a high-tech companies. we will talk about the program. later, a look at the history of walter reed army medical center. it is scheduled to close this september. a colonel and an army captain and another kernel will join us. ♪ host: the major new york papers in their editorial say that the future of anthony wiener is in question. in light of yesterday's announcement by the representative, for this morning we are inviting new york residents only to join us this morning to talk about anthony wiener's future.

specifically if he should resign. for republicans, 202-624-1115. for democrats, 202-624-1111. for independents, 202-624-0760. we will take this topic for about 20 minutes and then we will put it to everyone else for the remainder of the time. as we wait for calls here, editorials calling from "the daily news."

host: that is from "the daily news" this morning. from "the daily journal" -- host: that is from "the wall street journal." this is from "the new york times" this morning --

host: that is "the new york times." we finish up with "the new york post" this morning. host: again, new york papers waiting in this morning. we have asked to new york residence to call in this morning. matt, manhattan. what do you think about resignation? caller: i do not think that he should resign. only if they determine that some of the e-mails to these e-mail

addresses were with -- if it was an underage thing, he should get out. it is a whole lot of nothing, i think. if this were a whole other country, it would be water under the bridge. i think that with all of the discussion so far, what people are not taking into account is not dissimilar to this congressman. my background, my location, all of the rest of that. he was a funny looking kid. i know this seems like it was more psychological than political. but he has a very funny last name. i grew up with a kid like that. we tormented that kid. this is the results of a history -- he was not a great looking kid. probably did not have a decent

looking girlfriend until he graduated from college. i think that his wife is actually a stunning. this is the history of a funny looking diapeguy. host: richard, independent line. caller: i would say that most of the reaction on this is based on the puritanical [unintelligible] and nowadays this is the 21st century. unfortunately all of these media, twitter, facebook, so long and so forth, are complicity with this problem. host: what about the idea of resignation? caller: i do not think that it is relevant. it is just a minute --

symptomatic of the current world. host: we have three lines set aside for new yorkers. for democrats, 202-624-1111. for republicans, 202-624-1115. for independents, 202-624-0760. journal@c-span.org is the e- mail. janet, go ahead. caller: i have been a resident of new york for a few years. rep. wiener has always been awesome on our issues, immigrant rights, criminal justice reform. he has always represented new york well in his positions. across the board, democrat or republican, when people become embroiled in a sex scandal or any kind of scandal, we are very quick to point the finger at them and judge like crazy.

i am no prude, but i am also not condoning his misogynist of behavior. but i think that we should take a step back and think about what he is giving to new york. i certainly do not think that he should resign. host: this does not affect his ability to do his job going forward? caller: i do not think that it does. the other thing that people do not want to think about -- people that use their job, use their computer at work, not just politicians but all of us to do things that are not on the up and up. we do them. and it is not right. and i think we should step back a bit. host: again, new york residents only for the first 20 minutes to talk about the announcement yesterday and give your thoughts on whether the rep should resign.

this is from "a washington post." copp host: on the side bar of this story, others involved in political scandal in cases where there wife appeared with them. itter, eliot david victo spitzer, and it goes on to talk about deena mcgreevy. finishing up a shot of hillary clinton.

good morning, juanita. independent line. should anthony wiener resign? caller: i do not think that he should resign. bill clinton lied under oath and no one is mentioning that in comparison to congressman winner. i do not think that he should resign because i think he is a good person basically a and they are spending way too much time on the private lives of these people. we need to move on. we have too many more important things to talk about. losing their jobs, losing their homes. that is what we should be talking about. host: he was interested in becoming mayor of new york. caller: i would vote for him. yes, he should run for mayor. host: manhattan. good morning, democratic line. caller: he definitely should not resign.

it does not change the fact that he represents his constituents well. and i think that there is a hypocrisy here. vitter is still in office. democrats should always resign, republicans not? he should represent the party that he represents. host: church will, new york. go ahead. caller: and immoral man cannot effectively lead himself, let alone a very large, complicated, and confused state like new york. it makes me sick that no one else has said this. he has to be honest with himself first before he can effectively lead anyone. he should resign quickly and make that decision. he has lied repeatedly. how can i trust them?

how can we trust anything? how does he have any credibility left? that is all i have to say. i am disgusted. host: here is the bit of the press conference in which the representative addresses him not breaking any oaths or laws. caller: i do not think that i did anything here that violates any laws or my oath to my constituents. what i did was something that represented a very deep, personal failing. host: the next call is from carol, queens, new york, democratic line. caller: i am one of his constituents. i would vote for him again. i would vote for him for mayor. he did not violate his oath. he has represented his district extremely well. he is a very effective

congressman for the democrats. as far as his colleagues backing him up, this is not a popularity contest. this is about what is happening in this country right now in terms of jobs and the monumental challenges we are facing. i am completely and totally embarrassed by the media. this is despicable. we are not focused on any of the important issues of the day. the focus, so much time spent on this, it is taking away from what this country needs to be doing in terms of taking care of jobs, the debt ceiling -- host: if someone asks you if you think the rep can be effective going forward, what would you tell them? caller: he has been ineffective until this whole -- through this

whole process -- he has been effective through this whole process. thank you for taking my call. host: queens, new york, jennifer, go ahead. are you there? you are run. go ahead. caller: i hope and pray that he does -- excuse me? host: go ahead, you are run. caller: say that again? i do not have much to say. i hope that he has the stomach to deal with the media and the hell that he will have to go through and that he will just hang in there for us. host: you think that he should not resign? caller: absolutely not. host: why is that? caller: i have watched c-span so many times.

i know that he always stands up and fights for his constituents. he is strong. all of these guys, if they ever went through a test on all of these guys, they had be -- better be careful how they criticize him do, because they would be gone. it is personal. host: if you go to the web site of "usa today" they have a list of political representatives of either side of the aisle that have been involved in scandals. we have compiled a list for you. as you look at them, we will take some calls. the next call is new york city. shane, independent line. caller: good morning. thank you for c-span.

i wanted to call in about the congressman. i really feel that he does a great job in the city of new york representing us. i would vote for him for mayor. he is very strong on educational issues. but one thing that no one is talking about how quickly in new york they are using sex scandals to blow up politicians. they did the same thing with david patterson when he tried to run for governor. they had a scandal about one of his aides. you know, he is destroying his own credibility by not owning up to it. but david patterson did. the big issue here is we are not talking about the other issues in the city. no one is talking about the

[unintelligible] leaking from the power plant. host: whether it be congress or the ability to run for mayor, you do not think that this should affect that? caller: he should stand on his record. i have never seen a congressman fight as hard as he did for the affordable health care act. issues in our own city about teacher layoffs, protecting teacher jobs. knowing a little bit about his own history, knowing that he is the son of a person that was a teacher. host: new york, democratic line. caller: i do not think that he should resign, eith either. host: why is that? caller: he is a good

congressman and he fights hard for the issues that i believe in. it is a personal matter and i really believe that it is more common than i would like to believe and is not like -- and it is not like miners were .nvolved pau it might have been inappropriate, but it will not affect his ability to govern. host: i was going ask, what should he do going forward as wallet -- as far as his record, those issues. caller: i think that there are a lot of politicians that have problems with egomaniacs. they think that they can get away with what ever. i do not know how they think they can get away with this

stuff when everyone is waiting to get something on them to knock them out of the game. but i think that he should put it behind them and just focus on the career in taking care of business in washington urea -- focus on the career and the taking care of business in washington. host: new york, go ahead. caller: this is a ridiculous question. when vitter came out, he admitted to a crime. prostitution is a crime. why not bring on a program and ask if vitter should resign from the senate? host: we address these things all the time, just so that you

know. if you had to advise the congressman going forward, what would you tell him? caller: continue to do the great job that he is doing. the only reason the media is doing this is because he embarrassed stephen king on the floor. he speaks out. host: new york city, james, democratic line. caller: good morning. hello? host: you are on. caller: personally i feel that he needs to resign. i am appalled as to what i am listening to. the man is a liar and a cheat. if you lie and cheat on your wife, your one and only, how to be faithful to anyone? upper -- how can you be faithful to anyone?

if you do not do these things, you do not get exposed. i guess i am just old. i am in my 50's. i am very ashamed of him. host: i think that we have only taken three calls the suggest he should resign. caller: that is why i am so reporappalled. the country has fallen so far that lying and cheating is ok. it is not ok and i do not approve at all. i would rather that he left. host: we have been taking calls from new york residence about anthony wiener. chiming in as we talk about him in particular and the idea of ethical standards for elected representatives. we will open up the phone lines

for the remainder of our time. for republicans, 202-624-1115. for democrats, 202-624-1111. for independents, 202-624-0760. if you would like to send us e- mail, you can do so at journal@c-span.org. if you would like to send us a tweet, twitter.com/c-spanwj. a couple of more calls -- a couple of more stories from the papers this morning. this is from "the new york times."

host: there is a related story in "the wall street journal" about what goes on after words. host: we took that hearing yesterday as part of our coverage here in -- hear at c- span we would like to -- if you

would like you can go to our website, c-span.org, looking up hearings on iraq regulations and you can see that for yourself. for the remainder of our time, talking about ethics standards for public officials. albany, new york. traci, an independent line. caller: the lady before me stole my thunder. you are going to lie to your wife? what do you care about lying to anyone else for? first of all, he is just setting an example for future politicians of new york. we are trying to teach children not to sext, text all of these lewd pictures on their cell phones. he will be making laws about the internet. the people of new york in his

district, i am pretty sure that there is someone who is just as passionate, just as fired up as anthony wiener. you can find someone else to represent your district and to get the job done that will not lie to you, lied to his wife. lewd pictures for the world? the world wide web? host: republican line, north carolina. caller: gosh, piggyback from the other two ladies. i was completely shocked. listening to the callers call in. especially the women. i did not know how low their self-esteem was until i started listening to these callers. they say that it is no big deal. of course it is a big deal. of course the congressman should have ethical standards. what he did was pretty much sexual harassment.

if this was an office setting and he exposed himself to a woman he did not know, this is pretty much the same thing. these women did not know him. he would be thrown out for sexual-harassment. zero tolerance. why anyone is tolerating this is completely just ridiculous to me. host: this message coming across twitter this morning. host: new york, levine, democratic line. caller: hello. good morning. as someone who collaborates with the executive branch, ethical standards should be the highest. the checks and balances for the president.

we have such a sick society at this point. to hear men and women justifying things that they should not. he should resign. if it were a woman who had pictures of her crotch, we would not be able to pay attention to any policy that she put forth. if he had idle time, he could have spent his time brainstorming and new policies. no excuses. they do not get a pass or a tolerance. this is a good old boys tactic. it must stop. host: traces for key economic positions within the federal government, this from peter diamond. this is from "the new york times."

host: the other story on the economic front, from austin goolsbee, going back to academia to resume his position there. charlottesville, republican line. caller: good morning. i feel that our elected officials should be held the highest ethical standards. it is amazing that we have just forgotten that a person cannot lie, cheat, and get away with it. it is not to say that we do not all do wrong. and we all do, certainly. in this case they had started looking into the young ladies background. to try to discredit him. where is the honesty and integrity?

america, we need to get back to honesty and integrity. i am retired military. if this had happened in the military, he would have been forced to resign. he would have been taken out of command. it is unfortunate that we would even have to talk about this. personal responsibility, we have to get back to it. host: this message from twitter -- host: glen, michigan, is up next. caller: good morning, c-span. good morning, america. the last few people took my thunder. in my country what i see is that we have been taken advantage of. the apology role has been taken advantage of. whenever a person in the public

eye messes up they think they can go before a camera and apologize. we are not expecting -- accepting policies any more. -- of policies any more. when they screw up, we get them out. host: uso, $12 trillion. this is from "usa today" this morning. host: as a part of this newspaper package, there is a breakdown of what they call the mountains of debt. as far as medicare is concerned,

the bill is $24.80 trillion. when it comes to social security it goes to $21.40 trillion. also looking at some other categories as well -- military disabilities, $3.60 trillion. $2 trillion for federal and retiree benefits. the complete story is in "usa today" this morning. texas, go ahead. caller: these congressmen need to be held to the same standards as public and private employees. second, this is not an issue about him having an affair with someone. this man is in the borderline of sexual harassment and using

himself in that way. he was using his name as representative wiener for business purposes. anyone who uses the company's name as their explicit thing -- just like federal employees looking at pornography sites -- he should really be held accountable. i could not support someone like this. deep l he just thinks of women as objects. -- deep down he just thinks of women as objects. thank you. host: the republican plan for reducing the federal work force, three people in, one person out.

host: ogden, utah. good morning. we are talking about ethical standards with public officials. caller: i want to look at the behavior of so many of our public officials. it is not just congressman wiener, whose behavior has been absolutely despicable, but it goes back a long ways to other officials. these guys think that all that they do is get in front of the camera and apologize.

life goes on. but the bottom line is that to protect the dignity of the office of elected officials and other high places, to have the respect and trust of the american people we have to know that these people hold themselves to a higher standard. if you cannot maintain fidelity with your own spouse, how can you maintain fidelity with the american people? if congressman winner has any honor or integrity left in him, he needs to step down. thank you. host: durham, north carolina. kerry, independent line. caller: i see the position that rep weaner has got himself into.

no. 1, if the house rules and ethics committee, if according to those rules he has violated them, he should step down. if he has committed some criminal act or some other act against the house rules, definitely, definitely saying no. he should resign. why i am saying that? there might be an underage women here. i do not think that anyone knows yet. the ages of anyone that he was having social networking with. the second part to that is -- if he did not violate any rules by the house, -- any rules of the

house, that if his wife -- if he can get help, his wife, if she can live with him and forgive him, he can do his job. i recently moved to north carolina and was a lifelong new yorker. i want to move back as soon as possible. the other thing i want to say, george bush lied to the country and the world to take our troops to war. host: the caller mentioned the investigation. nancy pelosi called on monday for a house ethics committee to investigate whether rep wiener represent -- went against any of the rules.

host: radcliff, ky. democratic line. go ahead. kentucky. k caller: i think that the american people should be more forgiving. i know that he did wrong and he needs some help. two questions. wiener, he had the background. the democrats, he is the only one speaking up. the rest of the democrats have gone to sleep after the last thing happened to obama. that is all they want. switching sides, coming to the democrats to get information? it is all a game.

host: "the wall street journal" has information on second mortgages and those that took them out. almost 40% of homeowners that took out second mortgages, extracting cash from their residences, are under water on their loans more than twice the rate of people that did not take out such loans. the finding will be released today. head, north

carolina. republican line. good morning. caller: i think that this a fiasco with mr. wiener is just another stepping stone to our country becoming a laughingstock. the man representing this country -- the men representing this country look like clowns in suits. it seems they do not need to talk about government. they are just bad actors and i will not be voting this season. host: marigold, arkansas. brenda, independent line. caller: i am confused at the hypocrisy of the same state that demanded resignation from christopher lee for posting his chest on facebook, now we have this despicable picture of wiener and they think he should not resign? is a double standard. we get that we deserve a

government we vote for. if these people in new york want anthony wiener, i am appalled. shocking. host: atlanta, georgia. reg, independent line. are you there? sorry. arlington, texas is next. go ahead. caller: yes. i think that the man, wiener, is an egotistical dirt bag. i agree with the previous caller. they should hold them up to a standard. destroy him. goodbye. host: "the new york times" has another story about a drone strike in pakistan this morning. it says that there were three

sites targeted and killed 18 people. host: houston, texas, you are up next. caller: yes. i have been listening to people say that he should resign and so forth, so on.

i remember when there was a person having sex with a young lady in the white house and how many democrats prayed for him. was it ok with hillary that we should just be quiet? i mean, it was wrong, but it was wrong then. he is still out. very popular. making $100,000 per speech when he should be in jail. host: one more call. los angeles, california. bruce. caller: i watched many of these shows on c-span. public officials are giving information about how the u.s. is so prominent. because we are a world leader, so prominent and so forth, we do

know that these are public officials that have to deal with the press. what does the rest of the world look like when they look at what the u.s. is doing? when you do not deal with these problems, what do you have? does image matter? i think that it does. many of us in the older generation look at this as a real problem. not that it was not happening in their day, but it is so public, social media and so forth really gets the word out. is this man credible? what i am trying to say is that if you do not hold these people to their highest standards, then what standards are there?

children and so forth, who do they look up to? you cannot just blame the parents. you have to go beyond it. host: today the pet -- today the president has a series of events with angela merkel. here to talk not only about those specific events, but what is behind them, is a reporter from "the washington post." can you talk to us about the occasion of the german chancellor visiting? caller: it is a big deal whenever there is a state dinner in washington, d.c.. plenty of pomp and circumstance. these are two leaders who have not necessarily had a really close relationship, at least in

public. remember, there have been german leaders before that were very cozy with u.s. presidents. the most notable was helmut kohl and clinton, who were known to go out on the town in washington, d.c., eating at italian restaurants. these are two different kinds of leaders and two different kinds of personalities. people that watch this relationship will be interested to see how they interact with each other. host: as far as the pomp and circumstance going on, talk about the big events being discussed this morning. host: there -- caller: there is an expectation that one of the issues that will be talked about will be nuclear power. in germany, angela merkel has been embroiled in a controversy

about the use of nuclear power. it was a decision that was made prior to her time in office to phase out nuclear power in germany. initially, she supported phasing out in a way that would have taken more years. since the japanese catastrophe has peddled backwards on that and come up with an earlier phase out, this could create some conflict with people in the u.s. government who have been supportive of the notion of nuclear power and say that it is a positive form of energy that could be an alternative to fossil fuels. another issue that is sure to come up, libya. the germans are generally known in the international community

to be concerned about the use of military force. they have not been supportive of all of the u.s. initiatives in the libya conflict. that most definitely will be a part of this. as most people are expecting. then there is the issue of trade in the economy. germany has a leadership role in europe in that respect. the united states is obviously interested in germany being an advocate and a partner. host: can you tell us about that? talking about the pomp and circumstance, i think that she is getting a 19 gun salute. what is the difference and why was this applied today? caller: right? cut short by two? if you have ever heard these gun salutes, even five would be a lot.

they are loud and impressive. everything here is dictated by protocol and tradition. a head of state gets 21. a leader of the country, as she is, gets 19. it is as simple as that. either way it will be quite a show. host: as far as dinner is concerned, is this an official dinner or a state dinner? caller: there seems to be some dispute about this. it's -- has been referred to both ways. i have seen news releases that refer to it as a state dinner. but purists will determine that it cannot be a state dinner if the president is not the head of state. either way, whether it is called an official dinner or a state

dinner, it will be one of the grander evenings in the obama administration as far as entertaining in the white house. there is no doubt that this will -- certainly, the expectation is that it will be on level of what was afforded to the mexican leader, the chinese leader, and the indian leader. host: do not forget that you can watch coverage of this dinner starting tonight at 8:00 on c- span. you can find more information on our website as well. talking to us about the events of the day, thank you for your time, sir. caller: my pleasure. host: for the last hour of the program this morning we will be focusing exclusively on the

walter reed medical center. starting at 9:00 today we will hear about the work as they transition to a new site and talk about the technology being used to help those recovering at the center. coming up, we have a look at the global drug war and the efforts in the united states. we will pick up that discussion when we return. ♪ >> connect with c-span online with the latest updates on twitter, facebook, 4 square, and programming highlights on the youtube channel. this weekend don "booktv" on c- , "reckless endangerment."

after words -- after ward's -- look for the complete schedule booktv.org. >> each year congress works to pass the spending bills that come to the government. you can follow the progress with congressional chronicle on the c-span website. daily schedules, committee hearings, and video from every house and senate session. >> "washington journal" continues. host: joining us from new york is ethan nadelmann, the executive director of the drug policy alliance.

we brought to want to talk about the report that came out recently, giving the global sense of the drug war. can you give us the general genesis of the findings? guest: it is a remarkable development in terms of global drug policy. a number of very distinguished former presidents from brazil, mexico, the european union, switzerland -- even paul volcker, richard branson, many others, they came out with a report that was devastating in u.s. and global drug control policies. they say that the reliance on criminal justice institutions devon's -- developed into an enormous disaster, empowering criminals, spreading disease and addiction rather than impeding it. they called for a paradigm

shift. saying that people that used drugs without hurting anyone else should be left alone and that we need new law enforcement strategies that focuses on reducing the power and intimidation rather than drug markets. quite importantly they said that there must be support for experiments in legally regulating drugs, especially marijuana. but even with others, they said. let's try to find intelligent ways to regulate these drugs so that we can reduce the harm of drug coalition and drug abuse. host: what evidence is there from the results that these people wanted to see? guest: the first is the obvious failure of the current approach. when you see the amount of drug abuse around the world, sustained and growing, you see

the failure. when you see the violence in mexico, central america, africa, that is what motivated kofi nanon to join the coalition. remember the prohibition of alcohol? we did so hoping we could eliminate alcohol problems. all that emerged was organized crime, violence, corruption, what have you. the second piece of evidence is that when you look at the countries that have decriminalized the possession of drugs -- places like portugal, switzerland, parts of europe, you see that there is no increase in drug use as a result of those policies, but you do have decreases in overdose fatalities, arrests, people going to prison, what have you.

moderate measures of decriminalized drug use appears to have fewer risks. as for broader legalization, look at the experience of post- alcohol prohibition. we took a major source of revenue organized crime away. in the netherlands they have more or less regulated the cannabis situation for 30 years and the levels of marijuana use of less than here. -- are less than here. people are afraid of what the alternative should be. this distinguished group comes along and says that we need to lose some of our fears. that we need to open up a dialogue and experiment with alternative approaches. host: if you want to ask questions of our guest in this report and the findings that were done in the drug war, as it

is known in a global sense, here is how you can do so this morning. three lines set up. for republicans, 202-624-1115. for democrats, 202-624-1111. for independents, 202-624-0760. you can send us an e-mail, if you wish, at journal@c-span.org. you can send us a tweaked from -- tweet from twitter.com/c- spanwj. fort wayne, indiana. go ahead. caller: i agree with your guest. i think that'd is an absolute neanderthal thinking to say that some sort of bilal will present people from doing what they need to do. i do not think that you should put a person in jail for doing here when, cocaine, alcohol, as long as they do not endanger the

life of someone else. prostitution, drugs, you are legalizing the attacks. the guest was absolutely right. the entire idea of ron paul -- they asked him about legalizing drugs -- with that not make a person to hear when? i do not need a government to tell me not to make that choice. host: is it as simple as that? legalize everything and the problems go away? guest: it is not quite as simple as that, but i basically agree with the sentiment of the caller. alcohol and cigarettes are treated differently from other drugs. i think that the policy of treating them all the same and throwing people in jail for making, selling, buying these things, your respective of the

harm they do, is ludicrous and in many respects violates principles that americans hold dear. when it comes to marijuana -- most americans do not like the idea of legally regulating heroin or cocaine, at least not yet. but when it comes to marijuana the gallup poll has been asking the same question for 40 years. should we legalize marijuana use? in 200536% of americans said yes -- in 2005, 36% of americans said yes. in 2010 that had become 46%. what had been a 24 point gap in opinion became a four. that in the opinion. majority favor a month democrats, americans under the age of 30 -- it is not

inevitable that we will move in that direction, but it certainly seems to be the case that a few states in the united states will try to regulate marijuana rather than persisting with ineffective prohibition over the next six years. host: this message from twitter -- does the report have any chance of changing things policy-wise? what about the federal level? guest: a member of congress came up to me and said -- i saw the information on the global commission and i want to do something on this. often they will focus on what can be done locally in their own jurisdiction. new york city is the marijuana capital of the world in terms of arrests. we are resting 50,000 people per year for simple -- we are a

resting 50,000 people per year for -- we are are resting 50,000 people per year for simple possession. mexico, france, colombia, australia. we will see this debate popping up around the country. in congress on the democratic side and on the right, like ron paul, new voices popping up to say that we need a new way. host: kevin, independent line. how are we doing? guest: good. -- caller: good. i have a question. if we lost -- if we legalize drugs, lawyers would lose their jobs, prisons would close them. how is it that so much drugs

fits into this country? in california i was informed that the cia was bringing a lot of drugs into this country. if we get rid of drugs, people will lose their jobs. how do you feel about this? guest: with respect to keeping drugs out of the country, that is impossible. marijuana, cocaine, alcohol, these are basically global commodities that can be produced in many parts of the world and it is impossible to keep them out of the united states. all of the drug that are imported into the united states to take up 0.00008% each year. if there was as much demand for heroin, those drugs would come in. if there is the man, there would be supplied. by the way, you are right about

the cia. but even if the cia had been squeaky clean, not been involved in southeast asia, afghanistan, because they're working with your starting point was really profound. we now have a prison industrial complex in america. it is growing at a dramatic pace. 500,000 in 1980 until 2.3 million today. we ranked first in the world for accident incarceration. millions of people are employed in this business. we have increased tenfold in number of people walked up on drug charges since 1980.

we have locked up more people in america on drug charges than western europe. they have 100 million more people than we do. there are private prison builders and prosecutors and police departments. my view is even if we legalize marijuana and other drugs, there is still other crime they can deal with. the prisons will not be so filled. some people will have the same jobs they used to. there is other crime that the government needs to pay attention to besides this. host: here is a portion of what was said on the hill.

how would you respond to that? guest: there are two things wrong with what he is saying. he is ignoring the fact that we have half a million people behind bars. the drug war could be better spent in other areas. he is ignoring the corruption spreading around the world in mexico, the caribbean, afghanistan. there are negative consequences of the drug war. he ignores the fact that we cut cigarette consumption or dramatically in this country than illicit drug use. we did that without relying on criminal law. part of it is driving down the number is not the war on drug, decriminalization of drug, but defensible health policies, tax

and regulatory policies. the last and stable policy is the bottom-line. what is important is not come many americans said yes i used cocaine last year. by that measure, 1980 was the worst of all years. 30 million americans said they had used cocaine or marijuana in the last year. most of them were yuppies. a small percent got involved in a fiction. many say 1980 was the worst of all years, because so many americans were using illicit drugs. 10 years later, the numbers of americans using the struts has dropped significantly. what is interesting when you compare 1980 end-1990, -- and 1990, fewer people using

cocaine, but we have a national crack -- epidemic. in 1980, 50,000 people locked up on drug charges. 1980, federal and state governments spending millions of dollars on the drug war. in 1990, there were draining resources from the education. there were more positive ways taxpayers could spend their money. we need to focus on the real bottom line, which is how many people are dying of drugs. how many people are getting deadly diseases? how many people are having their families destroyed? how much money is going down the drain in the sinkhole of the drug war. host: here is where you can

find the report of the findings of the commission. we have highlighted some of the biggest -- bigger findings on the bill. this call comes from atlanta, georgia, the democrats' line. caller: he has a lot of great points on this matter. this war on drugs is worse than some have made it. [inaudible] it is a big business in america. lawyers, judges, are not the only ones that benefit from it. for the most part, the handwriting is on the wall. we see what is going on. guest: we represent everybody

from the people that want to legalize all drugs to the people and not comfortable legalize anything but to see it much more as a health issue. one of the things we did a few years ago is work with the people in california to put a ballot initiative on for the california voters. it would reduce incarceration by 20,000 nonviolent offenders. it would have shifted from prison parole to rehabilitation. it would have held the prison system accountable to new standards. the prison guards union, the people interested in keeping the prison full, they campaigned against this. they called in the political hierarchy from jerry brown to people on the republican side. they raised money for the alcohol industry, the casinos.

it was a sort of enterprise. there was this prison industrial complex rearing its ugly head. what kind of a society is it when the peoples whose jobs depend upon locking up their fellow citizens have more political power than any other lobby in state legislature? that is something that america should be ashamed of. we need to change it. host: texas, republican line. caller: the bank exchange of the old government. i do not think drugs should be legalized. you cannot go to work if you

were stoned out of your mind. guest: i do not need the government telling my children anything. the government should not have to tell them which drugs they should or should not use. we do not need the government spending tens of billions of dollars of our money to do that. we do not want our kids lying in a cheating. we do not need the government making it a criminal for them to do so. we need responsible parenthood. we need honest drug education. i want the government spending our money on keeping us safe. i want them to go after violent criminals. i want them spending our money on quality health care and education. i want them to invest in tax pain resources in ways that bills of this country rather than the prison industrial complex. i do not think america is going

to go to sodom and gomorrah. i think more people will use drugs, but the total result and total drug problems in america will decline. host: california, democrats line. caller: i cannot have said it better. i am a 52 year-old grandmother. i have had two first cousins die of alcohol-related accidents. fortunately, they did not kill anybody else. alcohol is the worst drug out of there. it is the most unpredictable drug. i grew up in laguna beach. i smoked a lot of pot. i did a little cocaine. i have a 24-year-old daughter retina.

-- right now. i would rather have a five joint hanging out of her mouth than beer. i am all for legalizing marijuana. guest: she makes a very good point. the global commission on drug policy did something in their report. they showed the way drugs are handled -- canceled. then they showed how scientists except the relative risk of those drugs. there is no relationship between them. alcohol and cigarettes. those are the legal drugs. most scientists rank them high up in terms of their relative danger, more so than marijuana. heroin addicts say it is tougher to quit cigarettes than heroin.

cigarettes is causing millions of cancer deaths around the world. heroin can be addictive, but you can remain and live a long live on herren. it does not destroy your bodily organs. it is not like alcohol, or cocaine for that matter. the argument for changing the way we deal with drugs and reducing our reliance on the criminal justice system -- this is not just an argument being made by people on the global commission who do not use drugs. many americans smoke marijuana and do not do harm to anyone else. many have seen the worst that drugs can do, and grown up in families where the addiction was rampant. they see how terrible drugs are,

but they understand that the war on drugs, criminalization in prison is not the way to deal with drugs. there is a new initiative in california called mothers united against the war on drugs. these are parents whose kids are struggling with addictions. some have lost their children to addiction. they are saying as bad as drugs have been, dealing with this with the criminal justice system has made it worse. it has made it more likely that they will end up in jail or prison and be victimized by people behind bars. this debate is not about your experience with drugs. it is about of recognizing that the criminal-justice approach is the wrong way to deal with this stuff. we should deal with a thick and as a health issue. we should hold people responsible if they hurt other people.

for those that use drugs and do no harm to others, leave them alone. host: to you reject the notion of a gateway drug? guest: the national academy of science also rejects it. with respect to marijuana, there is an ounce of truth in a pound of people. -- bull. the vast majority of people who have used marijuana, it includes the last three occupants of the white house, successful businessmen and intellectuals. the vast majority of those

people never went on to use cocaine or heroin. the notion that somehow we can try to reduce heroin addiction in america by cracking down on a 20-year-old smoking marijuana is trying to say that we can reduce motorcycle fatalities by trying to deter bicycle riding. host: massachusetts. caller: the system we have now is not working. they have legalized medical marijuana. eventually, it will sweep the country. and responsibility is what we should be teaching our children. if we teach them that drugs are bad and they can have bad effects, they can choose wisely

what they choose to smoke or drink. guest: marijuana is illegal for medical purposes in 16 states and shortly in washington, d.c. i have played a key role in half of the states deciding to legalize marijuana. in california, the lot is very open ended. it is easy to get a referral for medical marijuana. there are very different models around the country. one of the biggest problems has been in washington. write your member of congress. tell them the federal government needs to get out of the way and

allow them to legalize marijuana for medical purposes. the attorney general was in a row island last week, another state that has legalized marijuana. he asked why did the justice crackdown.' contacted the justice department and play a responsible role in regulating this. many americans believe marijuana should be legal for medical purposes. a bill to legalize marijuana went through the state judiciary committee. such a huge majority of americans say this is the way to go, but we only have 16 states

where it is legal. with enough pressure from citizens, we will see this country make marijuana legal for medical purposes and other uses as well. host: 4 lauderdale florida -- fort lauderdale, fla. independent line. caller: i got robbed. everybody down here is doing drugs. they come here to get the drug. if they cannot get the drug -- tons of people go down the drain. many will rob you. [unintelligible] these people who do drugs have

problems. isolated them. put them in one state. make sure they all go to one place so we all can live in peace. guest: it is a mistake to call 120 million americans scumbags because they may have used drugs once or twice. that is not the way to call people. people use of alcohol or pharmaceutical drugs -- you name it. does not condemn people for what they put in their body. let's make moral judgments about how they treat their fellow citizen. you are making a powerful argument in favor of legalization. the people who were stealing from you were not doing it to support their cigarette habits. if we keep heading down this road, there probably will be fewer cigarette smokers, but the

price will go to $100 for a pack of cigarettes. then people will get mugged by cigarette addict. attics -- addicts. if you do it for coffee, the same thing would happen. if you legalize some of the drugs, and people could get the heroin from legal sources -- it is a painkilling drug. it is not that different than what americans are taking in hospitals and their homes. if this were legally available, heroin addicts could get it from a pharmacy or a clinic in europe. they would not be mugging anybody anymore. people may rob people to support their habit, but it is not the

drug. it is their criminalization, which is increasing the price 30 fold, putting the money in the hands of criminals and obliging others to go out and the support their habit. host: he is the executive director of the drug policy alignments. west palm beach florida, democrats line. caller: it really good form. -- forum. we are fighting a war right now and afghanistan is the poppy plant of the world. thailand, cambodia, cia

operations. this is big business. i do not think a man should be put in jail for smoking a joint. there is a difference between crack cocaine, cocaine, and heroin. there should be limitations. guest: there is evidence that the cia was involved with the hero in business in southeast asia during the 1960's and 1970's. in afghanistan during the 1980's. in every case, it was mostly because the people we were working with in the country's, whether it was the people fighting the taliban, were people who were very good at fighting our enemies, and also

people who supported what they were doing to the sale of drugs. the cia turned a blind eye to this sort of thing. even if the cia had been squeaky clean, the drugs still would have ended up in the united states. if they had never been involved, crack cocaine would have showed up a few weeks or months later. beyond that, certain drugs need to be treated differently. marijuana is a drug. you should not use it as a youngster or get behind a car and drive. for most people, it is relatively less dangerous than the vast majority of the other drugs. most people do not get addicted to it and those that do get

their addiction behind other drugs. most people do not overdose from marijuana. people who have been addicted to street here when and are not able to quit through a drug program or who got methadone, they set of different clinics where they can get a heroin legally. people ended up using less heroin. people were not arrested and reduced other illicit drug use. they got jobs and housing. they did not become zombies. once you use herren for years, you are not knocking off all the time. you are taking something in your body to keep from getting sick.

there was a double blind experiment. they gave half the people heroin and another drug dilaudid. turned out, long-term heroin addicts cannot tell the two.rence between the if we snapped ever fingers and all the people in american hospitals were given here when instead of dilaudid, they would not know the difference. [unintelligible] host: you serve as the executive director of the drug policy alignments.

we appreciate your time this morning. guest: thanks. a pleasure to be on. host: in the last hour, we will take a look at the walter reed medical center. it makes the transition to locations later on this year. we will speak with specific doctors within the center. coming up, we ask the question, is college worth it? college students are getting a chance to drop out a couple of years and give them money to pursue their interests. we will talk about that and other issues as far as college education is concerned. it will take place after this update from c-span radio. >> the conservative bloc for

that first reported on the inappropriate twitter voters w -- posteddy by andy weiner says says he has an inappropriate picture that he will post. he says it is an insurance policy. he went on to say i do not like to think of it that way. turning to the e coli crisis in europe, the foreign chief is proposing over $2 million in aid to help producers hit by the crisis. european agricultural ministers are considering whether farmers can recoup up to 30% of the cost of vegetables that cannot be sold because of the crisis. as of monday, 22 people have died and thousands have been

sickened. c-span will cover a news conference by the ministers. you can hear that later today on c-span radio. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. >> every weekend, american history tv on c-span3. 48 hours of people and events starting saturday morning. what personal interviews about historical events on "oral history. welit features some of the best known history writers. visit college classrooms across the country during lectures in history. but behind the scenes in museums and historical sites on "american artifacts." look at the legacy of past american presidents. you can sign a to have these federal emailed to you by pressing the c-span alert button. >> the c-span network provides coverage of politics, public

affairs, nonfiction books, and american history. it is available to you on television, radio, on line, and social media networking sites. you can check our c-span video library. we take it on the road with ever digital bus and local content video, bringing resources to your community. washington your way, the c-span network. now available in 100 million homes. created by cable, provided as a public service. "washington journal" continues. host: joining us from new york is james o'neill serving as the executive director. we invited you on as a -- to discuss college. before we start, can you tell us a little bit about a program -- that the head of the foundation has on a program.

guest: we want to create an amount of tactical innovation and in america. we want a 24 innovators under 20 years old with a two-year fellowship said they can pursue technological projects. host: you are asking them to drop out of college to do that. guest: they can always go back afterwards. pursuing a technological company is a full-time job. host: tell us about the process of choosing these students. where do they come from? guest: we got more than 400 and applications from more than 20 companies. we brought the final was filed for personal interviews. 24 really brilliant fellows have been picked and announced them last week. host: you are asking them to

take this money to develop something. what guidelines to you give them? what is the goal of this project? guest: the products are up to them. they can change their idea or project. we want them to have something they are passionate about. we are giving a lot of it buys and counseling. we have several mentors from our net worth in silicon valley. we will host regular conferences and other events to give an expert to advise. our hope is that each of them will pursue some idea they are passionate about. with any luck, they will come up with great inventions that will increase the quality of light and the economy. host: why can't they do this while pursuing an education as well? guest: it takes so much time. it is a full-time task.

there is no way to do that while they are taking on a second commitment at the same time. host: is the product making a statement about college education or the dalia of going to college? guest: that is not the primary goal. we are trying to push the economy forward. if we think that a lot of people, college is overpriced. they may not be getting their money's worth if they are paying a lot for college. many are taking financial risks. that is a factor. host: there is research that shows those graduating seniors, the proportion of debt ratio is 55%. guest: that is right.

student debt surpasses credit- card debt of around $1 trillion mark. it is a burden for a lot of people. it prevents them from doing what they really want to do. host: there is something called an education bubble. guest: absolutely. if you think about what people were saying five years ago, they were saying, go ahead, buy a house. it is the same investment. what can go wrong? we know how that ended. we hear something similar. go ahead get a college education. do not worry about the price. he will get it back later. that is inaccurate. a lot of people pay a lot of money and go into debt for a

college degree. they get a job that does not require their degree. other people never graduate. others wind up in not an interesting job and paying a significant amount of debt and interest every month that prevents them from saving money. host: the executive director is with us. if you want to ask questions, call the numbers at the bottom of your screen. you can also e-mail us or send us a tweet. on the website, it shows various students you picked. what happens if they do not succeed at what you want them to do?

guest: it is what they want to do not what we want them to do. they can change their product to something else. that is up to them. everyone is going to work hard on their products. if it does not work out, they can think of a new idea and work on that. our requirements are very minimal. they work hard, they report on their progress, and do not hit any distractions. there are no metrics for performance or achievement. we are confident that they care about that on their own. host: our first call comes from south dakota on our democratic line. caller: i believe there is a segment of the college population that may not be doing

well on several levels that would be excellent candidates for ending their pursuit of a college education and getting employment immediately. i do not think there is a thing like having a college education. i do not want you to discourage a large population from doing so. it looks good on a resume. guest: i generally agree. that is true in a lot of cases. for a lot of people, a college education has value. there is not anything you can say that you can count on a college education. the curriculum in standards are very different. to say a college education means a certain thing is a little bit

vague. a lot of people go to college and do not want very much. others learn a lot. there are other ways of learning things, skills. everyone should think seriously about their own situation when they are a teenager about the different possibilities before them and think hard about the costs. make a wise decision. for some people, it means going to college. for others, it does not. host: conn. caller: are you talking about the cost? we need more knowledge to do anything. is it a cost only? what is your premise? please explain. guest: there are reasons to be

concerned about how much knowledge and the price. a study was released a few weeks ago that says that 36% of college students after four years have learned very little. 45% over two years. people on the other side of the equation -- many people are probably not learning very much. the amount of knowledge people are getting barry is wyeth -- widely. the price is a concern as well. host: with the high school graduates, the rate is 10%. those with some college and in the degree is about 9.2% as far as unemployment. college graduates, about 5.4%.

greensboro, north carolina. caller: i just graduated from college last year. i think the real problem is that people are not given a chance to learn what they are fed at and apply themselves to a specific field. if you are talented in something, you should get the skills. you should get a chance to be who you are. if you cannot go to the school you want to reject i went to my college because we had a great library. i like to read.

i can do other things. host: what degree do you have? caller: theater. i am working on becoming an actor. guest: i think he makes a good point. there are probably weighs high school could do a better job preparing people. maybe some people, different kinds of math courses. high school can give people skills that can be useful. college should not be a remedial high school. different skills are suitable for different careers. host: new jersey, republican line. caller: of a like to ask about

the role of government spending in giving money to colleges. is that one reason why tuitions are so expensive? guest: whenever government subsidizes something, usually it creates more supply and awesome makes the price wars. that is a good observation. we have seen government spending on education go up dramatically over the past decades and tuition has gone up dramatically. host: there are several comments about this program when it came out. one came from this person who says this. guest: my initial response is

that we are not doing an experiment but trying to create real companies. we are trying to create a real difference. it is not an experiment but a real life. if we were doing an experiment, it would be easel to quibble with which 20 people we pick or staying in school and so forth. it is not an experiment but real life. we pick real people. they are passionately committed, and i think they will do really good work. host: do they come from ivy league schools or state schools? what is the spread? guest: we ended up with 24 finalist instead of 20. some came from very delete old

universities. some came from state schools, even community colleges. several were seniors in high school. host: sun city, fla.. caller: i am concerned about the high cost of a college education. it cost me $5,000 a year to go to college around 1965. i had professors that had doctorate degrees not graduate students. i look at the situation now. students can watch a lecture on their computer. they do not have to leave home to get a college education. they just go to a room and get

tested now and then. host: is technology changing higher education? guest: absolutely. some universities are putting lectures on line. more changes in the next five or 10 years. people start embracing the value of lectures delivered over the internet, of books being cheaper. interactive courses in the new companies create new designs for teachers interacting with students. is will drive the real cost of knowledge and skill based education down dramatically. prices for degrees will continue to go up. host: democrats line. caller: i am really enjoying the show today. i hope people are realizing that

what james is doing is not taking your average kin but needs to be motivated. he is taking motivated, passionate kids that are already on a path to great things into nurturing that. that is what is lacking in our system. capitalism and education do not mix. you can see that schools are a business right now. the amount of tuition increases year over year. it does not match the rate of pay that one would get for having such a degree. i did not finish my degree when i went to school. i took that information and applied it to the work force. i was able to raise myself up. i was making more than my sister who graduated from columbia

university in her field. i did not have as much debt as she had. that speaks to the direction the chu program is taking. -- that your program is taking. guest: thank you. i generally agree with what he said. there are lots of way to learn business skills and other skills and reading books and working at a business is one good way to learn business. host: kentucky, republican line. caller: i have a general comment about the question itself. when you are asking the question that is education worth it, the premise is that it is all about economics. education has been more about a profit and loss or balance sheet. that is what we are missing in

the debate itself. education is way beyond measuring in monochromatic economic tones. the very premise of the question belittles the whole concept of education itself. host: is there a way to look at the value of an education other than the kind of job it get you on the other end? guest: of course. a lot of the defenses of the cost of college depends on the value of education. i agree with the caller that a lot of the virtues and knowledge and wisdom you can gain from education -- but there is something to say about it. many colleges and many courses that people select do not deliver on things like that.

it isn't worth it to expand your mind and learn a lot of wisdom. the moment you say -- it is worth it to expand your mind in one another of wisdom. host: is there a way you can take traditional ways of education and tweak it to make it more viable added for the students involved? guest: a lot of the cost comes from this legacy system, having large people in classrooms. i think more customized, and time sensitive, electronic means can deliver a lot of the same information in a more cost- effective way. host: virginia, independent line. caller: good morning.

i went to a community college in the state college in the 1980's. college tuition was affordable back then. i have an eye to the degree. in both cases, the decree became somewhat obsolete. degree. was an i.t. if we have to work longer, we may not get hired because of our age. so we may have to start our own businesses. that is what i'm looking into. guest: that is a great goal.

some people are not interested in starting their own businesses. but it is a great experience in the teaches you a lot. with any luck, it will work out and he will run a business for the rest of your life. the younger the better. it is much easier to take on the risk. host: the 24 students that you chose, tell us why these students stood out among the other applicants. what was the common denominator? guest: a demonstrated an ability to think independently. they were willing to take a different path than those of their peers planning to go straight from high school to college or college to graduation.

there was an amount of independence of thought. we asked them as a questions to show they were willing to think independently of their peers. that was very important to us. we were looking for a background in science or technology failed to show that they understood a field well enough to make a contribution to it. we look for an -- a spirit to run something, to be the final authority, making life and death decisions for a company. we found that in all of them. it was an impressive group of people. host: was it a paper application or did you talk face-to-face with the candidates? guest: we got 400 paper applications. we did phone interviews. we narrowed it down to 45

finalists. we interviewed all of them in person in san francisco. we narrowed it down to 24 after that. it was a lengthy process and a lot of fun. they are great people. host: can you tell us some of the things they are working on? guest: day span a variety of technical fields. all kinds of career development, education, a variety of technical fields. there are a wide array of projects. there is no due date.

we announced the winners a week ago. they can start their product formally in 2011. one-third of them will start by the end of june and the others later in the year. they are committing not to be enrolled in school for two years. they are taking a grant of $100,000 over those years. our hope is that they will start a successful company in greenwich for the next 20 years. there is no point in time to say whether they are happier or otherwise. host: idaho, democrats line. caller: i have a 14-year-old son starting high school. he can take a dual credit courses in his junior and senior year, which costs less money

than enrolling in the university here. he wants to go to the army. he is in the rotc program where they explain what it is. he can get $600 a month while he goes to school for the last 10 years. i told him, i would pay for it, as long as he stays home. the only expense we have is tuition and books. this would cost less and they would not have to go in debt on student loans. in the beginning, he disagreed with me. now he says, that is a good idea. i can go to the military, have access to federal programs, and they would pay for it. -- graduate programs, and they would pay for it.

guest: i would want teenagers to think through all of their choice is very clearly. make sure you understand what you're getting out of college, what your commitment is, what might happen in terms of military engagement. and for all of the options. those going to college locally than faraway may be cost- effective just as not going to college because effective for other people. encourage your son to think carefully about the cost and benefits of all of the options. host: tell us the background of permission from the founder. guest: he went to college and law school. that was the thing that all of his peers were doing in the early 1990's. he did the same.

but he has often said recently is that he would think more carefully about the costs and benefits and the time commitment. that is how his career started. host: he's a co-founder of paypal? guest: that is right. they started the company out of nothing. within a few years, they built a very successful business with millions of customers, which they sold to ebay. host: what is your educational background, and would you have chosen the same track today? guest: i have a college and a master's degree. if i were really good at phonology -- technology, i would

like to think i would have pursued that. i was more conventional in those days and it did not have a great idea for a company. i did with the crowd was doing and went to college. caller: hawaii, and the pannell line. -- host: kawai, independent line. caller: i think you have a great concept. the pictures you show us of the kids, they look very intelligent. what do you think about the long term cost of college and tuition for the future? is that over 100,000?

300,000? guest: i think the answer depends on what people are willing to pay. over the past 25 years, inflation has taken away half the value of every dollar. health-care costs have gone up twice as rapidly as price inflation. four times gone oup as much as other prices. at some point, something has to change. a lot more people are starting to question the price and ask if it is really worth it for really needed. that seems to be building some momentum. for a lot of people, they are

willing to pay almost any amount, more than the current prices, because it is prestige or status. the prices may go up rapidly. for other people, other forms of education, online education, other ways of getting skills while working -- as they become more prominent, you'll probably see more downward pressure on prices. predicting the future price of college depends on what people are willing to pay and how they think about it. host: give your thoughts on what happens now with your 20 under 20 program. what do you hope to learn at the end of the day? guest: i hope we will see 24 really smart people in two years saying they had a great

experience in created a great company. a look back on their air original idea and saw that it had to be shifted and adjusted. they work with great people and form a great team with people. they inspire a lot of people to think about doing what they did. in a few months, we will announce of ramifications for our next round of skilled fellows. we posted announcement on our 20.come 2,0under we are very much looking forward to continuing this program and having a lot program. host: thielfoundation.org is the

web site if you want to learn more about the program. in the last hour we focus on the work at the walter reed army medical center. we will talk about futures -- future changes and we will meet some of the personnel. all of that after this update. >> here are some of the latest updates on c-span radio. president obama welcomes the german chancellor to the white house today. they are expected to discuss a wide-range of issues including nato operations in afghanistan and libya, the middle east peace process, in the world economy. later on, a formal white house dinner. c-span live coverage begins at 8:00 eastern. one person buying for the job of president, tim plenawlenty, proposes a tax plan that would cut taxes on businesses by more than half.

he will be speaking in the president's home town. it is his first speech since announcing his candidacy. political report this hour that new talking bridge, who has been on a vacation cruise in will be back in new hampshire early tomorrow. he will not be campaigning for president. he is scheduled to attend an evening screening of "nine days that change the world." he will attend a screening, but has no other even schedule. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. >> jill abramson will be the first editor of "the new york times." is one of the more than 100,000 people you can search and watch for free any time. it is washington your way.

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span.org. it is all searchable other c- span video library. c-span, washington your way. a public service created by america's cable companies. >> on your screen right now, the walter reed army medical center. congress authorized the walter reed general hospital and its first authorization had 10 patients. it was named after major walter reed. it is located on 113 acres currently in washington, d.c., which is where we're basing our live shot this morning. as you follow the course of the history and future, you know it is in the process of being moved to two locations. joining us to talk about that process and other issues is colonel norman kouth.

thank you for joining us this morning. >> thankguest: thank you. it is a pleasure to be here today. host: for those of who have not been following that closely, can you give a short history about how this move came to be? guest: we are at 99 days to official closure under the base realignment and closure commission guidelines. this will close down completely, the entire base. we are 51 days from the major transitional ceremony. we start the actual transitional movement north to national naval medical center that we are partnering with to create the wall street national military center will -- which will be the biggest, baddest military center in the world.

a third of my staff transition to the community hospital 30 miles to the south of us which is a bride -- free and new ground up construction. one of the newest hospitals in the military system and what we hope will be the cookie cutter design for military hospitals in the future. host: can you give a little bit of history on each of the centers and what will be focused on at each of these centers. guest: here at walter reed we have been doing for your care. then the law changed to allow wish to do beneficiary care. that is spouses and family members of retirees and military personnel. that work will continue at each location. right now we are in the 10th year of the global war on terror, and one of the things we have come to be known for the expertise in is for your care, and particularly and beauty care, those who have lost limbs in the conflict and are going

through rehabilitation and developing in working with different companies in the design of different prosthetic devices to return folks to some semblance of normal or new abilities out of disabilities. that work will continue to go on, and that has become our expertise to our military advance training center. that military advance training system will move to the bethesda campus on an area that is larger and a little bit better designed than the current design. the weight of warrior care, a particularly in beauty care and those with traumatic brain injury will go on at the bethesda campus. downtown is a large academic community hospital, so it will care for wounded warriors that are less complex than those severely wounded and injured than those that we have a walter reed currently. host: about 150 military

personnel is what is being served at the congress, although it is 35 patients per day. how do you keep the current level of service happening for those who depend on it in the midst of the transition? guest: we really have not veered from the core business. here at walter reed we do 775,000 outpatient visits per year. that is business as usual, and we're very good at doing that. we have been able to do that without a hiccup as we prepare the transition. we are partnering with the national navy medical center. that is their core business as well. when you bring these organizations together, the core business gets bigger, but it gets better also. then we start to transition our piece of the warrior care over to the north facility, so it is a natural progression. at the national navy medical

center, they take care of mostly head injuries, brain injuries. that is their expertise, where as ours is the npt care. we're really tearing them together and treating the whole soldier at one location. host: our guest will be with us for the next 25 minutes to talk about the efforts there at walter reed. you can ask a question by doing the following. call the numbers on your screen. if you have bound yourself being treated or correctly treated at walter reed, we're interested in hearing from you as well. here is the number -- you can also e-mail as questions at the journal@cspan.org. are you ready for this

transition, and if you could, would you need more time or ask for more time? guest: we're absolutely ready. we are on track. and everything that i can control, it is well under control. we are meeting all of the time lines. we are ready. what people do not realize is the organization has been relatively flat since the late 1990's. our staff at both facilities, at bethesda and walter reed, have gone back and forth routinely. this is really a smooth and easy transition. i do not control construction or the weather, but other than that, we are green and good to go. host: if you find yourself treated at walter reed army medical center, the number on your screen. connecticut on the independent line.

steven, you are on with norvell coots. caller: thank you for taking my call. good morning. the soldiers are really strong mentally, but recovering from these catastrophic injuries in some cases, family support is really important. my question is, how do you incorporate the family and to recovery? also, the congress. you have a lot of big supporters. do you guys get eaten up financing? -- get enough financing? guest: one of the things we recognize is that we have a more varied force than ever before. during the vietnam era, soldiers were not married. they are now. we recognize it is not just the

solar -- sailor or soldier or airman that is injured, but it is the entire family. we get the casualties here within 48 to 72 hours of being injured on the battlefield. this is the first place that families come to see their spouse, son, daughter, husband or wife, so we recognize we have to wrap our arms around the family and care for them just as well as we care for the wounded warrior. we like the family members to stay in the room with the patient if at all possible. we like them to be there during their inpatient and outpatient therapy. we also infiltrates them into the military health system and into the military, because very often these young warriors get married 30 days before going off to battle, and within 30 days they're coming back and that young spouse has never even got military i.d. card. we have an assistant center here that is one-stop shopping for

all of those needs to give them ids to deal with the financial issues, because it is a financial strain on family members to come here and be with family members as well. we have very strong systems. we have a family support group and family readiness group. they take care of meeting -- they take care of meeting a lot of the family needs as well. we have more than 570 charitable organizations that support us in some way, shape, or form and do things the federal government cannot do. that is from little old ladies and pennsylvania who knit blankets to big corporations the provide corthings for room, take them to dinner and local restaurants. there is one organization that lies the family members out in las vegas to get them away. we are very lucky in that respect. as to financing, absolutely, the

congress is behind it. the american people are really behind us. i am very lucky as well. anytime i have a financial need, all i have to do is raise that through the channels and my needs are met. host: richmond, virginia. carry on the independent line. caller: i do not know a lot of background with this medical center. my first question is why are you moving? my second question is why it is there two different centers? why isn't there just one big center? guest: that is a very good question. if you look at the map of the nation's capital you would see there is the walter reed centile in the heart of the capital. about 10 miles from it is malcolm grow air force hospital. there is can grow hospital at

fort meade. about 30 or so different support net clinics -- subordinate clinics all in a very small area. when congress looked at it, they realize we need to capitalize on the efficiencies that we have. the closure of walter reed in the middle of washington seemed the logical conclusion. we are landlocked. there's not a lot of opportunity to expand on this campus. when we drew a line down the middle of the nation's capital and looked at the beneficiary capital, there is the same amount of beneficiaries north of us as out of us. it made sense that when we close things down and consolidated to put a major medical center in the north where there is a large beneficiary population, and that would be the main center for training and things like that. then two and large facility bedded down at fort bellcore 40

miles to the south of us because of the large population living there. as far south as fredericksburg and even richmond, virginia. host: charleston, south carolina. john on the independent line. caller: i was stationed at walter reed from 1970 to 1980. i was part of the transition team from the old hospital to the new hospital. i do not think they should really be moving, and i have talked to people who are not very happy about walter reed coming over there because of the traffic that will occur. i think they are perfectly ok with they are at. i do not see a reason why they should be moving. guest: i hear that a lot, and we recognize walter reed has been such an important hospital to so many people. there is a legacy here.

there are people born here that are still working here. closing walter reed is like the death of your favorite uncle. we recognize it is part celebration, but part week in the general. as for people not being have become the no one is ever happy to lose a family member or lose their home. this is a merger. this is the largest mature -- merger in the history of the military health system. anytime there is a loser someone feels like a winner and a loser. in this case, everyone is a winner because the american service member will get the best care consolidated at one location in the north, and those in the south will get equal care down there as well. for me, it is a tremendous opportunity to move towards the future and eventually towards a unified medical command. host: how many doctors are currently at walter reed? guest: i have about 1500

doctors. there are more than 5000 staff members here at the hospital. host: will all of those positions be wrote -- be relocated? guest: everyone will leave. two-thirds of the staff will go to bethesda. one-third will go to the south. host: will you have an increased amount of operating rooms and things you need to conduct your business daily or will they stay the same? guest: everything increases in scope and size. in fact, there are renovation programs going on right now for the older operating rooms at the suspect to increase in size and put towers and that can handle all of the new technology that we are installing in the facilities in an ongoing process. across the street area of operations you will see an enhanced capability for surgical services. one of the things we're also

doing is using fort meade and malcolm air force center to use as the ambulatory service center for north and south of the market. we are adopting a lot of civilian practices in terms of surgeries and things like that and putting that into the plans for the joint area of operations here. host: the average patient per day is 200. that is down from the 1990. there are 14 operating rooms and 650 operations per month. as far as that is concerned, 67 6700 x rays done per day. akron, ohio. thank you for waiting. dorothy on the democrat line. caller: i was an officer and commander in the united states military, air force.

i have gone to the vet center, a phoenix va, and brett bell, and i would like to know, and also been up to the va ig, secretary of the current the day, on the torturous of use of veterans. i have witnessed it and had it, sir. this includes veterans who are 100% disabled and have been insulted by counselors refuse and are not even say, competent, or qualified to deal with their trauma. this is sexual trauma. i have witnessed of falsification of records. i have attempted to report to multiple directors in which veterans continue to be of use, and i as a survivor of sexual trauma in the military and have severe ptsd had to intervene to help keep alive a veteran because the va in phoenix would

not stop the abuse of her through counseling and other things. host: we will have to leave it there. if you could respond. guest: i could not really respond on behalf of the veterans administration, because that is a separate secretariat, but i will tell you there are important lessons we're learning. we're learning more and more about posttraumatic stress disorder. we're learning about more and more traumas that do occur in theater. the surgeon general's office has put together several study groups that have gone into theater and look at the operations and interviewed folks. this is a work in progress. it is an ongoing thing. we have created some additional programs and really put a lot of effort into enhancing and enlarging the borough hall capabilities to handling a lot

of these issues at the front end. so often a lot of these issues do not materialize until six, nine months, 18 months down the line come in so often they're not in the care of the military system. we're working very closely with the veterans administration to actually work on them as they develop. host: the relationship between walter reed and veterans affairs, are they two ventures? guest: they are separate ventures overall, but we are partnering with the veterans administration more and more. here we partner with the local be in terms of prosthetics and the care of the npt, because all of these things can be applied to a beauties of previous wars and those that are amputees secondary to diseases like diabetes and motta terry -- and

motor vehicle accidents. i think in the future you will see the veteran administration and the department of defense grow closer and closer together. host: for those treated at walter reed -- we are focusing on the work of walter reed army medical center. joining us now for the next seven or eight minutes, colonel norvell coots. how long have you been out walter reed? guest: i have been here a little over three years now. host: san antonio, texas. go ahead. caller: this will never work.

they sent a general down to the army hospital command. in less than one year. nobody won services from their command to take over. they cannot go back. they will be stuck with it. host: next call is boston, massachusetts. democrats line. chris. caller: i had a couple of questions regarding my real dramatic brain injury. my understanding it is hard to diagnose regular traumatic brain injury in does not show up on a conventional mri or ct scan. i am wondering if the army is looking into new types of imaging techniques such as diffusion temperature imaging, a genetic transfer imaging,

magnetic functioning, or functional techniques? guest: well, i cannot answer that question specifically, because i am not the technical expert. i know there were a lot of new protocols using new technology to more clearly elucidate mild traumatic brain injury from the more severe cases. one of the thing that is happening as part of this transition is there is a brand new national interest bird center of excellence for ptsd that has been billed and open on the campus of bethesda directly across the street from the new walter reade national military center, and they are the facility that has been charged with doing all of the research, all of the four-cleaning technology looks to attempt to clarify these disorders and all of their manifestations in presentations. -- forward-leaning technology

looks to attempt to clarify these disorders and all of their manifestations and presentations. the average stay at walter reed is probably about a year. patients have stayed here as long as three or four years. the better we get with the new techniques, the shorter amount of time patients day. we are doing the system of onward movement where the patient stays long enough to get the exact care they need and then we move them forward to medical facilities closer to home. host: what are you commonly treating their? guest: most of what we're seeing right now in terms of combat casualties are imputations. the signature weapon of the work currently is the improvised explosive device, and because we do not have the mounted patrols as much, we are seeing a extremity trauma. the body armor is protecting the

individual and saving the life, and when they get to us, it is our job to reconstruct them and rehabilitate them and give them their lives back. host: in a general sense are advances in technology ending up in the kind of replacement that folks are getting when they get there? guest: absolutely. the work that folks are getting now is incredible. we are partnering with medical centers for the latest in the upper and lower extremity prosthetic devices that can mimic or actually improved the outcomes with our patients. if you aren't upper extremity patient, you leave with at least three upper extremity devices. if you are lower extremity, you leave with one or two prosthetic legs. the ft the lices allow you to do -- the new foot devices allow

you to do things you have never done before. host: the next call is from hudson, florida. for those who have been treated at walter reed. terry, go ahead. caller: i was an amputee from the vietnam war, and i have a son of walter reed army center right now. problem is he is national guard. i was an inpatient at walter reed. we got convalescent leaves to come home. however, he is national guard and he is outpatient, and he does not get those times to come home. i was wondering if something could be done to make it a little fairer for national guard skies. that is all. thank you. guest: that is a good point. there are different regulations

from the reserve component in the national park, but i will tell you the military leadership right now is trying to peel back all the bureaucratic barriers and look at equalizing the benefits they get for patients across the board. we have a really good system for moving patients for full dependence to independence. there are some regular -- regular requirements we have to meet for what we can do for active duty forces vs. retired forces. i think in the future you will see no separation between them. all service members that are here are currently treated equally, and i think that will be done across the board and services as well. and host: when the census this e-mail. she says what -- sends us this email.

guest: that article was about the administrative things. since then we have built the military advanced training center, the first of its kind in the world where we do care for amputees. we built the first ever warrior care clinic, which is a model -- model for other medical centers. in less than a year everything that was identified in those articles was corrected and improved upon, and many things that were not. that gave us opportunity to do everything we wanted to do and said the system of the way we wanted to to best care for those war years. host: one more call. barber from washington, d.c.. arbra from washington, d.c. caller: could you tell us what will happen to the current

campus. guest: the campus will pretty much be split in half. the original hospital in southern part of the campus goes to the district of columbia for their produce. the northern part goes to the state department where i believe they want to create it in the strait of buildings. -- where i believe they want to create some administrative buildings. there are a lot of organizations that want to come in and put health care here, shops, upscale homes, homeless facilities. all kinds of things are being talk about right now, but that is as far as i know. host: for those currently there, when will they be transferred to either facility? guest: the transition has already started. we have started to move clinical operations to bethesda already appeared in in about 60 days you really start to see the big moves north and south, and all

of those will be completed by the end of august. host: that includes patients as well? guest: that is correct. the patients they will move last, and that will be the end of august. host: colonel norvell coots has been joining us as part of our discussion about the future of the walter reed army medical center. thank you. we are located live at the center. it's it's on 113 acres. our c-span cameras are there. we will continue on with discussions from various guess there. as we get them in place, we will give the shots of the campus. it was named after major walter reed. you heard about operations that are currently going on there, especially as the future locations become in place. as you look at shots of the campus, we will continue on with

the calls. harrisburg, pennsylvania. bobby on the line. caller: i am a veteran, and i also worked at walter reed for 20 years, and i just cannot comprehend why they want to close the center. but since it is already been my opinion is it would be more convenient to be at walter reed to travel to and they will have opportunity to visit the nation as well and see many monuments that have been placed in the washington, d.c., area. i think you for listening to my call. -- thank you for listening to my call. caller: i think the whole thing is a bit first. it amazes me how the federal government can find money to fund wars for people who died,

and of the same time we cannot fund health care for seniors for people in the inner cities, and it is reflective of the congress. this country is whack. i want to have a debate on washington journal about reparations for african americans for 400 years of slavery, and i want republicans and democrats do have a good discussion with that. thank you. host: we are waiting on our guests to join us as we continue on the discussion of the future of the walter green mother -- walter reed medical center. here is again just to refresh your memory, 150,000 military personnel who currently serves more than that there. 5500 rooms and more than 28 acres of floor space is what comprises the army medical center. 35 patients roughly are admitted

per day. the average is a patient is about 200. that is down from 700 that was seen during the gulf war. the walter reed medical center consists of the army hospital. they ambulatory center in fort meade. dayton, ohio. go ahead. caller: i am active duty military. i was at walter reed for quite some time. i just wanted to know why they would close it and moved to a new facility. i understand bill whole situation, but you put so much money into it over the past year if you knew you were moving, why would you stop putting some of money into it. host: is it just accosting a

concern to, or are there other factors? caller: cost and location. what it will do to the community of silver springs in the d.c. area. host: how long were you there? caller: over a year. i am a double amputee that got injured in iraq. the care was great while i was there. host: can you give specifics? caller: i would rather not. caller: i am a veteran myself, and i had a son in the last two weeks who has had care at walter reed hospital. my first time ever visiting walter reed hospital, but i was most impressed with staff. i was most impressed with the

quality of treatment he got, and i was most impressed with the cleanliness. of course he was not in a rocky veteran or afghanistan, and so therefore he was not in any of those parts. but my concern is closing walter reed. i heard someone else echo what i'm getting ready to say. i understand the building has been renovated, and it is up to par, and here we are getting ready to close at a much necessary facility for the people who were in the immediate area. i at one time may have to use walter reed center, and i am a senior citizen now. it would be very difficult for me to try to get over to bethesda or where ever they are talking about transferring these people.

it is just we do not need closing of touch and hospital, we need as many as we can get, because all of the young men and women who are coming back to our going to be dependent upon us for the next 30 or 40 years of their lives. host: we will leave it there. we're joined by two others from the walter reed army medical center. on your right of the screen mcleana.paul the cleanu can you tell us a little bit about your time at walter reed and what brought you to the center? caller: i was an infantry platoon leader with this ticket and a tree division out of washington. in august of 2009 when we deployed in theater, after being in leader four months i was leading up foot patrol with my

platoon and i stepped on an idd in the middle of the night and lost both of my legs. -- stepped on an ied. i was in patient care for about four months. the first couple of weeks to amount was spent in i see you. a transition toward 57, which is the famous war here at walter reed. i did my four months in-patient care. since then i have been an outpatient. i live on the campus known in the malone house for several months before i moved into an apartment in the town of silver spring where i continue to do outpatient physical therapy. host: talk about the specifics of your rehab. guest: it is a totally new endeavor. it is something i never considered doing in my life.

no one ever really thinks they will get seriously injured and end up using prosthetics, so i knew nothing about it before i got involved with it. i am a pretty tough case. out of both of my legs i only have 12 inches of femur left. on my right side i left the entire legs. -- i lost the entire leg. it makes using a traditional prosthetic device extremely difficult. i spend most of my time doing physical 3 havrehab. we also have to consider how to best fit the prosthetic devices to my body because that is a bit of an issue because i am missing some much of my legs. host: as far as your current date is concerned, tell us about what you do day to day as far as rehab goes.

guest: day today is pretty simple. i come in for an hour or two hours of physical read debilitation. depending on how legs -- how well the legs are working or gained or lost weight, the daily fluctuation can affect a figment of the legs. using to prosthetic legs if we make a correction on 12 -- one on monday, the other leg will be a little off. sometimes it is followed up by another couple of hours working with a prosthetic team. that is my official duty besides coming in for formations and paperwork every now and then. on my own i am studying to go to graduate school next year. i am also a certified pierre mentor. on occasion at a therapist will ask me to speak to another patient. i will talk to them and advise them on the road ahead and see how they are doing.

host: we are also joined by dr. pasadena. talk was about how prosthetics art changing. guest: as colonel norvell coots stated earlier, there have been significant advances and prosthetics over the years, but they have not reached the point where they can replace a human hand or a human leg. so there has been some tremendous advances in the technology, but we still have a lot of challenges ahead of us. host: when someone comes in, what are some of the things that has to be considered when someone is fitted for process that it? fitted for prosthetics.

guest: one of the more challenging areas is when this didn't comes into contact with the prostatic. during the day scan fluctuates in size so how'd you come up with the sock it that will accommodate the fluctuation in size? additionally, if you have an amputation very proximal, there is very little for that prosthesis to hold onto. so we're looking at a lot of different ways, partnering with industry and academic centers, and listening to those users, the customers, but more importantly our service members, and they are identifying their needs and we're trying to meet them from a development and research standpoint. host: how much prostatic work is done year to year at walter reed? guest: we have seen over 1200 individuals that have been

injured in either iraq or afghanistan with loss of a major limb. many of those have lost more than one limb. so quite a bit is done, especially if you start adding on the multiple limbs and the multiple fittings that are involved with finding the right prostheses for the individual. most of our work, if not all of our work, is really individualized. each individual that we see has their different goals and objectives for their life, different challenges as well as an atomic challenges, so we tried to meet each person's goals individually. host: the numbers will stay the same on the screen if you want to talk either of our guests. if you of a question for a specific guest, please address to you want to talk to. gary on the independent line. go ahead. caller: i was calling just to

say how much we appreciated walter reed over the years. my mom that my dad there when he came back from world war ii and was stationed there after he had been injured. i was born there, and my dad actually spent his last year there when he passed a couple years back getting care there for cancer. and i just want to say all the times we came to visit him, spent time there, the care they get to all of the wounded soldiers was fantastic, and we really appreciate it. host: washington, d.c.. sharon on the democrats won. caller: i am ex-military. i am from d.c. i have seen the renovations of walter reed. my statement may be cannot be answered by the gentleman there, but since walter reed has been

reconstructed and everything is up to par and were meeting all of the necessities as far as taking care of our veterans, of our military personnel, with the cost of the economy right now, i tend to find it hard to understand why there will be a need to put all of the money into this new location hostn. guest: how does the press that a court change with the transfer to the new location? guest: right now walter reed has been modified in response to the war to meet the demands of our injured service members. we added on the military advance training center to help supplement a lot of the work that needed to be done, and what

we have done with the new bethesda campus is to incorporate that into the medical center itself so that it should improve efficiencies, as well as offer more services to not only our injured service members, to other beneficiaries as well. and host: you set as a peer you talk to various groups there. -- you said as a peer you talk to various groups there. talk a little bit about morale and your experience. guest: the morale here is very interesting. we have unfortunately a lot of seriously-winded service members, which initially when they learned of their wins a lot of the guys go shortly unconscious after being injured, once they come to grips with the severity of their wounds and what it means for the rest of their life, there is an initial

disappointment. at the same time we have a great mix of soldiers here of wounded veterans, and we're all going through the same thing, so i tell people very shortly that it is like a locker room environment. when i am wearing my prosthetic legs and sweating like crazy and working really hard, i look around and see there are other guys that have been through the exact same thing like me and they are more advanced in their recovery. then i look to the other side and see there are other servicemen that are wounded the same as i am, but they are a couple months behind me so they're going through everything i have already been through. quite frankly i see a lot of guys that are one did worse than i am. it definitely comes down to your individual personality, how strong of a support network you have. whether he still have your spouse or girlfriend or boyfriend, all of those things

factor in. my role as a patient is mostly just to listen to guys and evaluate them on an individual level. some guys i can say you will be fine, work hard, but then sometimes you have to be a little more tender. some of our patients do not come from a good solid support network and they need more care. host: port orange, florida. brian, go ahead. caller: i am watching the program of the sacrifice of many soldiers who have come and gone after i did. in 1991 i spent a year at walter reed after the persian gulf war where i was diagnosed with cancer. i was in a very late stage of lymphoma. dr. nicole lee was my doctor. she was an internship on the oncology war. she saved my life's, and the the

sad to see walter reed closing, but it is just an incredible place. it has affected so many people over 70 years, and i have two wonderful children and have been out of the military some time, but i am humbled by people like this young captain and other people that lost so much more than i did, but it is just amazing, and it is a sad day when it does close. host: for those like the and who come in, what is the prospect of normalcy once they leave the program and fitted and back to being rehabilitated? guest: i think you cannot understate the challenges that our service members and their families face coming back with some very severe injuries. some of those physical, some of those emotional.

helping them rebuild their lives is obviously a privilege and an honor for all of us on the walter reed staff, as well as of bethesda. but as i said before, and as dan just said, every individual is unique. everyone has their own individual social support system. so we recognize that is a very important part of the recovery and rehabilitation, and therefore do our best to incorporate family members, loved ones, into their rehab. our therapy in area, and they -- very encouragement and determination to get through this i think we all find inspirational. host: is walter reed doing the job as far as the mental and emotional needs that those that come in their need as part every have? guest: i would say without a

doubt it is. again you have to look at every patient as an individual. some of us require a lot more help and support than others. i would also say there is quite honestly only so far you can take some people. from what i have seen is the great job they have done. when skies are doing the physical rehabs, if they choose to take advantage of the program, they have all kinds of options for educational rehabilitation. vocational rehabilitation. our guys are set up with internships, both private-sector and public-sector. the physical rehab is only part of the program. the other part is realizing maybe will not be as physically active as you used to be. i cannot be an infantry platoon leader in the war, but i can go to a business school and work in a prosthetic industry and help

out other people that are in my same situation, so if our patients, regardless of rank or college graduates or non-college graduate, if they look beyond their injury and decide i am going to push on with my life, i am lucky to be alive, this will be ok, then if they want to take advantage of what walter reed has to offer, they can. host: those who have -- you said initially those who have been bombed out initially. was that your case? guest: i was conscious for couple of minutes after i inpped on deptthe ied afghanistan. then i was in a medically- induced coma. i had 25 years of a great life with legs. i was very physically active. i did marathons'. i like to go hiking and play soccer.

i quickly realized that none of that -- i will not be able to do any of that again in my life, but i am getting back to realizing there are more important things in life than running marathons and playing soccer. that is where i started to see the lining in the clouds i guess. once i found something i could be passionate about again outside the army. i think my recovery really started to take a turn for the better. host: if you could, would you serve a down? -- you serve again? guest: yeah, without a doubt. caller: i would like to say congratulations to the colonel and a job you guys are doing. i appreciate your service. and i too am a retired military veteran, and a question for the captain is, how hard was it for

you to get emotionally back into wanting to get yourself prepared to continue to serve in the military? guest: to be honest, it was fairly easy i would say. again, i had my dark days early on. i was really disappointed about my injury, but i realized that it is not the most important thing in life, and most of all i realize there are plenty of americans, combat veterans and non-combat veterans have much harder challenges to face than i ever will, even with the loss of my legs. in terms of continuing my are reservists, that is an option for me. -- my army service. i think i could stay in and contribute. it is something i seriously thought about, but i decided the best route for me -- what i want

to do is enter the biotechnology sector in prostatic specific specifically from the business side of things. if i do that, i will be able to help many americans. from kids in car accidents to people with debilitating diseases, and i think that will be very rewarding. host: what is the future hold? -- what does the future hold? guest: having a new generation of people that have lost limbs, bringing incredible intelligence and determination and innovation we will see great things and prosthetics. the biggest movement obviously in the lower lives will be introducing a power back into the lower limb prosthetics. right now the majority of them

are passive devices. they don't substitute for muscles that were lost. by incorporating voters we will be able to see much more -- lasting effects for individuals with lower limb loss. in terms of the upper limbs, the sky is the limit. we can build robots that can do virtually anything. the big challenge is how an individual can control that in a way that is more humanistic. a lot of research is being done. it is very exciting to be a part of that research, but at the same time very humbling to see the injured service members and all of those with when lost. host: what is the cost versus upper limbs vs lower limbs? guest: i have been asked this question all lot.

we're very fortunate and uniform, how you put a price on someone's hand? have you put a price on someone's leg? -- how do you put a price on someone's leg? it is very difficult to answer that question. every individual has the book -- different needs, and we do our best to meet those needs. host: what is the cost for an actual leg and actual arms. guest: you have to understand the billing mechanism that excess with in the united states is probably not an interesting topic for many of the listeners, but when you start discussing cost of a prosthesis, elise and the civilian community, that includes the services associated with it. -- at least in the civilian community, that includes the services associated with it as

well. and then do initial training in terms of use of the prosthesis, so if you're talking about the individual component versus the service, it is much different. the individual component, what you see is as new technology comes on the market, it is fairly expensive. as we learn that technology, as we decide or learn that what components are better than others, then obviously those costs go down significantly. we also have to realize there is a business component to this. we can have great ideas for prosthetic limbs, but we needed industry partners that will fabricate those limbs. you cannot ask a company to start making products that do not have a huge market, so we