the neptune size and the giant planet size. there is a huge range of climates throughout this field of view. let's have the next figure. this gives you the numbers of what we have found. 68 earth-size candidates. these are candidates up to 1.25 the size of earth. some are considerably smaller than the earth. we have the 288 candidates that are somewhat bigger than the earth. 662 neptune-sized candidates.

in the 15 years of observation, the total number of non platts that have been discovered, is like five -- the total number of plants that have discovered is 530. we have 165 jupiter-sized objects. we are not sure there are planets. there are 19 of those as well. let's go to the next figure. one of the things we want to do when we find this candidate is find candidates around stars like the sun. there is all sorts of stars out there. there are stars that are burned out and we would like to find candidates around stars like our own. this figure shows that if you look at the earth-sized candidates and a super-sized and the neptune-size, all of those

are around the temperature of our sun. the stars are very much like our son. there is a variety but most of them are around stars like our son. that did not happen by accident. it happened because before we lost the mission, our co- investigators led by dave latham used ground-based telescopes to find 4.4 million stars and that allowed us to choose the stars that are most like our son. un. the next figure please. when we look at these candidates, i have broken into four groups, the blue, and the green, one of the things we see is that number as a function of the orbital period in days.

each of these curbs -- curves get fewer and fewer. this occurs because it is harder to see planets further out. the chance of seeing them depends on the or bed. it gets more and more difficult. you see fewer and fewer of these candidates of these planets. it gets more difficult as you look for planets toward the apple's own. the other thing is there is a peak between two and four days. the thought here is that when platform, -- when planets form, they take momentum and energy and a spiral toward their star. if they come spiraling in and the orbital period matches the

rotation. the star, tied to rise on a star and a plan that such that the stark and transfer its rotation to the planet. it can stop the planet from crashing into the start. . we see that very clearly in this data. there is a big step for periods shorter than three or four days. clearly, it is easy to seize sure. platts because the give us some entrances. this is real. the implication is that some of these planets did not come in with synchronized rotation. they continued on their way. on the other hand, we see some that are still there and that might mean they were lucky. they came toward the start at the start led up and blew away the lacretian disk and they are

safe. they may be on their way into this dark yet. -- into the star yet. people have found this with a transit technique. this is the size of the plants they found relative to the earth. one is earth-sized, one is neptune-sized and you can see the sketch of the planet along the edges. the dots show you planets that are quite larger than jupiter. we want to look at the lower right corner where you have small planets at cool temperatures. let's look at what kepler has contributed last june.

you can see these purple dots. most of them are quite a bit smaller than jupiter. most of them are between earth- size and neptune-size. further, they are not. a movement toward the lower right hand corner. next figure, please. this is what we released yesterday. this is the data from the 1235 candidates, the 150,000 stars shone here. many more planetary candidates are closer to the size of the earth. many of them are below the size of the earth. these objects are getting toward -- down toward the size of mars. we are seeing smaller candidates and they're moving to the right into longer orbital periods. we want to go to the gap in the lower right hand corner. we should talk about the temperatures of these

candidates. are they too hot for life? we want to know that. are they cool enough so they could have liquid water? could they have an ocean or an atmosphere? we would change the horizontal axis. it will be the temperature that we calculate for the candidates. let me have the next figure. the temperatures here are in fahrenheit. we see the size relative to the earth. we see some smaller than the earth and sun between earth-size and neptune-size and some are bigger than jupiter. the temperature is 1000 degrees. at 2000 degrees, these planets are molten lava. at 3000 degrees, they are molten iron. we look in the lower left. let's expand the lower left.

we will take this portion of that group of 1200 candidates and expand that out so you can see in detail what the temperatures look like for those close or in the habitable zone. this is the expanded area and temperatures are not mere 1000. they could be from zero fahrenheit up to 200 fahrenheit. this is the region where we could have a liquid water. -50 fahrenheit you had ice. we are now seeing in habitable aspects of the stars. 54 candidates. one you can see is smaller than the earth. four of them are somewhat larger than the earth. they are super-earth size.

there are some greater than jupiter. that is rather interesting. jupiter is big enough so you could have a birth-like mons the orbiting jupiter. -- earth-like moons orbiting jupiter. they could have atmospheres. they are close to one another. you could go from one moment to another for your christmas vacation. -- one moon to another for your christmas vacation. lots habitable zone candidates to follow up on. we will work very hard on this to confirm. one of the great things that happened earlier this year was the confirmation of kepler's first rocky planets. this rocky planets is 1.4 times

the size of the earth. we were able to confirm and detect it. you want some other method to prove this is indeed a planet. we did a heroic work by a number of team members. this allowed us to confirm this as a rocky planets by getting a density. as we talk about the small planets, the signal for radial velocity is very small. it takes a lot of time. this is in an orbital period of less than one day. it is less than one day. that signal is still fairly large. as we move farther out, 30 days, 50 days, 300 days, they signal gets so small we probably cannot do that for many of these small

rocky planets. we need a method that supplements of this. the supplemental figure is a method of we have proved works. it was released last year. we have a planetary system with the three planets. the they orbit the same star and a transit and when these two inter-planets go by each other, they cause changes in the orbital periods. by seeing when the transit occurs, we can deduce from the transit timing changes the mass of these objects. we don't need or radio velocity. it is always helpful but in this case we can get at the masses very well by watching these changes. we should be able to get at their masses even if we can't get at them with radio velocity.

in a multi-planet systems. this is the most valuable thing we can find. we now see in the data we released 170 stars that have these multi-planet systems. sometimes two or three or four or as many as six transiting candidates. that will be enormously helpful. we are studying systems of planets like the solar system, not just individual planets. there is a great deal of progress and a great deal of encouragement. this is a summary of what we have found. we find we have released the data to the public at the science institute to everyone who would like to use it. we have data for 155,000 stars.

1035 candidates with each of the transits and their properties of each of the stars. we see 68 birth-size, 68--- 682- jupiter size, 54 candidates in habitable zones of their stars. kepler is making good progress toward its goals. can i have the animation please? this is the field of view of kepler on the sky. this represents the 50 yen habitable zone. we found 1200 candidates in the single field of view. imagine that we had the field of view covering this guy. kepler looks at 1/400th of the

sky. we would say 400 times the candidates. we would seek 400,000 candidates. that tells you that the stars that surround us have a huge number of planets and candidates for us to look after it if we find that we have a, habitable zone of stars, life may be common around the stars. kepler is the first step in mankind's exploration of the surrounding galaxy to find life in our galaxy. jack will tell us about the very valuable systems of stars that help us understand where the earth-size planets are? -- capped a 9-ned 9

keppler 9 which has three circling planets. it has more than one transiting planet. that's the way we can get the sizes of the planets. all the other 100 transiting confirmed on a prior to today were orbiting 1 per start. keppler 9 has three. this emphasizes the 170 candidate-multiple planets systems keppler has identified.

the small dots are the stars with one candidate. the small blue circles and there are over 100 of them, are the targets with two planetary candidates. the red triangles, 45 of them, excuse me, the 135 red triangles represent the 45 targets with three transiting candidates. the 32. squares represent the candidates around the eight targets that have four candidates. we have a lot of stars with two,

three, and even for candidates. if you look toward the lower left, you will see five pentagons. they represented the five candidates around one star with five candidates. but toward the center, off to the right, representing the mid size planets, these are the green hexagons. the only target that we see with the signals, those are no longer just candidates. we have confirmed that all six of these are indeed planets,

were putting the same star, which we have named kepler 11. in the next slide, we see the position of kepler 11. it is a sun-like star in signus. approximately this is 2000 light years away. and a light that we see from this start, this left the start around the time that caesar was making his conquest. if we have the video, this is the view of the system from kepler. it is dimming like c lockwork.

we see this moving at six different rates. it is orbiting near the same plane. these are close in. the inner five are close to each other. and the most compact system system of planets -- compaq system of planets discovered anywhere. we see this on the occasion when they are transferring the start. -- star. last summer, we observed the signature of three plans it -- three planets at the same time, which is illustrated in this graphic.

this is a very flat planetary system. but this does not look that way because the ordinance -- or that -- orbit is bigger than the star itself. these can look very similar in front of the star. if we had a scale model of these closely-spaced plants, this would be like a compact disk. the sixth planet is farther out. so if we had a scale model with that, and had to go into the attic to find this, it would be like one of these vinyl records.

so let's move on to the next slide. this is the system at the same scale as our own solar system. the five plants closely facing one another are all closer than any planet is to the sun. this is despite the fact that these planets are not huge, but they are not tiny. they are about twice the radius of the earth to four times the radius of the earth. if this was in our own solar system, this would be within the

orbit of mercury and venus. i have been talking about this as a system. this is an amazing system and these planets are close. we never thought that we would see this many planets this close to one another. and the fact that they are this close means that there in each other's orbits. and we have the same technique where we measured the planets, we were measuring these five planets, in this system. this diagram is a little bit more complicated. what we have here is on the vertical axis. this is the size of the planet.

we have observed the size, and he amount of deminimming caused when this goes in front of the star. we show the amount that they effect of the orbit of each other, and advancing the transit times of each other by 10 or 20 minutes. when we get to the orbital period, this is 10-27 days. we are not exactly -- this is not exact because we know the radius, relative to this star. in terms of the mass, we have

the estimate by the amount that they tub. -- tug. there is a little bit of uncertainty. the five under kepler 11, that are labeled by the letter, for these particular planets. we look around other stars, which are a different color. this covers a different range, they still constrained the size of the stars, and these plants. we compare these to the planet's most like these in our system,

and uranus and neptune are on the other side. this is an immediate class of planets. and of those that we have, five are from around the stars that we call kepler 11. we are announcing today, that this is no. 10. we mentioned this as a rocky planet. what we found -- these are all higher up on the graph. the rocky planets is close, and this is very hot. this is close to the star and these are warm.

and we find that these are larger, with the same amount of mass. they must be made of lighter material. these are not big rocks. the innermost planets, they may be mixtures of rocks, and water. or they may be mixtures of rock and water and gas. and we know that these are so large, the substantial fractuion must be made of the lightest elements. and so, not only is this telling

us about the planetary system, the type that we had no idea existed, right now, this is providing the best clues on the composition of these plants as individual worlds. we can move on to the next slide, this is the family portrait. and we can see the cousins that were found, previously, and we showed this in the earlier slide, and a new set of these six siblings in the family, that we found a day and are announcing today, kepler 11 is a

surprisingly flat and compact system of six transiting plants. the five inner planets are especially close together, something we did not think what happened. this forces us to go back and look at the formation models of the planets. this means the planets are affecting one another significant way, and we find that they are low density, like marshmallows, but these are not all gas. there has to be something a

little bit deeper there, and maybe there is some hard candy at the core. now, we were just amazed at this gift, that nature, not the given us.that's we have the six transiting planets. this is so close to the start. in getting the size and the mass of these fairly small worlds, there is only one word i can think of that adequately describes the new findings or analysis today. -- we are announcing today. the kepler 11 system is

supercalifragelisticexpialodocio us. i will hand it over to deborah, to give you the outside view of what we have been announcing today. >> this is an amazing era of discovery, before these planets in particular. there is no doubt that this search is motivated by the search for life. we would especially like to find communities and technological life, and we can see that there is only one plant that is inhabited. fighting another planet like earth is like finding something that is friendly to the evolution of life.

the primary goal is listed as the occurrence of a small terrestrial world. in march 2009, when i was here, i remember commenting that these were beginning to roll out of the kepler mission. i began to expect to see these planets, to see these begin to roll out and then -- i am amazed to see that this is reaching a milestone discovery, more quickly than i anticipated. this week feels much differently than last year. there is a reason that i say this. this.