. [inaudible] what is your response to that report? >> i do have an response to the. of the claims are ridiculous. -- the claims are ridiculous. when people are moving -- are working on movies and ask to speak to officials, we do our best to accommodate them. that is hardly a novel approach to the media. we do not discuss classified information. i would hope that the house committee on homeland security would have more important topics to discuss then in movie. the information that this white house provided about that mission has been focused on the president's' role. we have not given information on

anyone working on this topic then the information we gave to those working in this room in the days and weeks after the raid itself. the most specific information that we have given i read from this podium. it is just simply false. >> you said the president will not rest until the joblessness and the us economy are worked out, but the president is obviously going on vacation. is there any concern -- i understand that it takes two to tango. is there any concern about the impression that the president going to martha's vineyard for nine or 10 days might leave on the american people? if this is such an important if this is such an important issue for them, why the r &r?

&r? >> let me go to acknowledge that, yes, the president does plan to travel with his family at the end of august to martha's vineyard as he has in the past. has anyone who has covered in the past, there is no such thing as a presidential vacation. the presidency travels with you. he will be in constant communication and will get regular briefings. he will be fully capable if necessary of traveling back if that were required. it is not very far. the broader issue is this president is doing with the american people expect president

to do in circumstances like this, whether the markets are up or down or if there is volatility or relative stability. they expect presidents to consult with policy-makers in circumstances like this. the president is doing the regularly. later this afternoon, he has a meeting with chairman bernanke as he does on a regular basis to discuss the economy. in a situation where the volatility we are seeing in the volatility we are seeing in the market having to do with a global economic situation, he consults with international leaders. he has spoken with the chancellor of germany, the prime minister of great britain, the president of spain, the prime minister of italy, and he will minister of italy, and he will continue to do that. later this week, he will have another meeting with ceo's and

business leaders to discuss the economy. then he will also -- they expect the president to travel and meet with folks who are engaged in the economy and in their communities. tomorrow, they will go to michigan to highlight the investments that this country is making in, the clean energy industry bleeding to advancement in the battery market which is an important segment for the future. he will, as you know, next week, go out into the country into the midwest where he will meet with the small business owners, workers, and others to talk about what is happening economically and their communities. they expect him to propose specific ideas that have bipartisan support that should not get hung up in congress. this president has done that.

he is making clear that there are things we can do together that have bipartisan support to create jobs right away including the passage of the free trade agreements, patent reform, to unleash entrepreneurial spirit in our economy. extension of the payroll tax cut, insurance, things that economists say could create hundreds of thousands of jobs, up to 1 million. they expect the president to continue and look for new ideas for economic growth and job creation. >> the president mentioned he was going to make recommendations to the super committee. has he made those yet? >> no, he has not. i assure you that he will. the committee has not been formed yet. all of the members have not been

named. the president will have specific ideas about where he thinks the committee could come together in a balanced way to significantly reduce the deficit. i think it is important to remember that the bipartisan approach that he was working on with the speaker of the house -- i think the speaker mentioned had the house-passed budget become law, it would have solved the s&p's call for deficit reduction. that is wishful thinking. that thing had no chance of passing. what did have a chance on a large-scale and being signed by this president was a bipartisan compromise. not a partisan ideal, but a bipartisan compromise he was working on with the speaker of the house. they will be designed to draw

bipartisan support because the purpose here is not to say this is what we would do if we controlled everything or we could simply mandate an outcome. id should not be approached the republicans take either. >> has the president been involved with the democratic leadership in selecting the members of this committee? >> we here in the white house see the president consults regularly with leaders in congress of both parties. i do not believe there has been any specific engagement on that issue. >> [inaudible] >> either we make clear that whoever is elected -- we are making clear that whoever is elected will be taken seriously. >> what does the president mean

when he said he would rather be a good one-term president then a mediocre two-term president. >> this president believe strongly that you are elected president, a very challenging job, to make tough decisions that are right for the american people and the national security of this country. that is your responsibility. you make those decisions according to what you see as the best interests of the country. it is simply a way of saying that the purpose of being president is not to be reelected but to serve your country well. >> when you were mentioning the fed chairman meeting, is that combined with secretary tim geithner -- >> secretary tim geithner will have his regularly scheduled weekly meeting with the president later this afternoon.

secretary geithner will participate -- >> senator rand paul is out saying he wants to have a no- confidence vote in the senate on secretary geithner's leadership. what is their white house response to that? there are some republicans who say this is a time for change and a clean break. >> this president has great confidence in secretary geithner's substantial capabilities and is glad that capabilities and is glad that the secretary is stayingn o on t treasury. i think a statement like that does not really amount to much because obviously they would like to have a different president in office. that was their number one objective. the idea that they want members of this team to go should not be

all that shocking. >> you seem to dismiss the idea that there was an image problem for the president. a lot of liberal columnists are starting to come out saying that as of the stock market was dropping heavily last week, he said he was -- he said the president was will bring it up at his birthday party. -- was whooping it up at his birthday party. birthday party. another said he tacked on condolences to the soldiers' families. >> ok, you read the paper. >> is there a constructive criticism to respond to some of that? >> it is the nature of the job,

that criticism comes in. i think that is true for any president to that held the office, including the left and right and center. we do not spend a lot of time focusing on that because if you did you would spend all of your time focusing on it. the president is focused on what he can do to help the economy grow, helped to create jobs, protect america's national security cannot protect americans in general, provide economic security as well as national security. you know, again, i would just say that criticism comes with the deal. >> on monday [inaudible] but my question is the liberal

columnists might disagree with the tea party years, but they are saying there is a leadership problem that needs to be dealt with. >> i would repeat what i said, which is criticism comes in at different times. the fact is, when we are talking about the debt ceiling deal and the aftermath, this president made sure, had a bottom line, that the number one republican demand, should we go through that sure rate again causing more harm to our economy, was absolutely not acceptable. he said no and he assured that would not have been. using it to play chicken with the full faith and credit of the united states will not happen again. through the end of 2012.

he also made sure that there was a down payment on deficit reduction. it is important for the progressives to realize that you have to acknowledge that we need to get our deficit under control because we will not be capable if we cannot do that to insure we can make the investments we need to protect the most honorable americans and to invest in innovation and other areas to insure that we grow and create jobs in the future. there is no question that the reaction to the debt ceiling deal, both with the s&p reaction and other reaction, has to do with the concern over the apparent dysfunction in washington, that this process demonstrated to americans and people around the globe.

it is important to note that despite everything, we were able to come together and reach an imperfect deal to ensure that we would not default on our obligations, to ensure that we would make a downpayment on deficit-reduction. but there is no question that had the not been a willingness by some in congress to threaten the full faith and credit of the united states government or hold that hostage to an agenda, we never would have been in that place. yes? >> [inaudible] -- the bipartisan committee has gotten criticism and therefore it is a conflict of interest. what is the president's reaction? >> i think that these are small

political issues. elected members of congress are responsible, they take an oath, and are responsible to serve their constituents and their country. we expect that the mandate be taken seriously. i think is silly criticism. the senate minority leader said quite explicitly that is number one objective in office was to have the president of the united states defeated in 2012. i do not think americans are around the world believe that the leaders of congress should have that as their objective. i think they should be focused on the economy than the but, you know what? that is ok because we know we can put aside a lot of the partisan rhetoric and focus on what needs to be done. we do that. the president does that with

meetings -- in meeting with members of congress. he expects that the other members of this committee will do the same. >> will he stop fund-raising? >> no. >> you have stepped-up sanctions on syria. why not call [inaudible] >> i gave an incredibly eloquent long answer to that question moments ago. [laughter] i do not have anything to add to 8. >> at one point does that become -- >> we have taken a number of actions to increase pressure. i think one of the things you have seen in recent days is the international community including voices in the region adding to that pressure. you can be sure that we have worked toward that goal.

so, the kind of growing chorus of criticism aimed at president assad for his heinous actions is not an accident. we are all watching, with horror, what he is doing to his own people, and we are working with our international partners to ensure that pressure continues to be placed and ramped up on president assad. >> i understand why extending unemployment insurance provides relief, but how does it create jobs? >> the wall street -- i would expect that a reporter from the wall street journal would know this. it is one of the most direct ways to infuse money into the economy because people who are

unemployed and not earning a paycheck are going to spend the money that they get. unemployment insurance goes directly back into the economy, dollar for dollar, virtually. it means that every place that that money is spent, it has added business. that creates growth and income for businesses that then leads to more hiring. there are few other ways that can more directly put money into the economy and providing unemployment insurance. unemployment insurance. >> why have we seen unemployment not drop? >> this is the "what would have happened" argument. happened" argument. 2.4 million private- sector jobs created?

i encourage you and i know you all have contacts in the world, but economic analysts will tell you and told you late last year that the combination of the payroll tax cut and extension of unemployment insurance would have a direct, measurable impact on job creation. of the jobs created this year, a certain number, however many, can be attributed to those actions taken and pushed by the president last year which is why he feels so strongly they should be done again as we emerge from this recession. he believes very strongly to extend the. tax and unemployment insurance. >> the best argument that you can afford is if we do this again, it will not necessarily get any better -- >> you know that is not how it works. we have to do a variety of

things to grow the economy and create jobs. this is one thing that economists of all stripes agree will directly affect growth. a half of a percentage point, i believe, in growth that the payroll tax cut would provide. something like that? and up to 1 million jobs. we do that, and we have that positive impact next year. that does not mean that is the only thing we would do. there are other economic factors, some of which we can control and some of which we cannot. we cannot estimate what a natural disaster impact might have on the global economy, but we can take action that has a direct impact. >> one question. nbc reported that mayor emanuel

positioned himself inches from my face and pointed his finger and asked, "how dar e i ask where his children would go to school." >> i have not heard him discuss 8. >> what do you think? >> i think the criticism has been amply covered by the chicago press. >> the ceo's meeting with the president is on friday. can you tell us more details -- >> we will have more details -- we do not have those for you yet. i wanted to mention that it will happen on friday. >> as i understand it, the bernanke meeting is part of the regular series of meetings.

>> yes. >> how many times -- >> i can get that for you. >> what is his thinking and doing it separately? >> the secretary geithner meeting is a weekly meeting. the president wanted very much to go to dover to receive the remains of our fallen service men yesterday, so it was rescheduled for today. it happened to be on the same day of the meeting that he has with chairman bernanke. >> can you give us any sense in terms of the regular meetings between bernanke and president, what the point is or what gets done? >> discuss the economy, local or economy. the fed is an independent body that takes independent actions. they speak broadly about the economy. >> how often do they try to do

it? >> i will have to get it to you. >> the president will be in new york tomorrow night. >> i do not have a preview for his remarks tomorrow. again, i would just say that the president's focus is not on the daily ups and downs of the market which can be substantially down or up. the focus is on what we can do to grow the economy and create jobs, what he can do working with congress to grow the economy and create jobs. i am sure that is going to be the focus of any remarks he makes on the economy. >> can you explain why the trip to dover was kept secret until he landed? >> that is a good question. i can tell you that it was something we were advised to do. >> it was security-related and

not about the narrative -- >> correct. >> [inaudible] >> i know the president very quickly said he wanted to go, internally, after he had learned of the events in afghanistan and the loss of life, and it was just a matter of finding out when the remains would be brought back. we knew for a while that the president was going to go and try to go. >> then the secret service advised you -- >> i do not want to get into this on the podium about it, but i assure you -- the president was very proud to go on marine one flying back. someone on the helicopters said, someone in service, thanked the

president for making the trip. he looked up and said, "it was my honor to talk to those families. i can think of nothing better to have done today." for anybody who was there, obviously that would be me, but for the people in this room, it was an incredibly powerful experience. the courage and sacrifice that the families demonstrated where really remarkable. yes? >> around the country, there seems to be a feeling that there is the need for urgency to get something going to get the of something going to get the of economy back on track. can you give us any kind of specific timetable of when the president might be coming up with these ideas that he is talking about? is the plan to wait until congress -- >> you can be assured i will go back to what i said before that the president is working every

day on his top priority which is the american economy. there are a variety of ways that presidents can do that, and the american people expect them to do that, which is consult with policy-makers in this case because of the global effects we are experiencing, consult with international leaders, meet with business leaders cannot travel around the country to talk to the job creators out in the country about what they are experiencing, and then propose concrete ideas for job creation which he has done throughout his presidency and he has mentioned recently in speaking to you, some ideas that can be acted on right away that would directly affect economic growth and job creation, and to continue to work on ideas and look for new ideas for increased economic growth and job creation.

>i do not have an announcement to make on when. there is a great deal of urgency which is why he is working are around the clock on these issues. in terms of new proposals, i do not have a time to give you but i can assure you he is working hard on these issues. >> as the president asked for or will there be white house presence in observance of the operations? >> i do not know if we had that discussion. the committee is still being formed. i do not have any information on that. >> thank you, jay. i was dying to know did the president follow the results in wisconsin and had any opinion at all? >> i do not know that he followed it last night in any case. i am sure he has read the paper

this morning, but i have not had a conversation about it with him. >> you said at the beginning that the tax cuts in the early part of the last decade contributed mightily to the deficit, but 2004 until 2006, there was a 20% jump in revenue over the previous cycle, and that was the largest increase in oregano ahoy omb said since 1965. how do those figures -- >> it is a very convenient slice of the figure when we absolutely no about the time in which these tax cuts were instituted. it was the slowest period of economic expansion, middle-class income stagnated, the wealthiest americans got wealthier, and overall in the eight-year period, there was substantial anemic job creation.

in the 1990's under the tax breaks that pre existed, we saw the largest expansion and 22 million jobs created. i would take issue with that analysis. i would take issue of taking that slice and suggesting that somehow, a, the massive tax cuts did not contribute to our deficit because they unequivocally did, and that weree tax cuts responsible for what any measure was a period of anemic economic growth. >> given the severity of the economic problem, i think many of us are asking is should the president do anything extraordinary? for example, short his vacation,

call congress back to section. everything you describe shows his attention to the economy. he often travels the country and talks about the economy -- >> i think the president is very interested in those things that will actually be effective. he is very focused on the things that he can do to be effective on helping the economy grow and create jobs. he is doing those things. he is working with his team to look at ideas for further job creation and economic growth. when you say extraordinary -- i do not think a stunned is what the american people are looking for. -- i do not think a stunt is what the american people are looking for. >> [inaudible]

>> again, i think -- i do not have a comment on what he said or what was going to do. the position has not changed. >> [inaudible] >> well, we continue to believe that he should honor the obligations he made and promises he made to begin that transition. >> [inaudible] >> [inaudible] -- it seems like they all had the same theme. the urgency of job creation in the black community. >> he absolutely appreciates those meetings and those conversations. he conveys what he takes away which is an incredible passion

and focus on the need to grow our economy and create jobs and the amount of suffering that is occurring because of the deep recession that we went through and also because of the falling back of the middle-class in the previous decade. so, he is -- and again and, i think i answered this when i responded to the previous question about what he has fought hard for precisely because the need to ensure that those who have been hit hardest by hard economic times are getting the support that they need. that is why he fought for the extension of the child tax credit bank that is why he recently instituted the extension of the housing loan forbearance program because

those who haare struggling to stay in their homes, are stay in their homes, are unemployed, he believes it was essential to help them. i think those efforts to help. >> [inaudible] -- said something that the president has been saying something to out his campaign. she said that the job fares were basically hope for the black community. does that ring a bell with the president? black on an, rate, 15.1%. black on an, rate, 15.1%. -- black unemployment rate, 15.1%. >> high rates of unemployment are unacceptable, which is why

it is his focus to do everything he can and everything we can in washington to address the need for greater job creation for everyone. this is his primary focus every day. thanks very much, guys. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011]

>> during the briefing today, jay carney indicating that president obama's meeting with the white house with federal reserve chairman ben bernanke. here is what is on our schedule this afternoon. in less than an hour, we are going to take you to coments made by john pistole who will talk about the future of transportation security. that is at 2:00 p.m. eastern here on c-span. later on today, the composition about the military's use for unmanned drones. that is live at 4:00. >> seen as a testing ground, republican candidates are gathering in iowa for grass- roots politics and festivities. we will take your phone calls

about politics. saturday, which will go to the iowa straw poll. wrote to the white house in iowa, this week on c-span. >> more appointments made to date for the joint committee on deficit-reduction. speaker john boehner appointing members from the house, and over in the senate cannot mitch mcconnell making his appointments today. this after yesterday harry reid naming patty murray as the chair for the democratic side of the joint committee. max baucus and john kerry. we have added a list of those members to our twitter feeds. you can check on the list of members of the joint committee on deficit reduction. this morning on "washington

journal," we were joined by tavis smiley and cornel west who recently launched their poverty tour. e are back with cornel west and tavis smiley. cornel west, african-americans professor, and tavis smiley, tv host. thank you for being here to talk about the poverty to a. let me turn to you and ask you, you came up with the idea. what is the purpose? guest: highlighting the poor in this country. it allows suffering to speak. no one tells the truth about the suffering of everyday people. they are ended up rendered invisible. -- the worst thing to do is act like they do not exist. they are more an more a disposable group, throwaway

group. so what the ranks of the poor increasing more dramatically, there ought to be a focus on eradicating poverty in this country. this debt ceiling plan we just agreed to in washington that did not spot -- extend unemployment benefits, it did not raise a new sense of new tax revenues from the original lucky, the banks get away. wall street gets away. all of these cuts are going to be on the backs of everyday people. there has to be a conversation about the poor in this country. they matter and the white house needs to understand and the republicans in congress need to undersnd that. we're going to dramatize that in this tour to talk about all races, colors, creeds, and political affiliations. and what we hear is inspiring and depressing at the same time. host: where you go next? guest: we started as we should

have with our native american brothers and sisters. they are so often left out of these conversations. d given how we continue to mistreat them, they end up living in depression era lifestyles most of the time. we started out on a reservation and went to a clear, wisconsin, to talk to the farmers. we went to madison's to take back the land. they are arguing that housing is a human right. why not put people into these homes there sitting vacant because of foreclosure and bankruptcy. why notut americans into those homes? we did go into chicago. over 2000 people in the monsoon, not a rainstorm, came to chicago. over 2000 people in a town hall meeting to talk about these issues. that was fascinating and that is what you saw referenced in the

"washington post and then detroit, where unemployment is off the charts. we had a good conversation there. not everyone agrees -- some people think that we're anti- obama because of raising these issues. nothing could be farther from the tree. now we're in washington and spent all night on the streets with people who are street people. we want to get a sense of what they're dealing with and how many of them got there. to hear the story of a woman having a baby in the day, nine months pregnant, on the streets of washington last night. the capitol dome in our view, the white house just blocks away. here we are today talking to you about it. host: you're up all night. what struck you about what you heard? guest: we find among our poorer

is the tremendous sense of resiliency of poor people. tavis were part of a legacy of martin luther king jr. and dorothy day who says that poor people are as priceless and presses as anybody. what we have discovered is that they are struggling, they're suffering, but they are fighting back. and this tour is about fighting back, because we know the top 400 americans have more wealth than the bottom 150 million. pedestal level wealth inequality that we've seen for % of all children live in poverty. something has got to be done. this is host: a state of emergency some other numbers. unemployment is at 9.4%. african-americans, 15.9%. if you look at me in household

wealth, from 2005-2009, african- american households down 53% for whe households down 16%. dr. west, you implied this but it is the poverty to or about race or class or both? guest: it is about a moral concern for poor people which includes class. critical wall straw -- wall street oligarchs who are greedy. not demonizing them, but recognize that they have billions of dollars of assets. " we experienced last night, folks have nothing. that is a moral statement and the spiritual as well. there is a poverty of spirit in the nation that needs to be revivify. we have a democratic awakening and realize that we're all in this together. host: about the numbers that you put up, i do not think that an economist anywhere in the country being honest, even those

who work for the government to provide these numbers, they would admit you that these numbers are not the real numbers. there are so many people who have stopped looking for work. these are the people that are working -- looking for work because they cannot find it. all the people who of stopped are the people who are now on the street. the new poor in this country are the former middle-class. we've discovered there are a lot of people so embarrassed, humiliated by what they are in during, they do not want the government to know that they exist. we were at a tent city in michigan. guest: an arbor. but the homeless veterans there in akron, ohio. all colors, all cutters. -- cultures. host: this came out and the "washington post." you have been talked about as anti-obamacare this is a quote from a young mother who found a

job after in the year -- nearly a year of unemployment. they are not really giving him a chance. how it feels like that this is piling on. and you look at the latest polls, 80% of blacks express approval at the job that obama is doing even as support has slipped among other groups. host: that same woman had a job for a program that is now defunct. host: part of the stimulus package. guest: that is now defunct. with that deficit reduction cuts th have been approved, this is a declaration of war on the poor. so she had a job in a program that is now defunct. there will be a lot more people like her that feel that way. you're right. there is a dichotomy. when you talk about black folks and president obama, we celebrate the symbolism of his being in the first african

american, but in that same ticle, 54% of black people approve of his handling grid that means almost half of black folk in this country disapprove of the president's handling of the economy. even black people support the symbolism or than anybody else but they want substance. the president will have a difficult time getting reelected. you may very well not get reelected by a margin of black absence at the polls. you have to energize your base. this tour is far from demonizing the president but tried to remind him what he said when he ran. you cannot ignore your base. he has used this term. he knows that there is an enthusiasm gap right now. they do not have jobs and they've lost their homes and they are on the street. how do you motivate your base? by addressing their concerns,

you could motivate them. focus on the poor, those to you promised to look out for. there is a chance. guest: we and a stand that bush handed obama a catastrophe. we have wars, financial collapse on wall street. the problem was that president obama chose the wrong economic advisers. you do not choose advisers from wall street when it was agreed of wall street that push the nation almost off a cliff. host: treasury secretary g. h. greene n -- geithner -- guest: he should have been gone a long time ago. he in no way represents a legacy of martin luther king. host: the michigan this article. -- let me show you this article. this is when the cameras are not

on him when he does fund raisers. he is not trying to cast themselves at the reasonable bipartisan figure but rather focusing on spending money to create jobs. going back to stimulus. is that enou? guest: it is not enough because the stimulus was not large enough in the first place. it never trickled down to small business owners of all races, colors, and creeds. never trickled that everyday people. and as you mentioned that article, many of the proams are already defunct. but the white house, the record does not bear out what you read. on too many issues the white house is compromised and capitulated. i saw story about a former aide in the white house that fed up -- president clinton, concerned about this white house staff's negotiating strategy. if you are in a foxhole with

somebody, you want someone who will fight with you not someone who wants to a compromise out of a foxhole. my grandfather put it this way -- there are some whites not worth fighting, even if you win, but some you have to fight, even if you lose. they want to see that president obama is a fighter, not a compromiser, not a capitulated, but a fighter. the people want to see the president fight. it is true that as much as his base is restless, and as much as some americans might not like him, they hate republicans even more. they disliked congress. congress has a 14% approval rating. we have debated this. i have said many times you cannot beat somebody with nobody. we want to push the president to remind him of what he needs to

do. at the same time, i do not see the somebody that can be the president because they dislike republicans more than they dislike president obama. host: he needs a primary challenge? guest: he needs a birdie that -- bernie sanders-like canada it. the problems are in -- the parties are in trouble. but're talking about jobs, it is an afterthought. they should ha been talking about jobs two and a half years ago. the wrong economic team is in place. we are talking about bouncing back. poor people are waking up, and we will fight back. over our dead bodies are more poor going to be pushed off the cliff. host: let's hear from joan.

you are on t air with cornel west and tavis smiley. caller: if only either of you were president this country would be doing just great. i agree with every word that u spoke. now, what bothers me is the president appoints a committee, or a task force -- transmit translated, that means they do not have a clue. the so-called super-committee, they will not agree on any tyrant -- tiny item. host: john, let me get your take on the picks from senate majority leader harry reid. it looks like democratic senators john kerry, max baucus, and patty murray are the picks.

do you think they will represent your priorities text caller? caller: now, they are the same move, and it is a waste of time. guest: thank you for your phone call. to this committee, this is what we have been talking about on this tour. because there are no people of color in the united states senate, all other people in this country, of color, and we are the most multicultural country ever. with all due respect, john kerry is far from broke, so nobody knows anything about poverty. that is what this is about, reminding the leaders that everyday peoe, the middle- class is falling more and more to the ranks of the poor.

there was a report of the other day that from 2008 to 2009 more childr in this country fell in the ranks of the 4th than at any other point when data has been collected -- poor than at any other point when data has been collected. i am not convinced that these people on the committee -- i do not see the evidence that rty will -- pour people will be made a priority. host: let's hear from pittsburgh. caller: i think the big picture is the council on foreign relations and travel commission is controlling both parties, and the money that has been spent in the last four years, or with these last two candidates in offices, especially bullish,

causing wars, and they allow people like halliburton to make money. during world war two, they had people from the army peeling potatoes. i think the dollar's being weakened and we will be modeled after the european union and there will be a one world currency, and we will be the north american union, not the unitedtates of america. host: dr. west, why don't you take that. gues there has been a bipartisan agreement to extend in the military complex. we always find money for wars. we're not even talking about the secret war in pakistan. there is a bipartisan agreement on the prison and the show complex. we spent $300 billion in 1980, and say we do not have money for jobs and housing.

the media, thank god for c-span, does not focus on what both parties agree on that is helping to undermine the democratic ocesses and procedures. greed is blinding. it is dangerous, and will push a person or a country off of a cliff. this is what we are wrestling with. democracies are about making people accountable. i just read an important book "accountability." that is where the moment of a state of emergency, a sense of urgency -- yet we do not see it. guest: since the caller raised these wars, dr. king, i mentioned where we are going, we're going to atlanta, mississippi, and will be in atlanta tomorrow. tomorrow, we are honored to members -- with members of the

king family to lay wreaths. dr. king once said war is the enemy of the poor. he said that about vietnam. it is also true in iraq and afghanistan. when you consider the money being spent, all of them applied to the problems in this country, toward the poor, you really get the point. r is the enemy of the poor. host: we will go to bat in rouge, louisiana. a republican. caller: good morning. please l me say this. the son of a reserve -- you were talking about it earlier. these people make the corleone family look like brownie scouts. they are criminal from under

woodrow wilson. they bankrupt this country. they created money all over the world. they created wars. they want to destroy our sovereignty. it is a shame that people did not know who these people are. ron paul was trying to get the message out there. mr. smiley, dr. west, i wish they would put it on their agenda to tell these people wh there are. guest: all right, dr. west -- host: all right, dr. west? guest: we should acknowledge the federal reserve has two aims, financial stability and full unemployment, you would never know as the second game, because it has been dominated by all the

guards. -- full employment. we were talking about the full employment bill. it is fundamental. he would never know the federal reserve has any concern about it. host: that brings up the point. specifically, what policies are you advocating for? guest: you cannot answer that question without the stuff that has been missed. a lot of people belve our best days as a nation are behind us. you see that borne out in more and more pulling all of the time. there are a lot of americans that believe an opportunity has been best. when the president came in with all of that wind at his back that he had an opportunity. now, with a divided government, a party that says no to

everything, there are a lot of folks that are concerned. there is not a lot that can get done, or is going to get done, and what the president is pointed a gun, the president has to compromise and capitulate -- the president is going to get done, he has to compromise and capitulate prepare. the short answer is jobs. we have to have full employment. we have to have a jobs bill. , was on the hustings and post the other day, just checking in -- i was on the huffington post yesterday,ust checking in, and somebody has put together a series of clips that since he's been elected the president has said now we're going to focus on jobs, and now we turn our attention to jobs, and now we're going to focus on jobs. he is saying that again. what this party toward is all about is that we hope he is

serious this time. we hope ther is a concentrated, lar focus on a jobs bill. the president said in his statemt to the nation that we have to have an extension of unemployment benefits. how'd you juxtapose that with the legislation you sign that did not extend unemployment benefits? we want the president to be a serious aut this. we know what he is up against. you cannot say it enough times. he is up against a party that does not want him to succeed. mitch mcconnell said his job was to make sure president obama was a one-term president. if the president can get focused and rally the people behind and around jobs, something can get done. host: we go to florida, a democratic caller. caller: i have followed yo two gentlemen for a long time, but

when we talk about mark mr. king, let's not forget malcolm x. please. every now and then, without maolm, society would have done martin luther king the same way. -- the same way they are doing president obama. vote. the people that are listening, vote. cried today, a vote tomorrow. vote. you can vote yourself out of this. those of us who said i will not fight for the white man, go into the military. take care of your country. that is all i want to sit. guest: my dear brother is actively right. where you are talking about with martin luther king and the

comebacks are two people willing to live and die for what they book -- and malcolm x are two people willing to live and die for what they believed in. it was a kingdom where for and working people had dignity. what we missed today is to many of our leaders are up for sale. almost everything and everybody is up for sale. money, money, money. young people are living lives of emotional emptiness. malcolm, martin, there was no price. they knew there was a human value that had no market price. host: i have been enough from carl in san antonio, texas. he wants to know if we could get more available to help our legitimate poor --

guest: i hear that. we saw some of that last night. some of the people we saw are substance abusers. some of them made bad choices, but who among us has not made a better choice? i am exhibit 8. -- exhibit a. i have a book about the 20 worst mistakes i have made, but for the grace of god i would be unemployed. i have screwed myself so many times with bad decisions that i cannot even count compare. guest: he celebrated 20 wonderful years and broadcasting. guest: this report from the heritage foundation that tries to redefine what it means for. they are laughable. i saw the bid that steven

colbert did. just because you have a refrigerator and microwave, that does not make the middle class or wealthy. this conservative push back on what it means to be poor is troubling for me. i want to go back to the caller gets a vote. we are active participants. we vote every election. there are a lot of people in this country who dithink a couple of years ago that they were voting their way out of this. that is the problem. a bunch of folks, black folks, white folks, independence, republicans, a bunch of people across the aisleo support president obama. he told the story how republicans would whisper to him that they were voting for him and he would say why are you whispering? the point is a lot of americans thought they were votingheir way out of this. now they are deeper in to hear

again, the new poor are the former middle class. guest: why not sit home as a protest vote? why not sit at home, and not vote and sent a message? guest: i think people ought to participate, but when we say lift every voice, which is a great aunt and for black people, you lift your voice not just by voting, but sometimes you lift your voice by moving to the streets, mass demonstrations, civil disobedience. we are willing to get arrested, willing to go to jail for poor and working people. that is beyond voting. it is not confined to that two- party system, which is becoming more decrepit. his so dominated by money interests. he is both parties do not wake up, we will find out there is a situation like the 1860's,

where one force declines, and new forces emerge. host: are there lessons t be learned from the way the tea party group organized their efforts fourth 2010 for your side? guest: yes. i have said countless times, when people pile on the tea party, and i've certainly been critical of their methodologies, their strategies, the racism that as shown its ugly face at times in their movement, the signs they have held up by about the president -- there are things they have done that i disagree with. why celebrate about the tea rty is they turn their tanks into -- what i celebrate about the teparty i they turned their tanks into motivation. if you cannot turn out your base, then you lose. the democrats, this white house, this campaign, has an enthusiasm

gap, and the data is not on their side right now when it comes to telling a story, creating a narrative that could sell. we have gone from hope d change to it could have been worse. that is not a winni campaign strategy. guest: the reason why that is so is when obama came into office he should have told the america of this is the reason we almost went off of the cliff with the greed on wall street. we're not plan to bail them out. we are going to give them tight strings, priority to homeowners, workers with job creation, and the poor. that would have been nipped in the but the right-wing polism. when they say it is corrupt, they're right. the problem is their right wing populists, which means they use the anchor to reinforce the oligarchs that got us into trouble in the first place.

the obama administration could have and that that in the bud. the populism took a right-wing form. it is a very said. host: a story out of arizona -- senator john mccain of a town hall meeting in gilbert, ariz., and it was pretty heated according to this newspaper, especially when a tea party supporter s for an apology after calling them -- asked for an apology after calling them how that's. -- hobbits. guest: 114% of the country approve of the job congress is doi, we are in trouble. republicans are going to hear that, and they ought to hear that. we will see a lot more of that. dr. west said we might be seeing something akin to the 1850's.

you do not have to go back that far. you might be seen something that is happening in london right now. one person cannot continue to own and control more wealth than 90% of americans. poor people will only take this for so long. as things get worse, i'm not predicting doomsday, but i am suggesting there is a restlessness in this country. we are going to have to do something about middle-class people falling into poverty, children falling into poverty. that restlessness, that hopelessness, it is going to morph into something. guest: that is the greatness of dr. king's legacy. he take the rage and transformed into a struggle. love, notatred. prosperity based on fairness, not negativity based on survival

of the slickest. host: michael is a republican clayton, and virginia. caller: good morning. i'm thiing the main thing that is going on in this country from the white house to the middle class am the poor -- and the poor that is making so much hatred is care. we care more about what is going on on the other side of the world than our own backyard. if you go back to hurricane katrina, how long did it take for those people to get drinking water, medical supplies, food, a place to be? how long did it take for the fema trailers. that is a small example. after that, there was an earthquake in pakistan where we were there within hours. as a middle-class person, a

poor person, if i feel the government does not have any care towards me, why would i have it for them? guest: the republican brother is absolutely right. the greed is good itos, which has been dominant since the 1980's is an attempt to kill killassion, kill empathy, til ca. -- the poverty tr is a love tour. we care about the innocent civilians that the u.s. drones are killing every day. innocentong to killl people. host: here is a tweet --

host: do you plan to vote for president obama? guest: i am going to do the same thing i did three years ago. my role on pbs is one of accountability. my friend dr. west did 65 events for president obama. guest: that was 2008. host: you will be asked next. [laughter] guest: my role was the same as it was a few years ago -- help people reexamine the assumption they hold about the poor in this country, expanding the inventory of ideas, using my platform to introduce americans to each other so we have empathy for each other.

ultimately, where politics are concerned, my job is to hold people accountable. itself as many of you know, mr. smiley -- host: as many of you know, mr. smile hosts "the tavis smiley shelow." dr. west, you campaign for president obama at what, 60? guest: 65. we were hoping barack obama would initiate a new age. i am deeply disappointed, and i feel betrayed by his economic team especially appare. my question for anyone is wh

is your ncern for the poor. right now, i am looking for the bernie sanders-like a candidate. host: so you will not be content -- campaigning for president obama? guest: right now, and the primary, i can not support him. if it is t election, a it is michele bachmann, and there is not a formidable third-party candidate, that is a different situation. we are not in bed right situatiorigh now. at the moment, i am looking for a burning-sanders -- bernie sanders-like a candidate. host: marie, an independent. caller: good morning. i am excited to talk to both of you. i saw your program with robert kennedy jr.. what a story. you're talking about the prison

industrial complex. i would like to add the private prison industrial complex. that is a pron in florida, the largest corporation in the state, and it is taking away jobs from the small local printers. my other point is with regard to walmart, and i think you need to drop walmart as a sponsor of your show, tavis smiley, first of all they get tax breaks from towns and cities to build their stores. also, walmart and procter and gamble, they take out life insurance policies on their employees, and the beneficiary is not the employee. the beneficiary is walmart, procter and gamble, and there are a number of others, and people that died working for wal-mart are left with hundreds of thousands of dollars in bills. one woman who died had a really

bad as the situation. walmart made $81,000 on her. his guest: i hear your critique, and you are entitled to that. i am glad you watch the program. people want to watch the program to be empowered by what i'm trying to do, but every now and then somebody wants to push back on walmart. wal-mart's can speak for themselves. we were going to do away with every television program, every news program, because of walmar support or if this partnership -- partnership, you would not ha abc news, nbc news, and certainly would not have fox news. it is not a perfect company. when i have tried to do in my private conversations with the ceo there now, is to speak the truth that i know, to offer

suggestions and ideas. i can say in my time, and there are stories that bear this out, the unions have bettered their working relationip with wal- mart. there is a long way to go. if i were waiting for a perfect company to be on television and radio to empower people, i would not be celebrating 20 years. there are so many imperfect companies in this country. guest: we were just in west virginia, with echoes of robert kennedy, and to see tavis smiley speaking his troops, because he is a free black man, interacting with any institution, buddy has he owned -- his own views -- but he has his own views. my teaching at princeton. we produced ralph nader, and

dolls from spelled -- and donald eild. frumsf fundamentally, we're committed to being free. when you are free, you say what is in your heart of the men and women who helped make this country soulful. host: have either one of you talked to president obama about this poverty tour? have you plan to go see him? guest: i have had no relations with my dear brother in three years or so. i pray for him every day. a protect him against the vicious right wing attacks. i respect him as a human being, and i want to tell the truth about him the way i tell the truth about anybody. host: tavis smiley?

guest: as a member of the media, we, like everyone else have a standing request for the president. every so often, my staff on the radio, which are custom inviting the president to be on ourhow. since u.s., have known the press -- since you ask, i've known the president for many years, and prior to his being elected, and he came on my programs with regularity. once he was elected, and my critique, holding them accountable, it did not sito well with him. he has not, at this point, come on my television or radio program one time since he has been in the white house. this is the first president does not invited me to the white house for anything in my career. host: media events? guest: bill o'reilly, right wing

brothers. i think the president h done that. he seems to be reluctant. wh he moves in to campaign- mode, it will be different because i'm not crying about that. i only answered it because you asked about it. at the end of the day my commitment is to justice for all, service for others, and to exhibit a lot of the deliberate people. if that takes you to the white house, so bet. host: will go to ellen, scottsdale, ariz., on the republican line. caller: to my black brothers, i will say that we are all looking for our politicians to have what we call a kennedy moment, where they are talking about solutions, he know? they are missing it. here's what i want to say.

and there are two things i want to talk about, racism, and energy. if we can get energy, the kennedy moment to come through, and have this country did gasoline below a dollar a gallon, what do you think that does for the cost of living across the board? we become the no. 1 country in the world when it comes to energy costs. when it comes to racism, please, i want to say something to you, i am a tea party member. i am a white man. i love my black brothers. i do not kw where i would be in thisountry without my black brothers. guest: that is beautiful. caller: let me say this, there is no racism in the nba. show me the racism in the nfl. i gr up in the 1960's.

i was involved with music. look at what the black people ought to this coury when it came to music. there was not one white person that i know of that said i am it off. bacthat sh host: so, can i jump in? what is your point? if you mention the nfl and the nb caller: the level of -- the level of racism in this country is so minuscule, we need to give people a better solution- oriented. guest: he makes an important point about cultural contribution. america's contribution on a world view is jazz, soul, and

all of themcknowledge the dignity of everyday people. he is right in terms of the ways black culre contributions have helped and humanize the american society. when he talk about racism being in the school, i think you will want to spend a little time with us and you can see some of the consequences or effect. guest: or spend time with barack obama in the white house. guest: it is true it is less now than it was before, and before it was so, winching black people, and so on, we have come a long way, but we have a long wato go. guest: he mentioned the nba and the nfl, but we will see how much racism exists with how these talks turn out with the players that have been locked out. there's only one african american in the country who owns

an nba franchise. the majority of the folks that plague our -- that play are black. the owners are white. we saw what the nfl was up against with an overwhelming number of african-american players, and we have seen an increase in the number of coaches, but the coaches in the nfl against the players, there is a huge gap. if they will use you on the field to win the game, but as general managers, owners, as head coaches, i think you get the point. guest: the one sign of hope is the naming of the new poet laureate. he is a powerful public. his critiques of racism -- we were just in detroit wrestling with this issue. also, the question about energy, the brother will alan in washington.

green jobs. i think philip line is a wonderful choice to try to tell the truth with his book a, what what -- "what where it is." host: yvonne is a democrat in detroit, michigan. caller: the president has no power, apparently. it does not take a ged to run the country as george bush could do it. why do we vote if the results can be tampered with? the electric co. in detroit has the rates so high that maybe half of the city is living without lights and gas.

des host: that brings us back to the poverty tour. guest: that was a democratic line, right? that makes the point i want to make. the frustration in this country, this cannot be the moment where americans think that our best days are behind us, and people give up. there has toe a way to reenergize people about the future of this country. i think you'd do that by focusing on the poor. thoverwhelming majority are much less rich than the 1% we talked about before. if you can respond to the needs of everyday people, you can bring the hold back. guest: we were just in detroit there is no doubt that our dear sister, the councilmember, makes a difference. we're going for a revolution in the values and priorities. that is what martin died for, a

revolution in prrities. we have to transform our society in a way where people believe it is much >> and live look at the newseum in washington, d.c. we are waiting for a tsa administrator john pistole, who will be talking about the picture of transportation security nearly 10 years after the 9/11 attacks. he will also talk about tsa's use of body image scanners and pat downs. later today, we will be covering a discussion on the u.s. military's use of unmanned drones for strikes and other technology. the top commander in afghanistan, general john allen, said international forces

have killed the taliban insurgents are responsible for shooting the helicopter over the weekend. the general briefed reporters from kabul earlier today. you can catch all of it in its entirety online error of video library at -- online at our video library at c-span.org we will show you the opening comments while we wait for john pistole guest. >> thank you for taking the time to discuss the nation's effort in afghanistan. last friday night we lost 30 service members when and a helicopter went down -- when a chinook helicopter went down to read these fallen warriors it represented a step -- these fallen warriors represent the best of america.

we offered our eternal gratitude for their committed to the defense of the american people and our great nation. this was a tragic incident and a very difficult military campaign. however, this was a singular incident in a broader conflict in which we are making important strides and considerable progress. to be sure, we face challenges ahead. there will be tough fights and th -- there will be tougher fight than it is to come. as president obama noted in his june address, we are on our way to achieving our goals in afghanistan, and we will have a steadfast determination to approximately midnight on 8 august, coalition forces killed the insurgents responsible for this attack on a helicopter, which we assess was an are pg round. it is a continuation of the original mission. this does not ease our loss, but

we must and we will continue to pursue the enemy. all across afghanistan, the insurgents are losing. they are losing territory, they are losing leadership, they are losing weapons and supplies, they are losing public support, and across afghanistan, more and more insurgents are losing his of and the will to fight, -- losing resolve on the will to fight, and they face pressure from collision and, increasingly, afghan forces. last month began the process of transitioning security responsibility to the afghan government and afghan forces. our military is working hand-in- hand with our civilian partners to secure the gains we have made by strengthening the afghan government and by advancing economic opportunity. we are committed to working with the strengthening our afghan partners, because we know that only the day -- they can to ensure security of their country afghan forces have made

immense strides and a professional decision and effectiveness. increasingly, they are out in front, protecting territory, at safeguarding populations, and when necessary, fighting and dying for their country and their fellow countrymen. we lost eight afghans in this crash, brave afghans, and we pay tribute as well to their service and sacrifice. i have met troops all across the four corners of afghanistan. i can say with certainty that our servicemen and women remain steadfast in their commitment to the mission. we remember why we are here in the first place, and we know what is at stake. our troops are out on the battlefield committed to succeed. they have my full and complete support, and if they know they have the support of reclamation that stands squarely behind them. again, -- support of a grateful nation that stands squarely behind them. again, thank you. newseum is the m

senior vice president introducing john pistole. just getting started here on c- span. >> for the answers to those questions, you don't have to worry about me. we are going straight to the top. our guest today is john pistole, administrator of the transportation is a pretty administration, better known as tsa. they have a workforce of more than 60,000 people who manage the security operations at more than 450 federalized airports are around the country, as well as the federal air marshal service, security for highways, railroads, ports, pipelines, mass transit. john came to the tsa with a wealth of experience in counterterrorism and terrorism. he spent more than 26 years at the fbi, where he started as a special agent working his way up through the ranks. following september 11, 2001, he

was put in charge of the fbi's expanded counterterrorism program. in 2004, he was named to the bureau's deputy director. john has led innumerable investigations that are high- profile, the the most recent ones with the attempted times square bombing in new york city and it to any 10, the attempted christmas day attack on northwest flight 253 in 2009, and the unsuccessful plot against the new york city subway system that same year. we have a lot of territory to cover today and a limited time. we want to reassure the audience that we are going to leave time for you to ask your questions as well. when that time comes, we will ask you to come down to the mikes and give us your name and home town and a name and affiliation, and let you have your turn at that point. i hope you will all join me right now in welcoming john pistole to the program. [applause] >> thank you.

>> john, i know you said your parents were married in 1941, and their member of the day described as the day it in infamy by it franklin roosevelt. certainly, our day of infamy was september 11, 2001. where were you that day, and how did you first learn about the attacks? >> first, thank you for the invitation here, and good to be with the audience. i was in syracuse, new york that day, an fbi inspector doing an inspection of our office there. i'd been added tv station early that morning to do -- to see how the fbi office was doing, and i was at a federal judge's office when the first plane hit. i went back to the fbi office and watched when the second plane hit. >> what was your role from that point on? >> i had been serving in the

boston fbi office, and after that i went because several hijackers had come out of the boston logan airport. i went back to help investigative efforts there and was eventually transferred full- time to the counter-terrorism division. as the fbi change the paradigm for how fbi investigations that were conducted, with a focus on prevention rather than just solving the crime after the fact. >> we will have to leap forward to tsa. he spent a lot of your it be a career trying to catch the bad guys and -- you spend a lot of your fbi career trying to that's the bad guys and four of the plots. can you talk about the transition and terms of your life? >> the fbi changed after 9/11 to become one of prevention, to make sure that 9/11 did not happen, and working abroad or cross the broad interagency --

but the national security, intelligence community, law enforcement community, and international partners. that had changed in the fbi post-9/11. the mission at that tsa is very similar, focusing on prevention. but also, the idea, the department of homeland security and hold government focuses on, is the resiliency aspect in case there is another attack, not been 9/11-type attack, but any type of attack. same with natural disasters anything else. >> there was criticism of the tsa for not having a big enough or course, a work force that was trained enough, the money to put into the resources that you needed to safely say that everybody was secure as they traveled. do you think that is the case now? >> i think are a lot of ways that tsa and department of homeland security and the fbi and other agencies can go about doing their work to provide the most effective security in the most efficient way.

i have been at tsa a little over a year now, and what i have found is that there are multiple layers of security in place, and what people see at the checkpoint is just one of those multiple layers. as we try to focus on more of an intelligence-driven approach, using information people are willing to share with us about travel, whenever it may be, to make better judgments, that may be able to facilitate the physical screening part of it because we know more about it. >> in the year since you have been here, the tsa has been in the headlines. one of the issues has been the use of the more intrusive patdowns and the use of the body scanners. there has been a lot of talk back and forth about whether this was an unnecessary violation of privacy or was this something that was absolutely needed to guarantee their security. at you changed things, and how you change things, and have you learned from the dialogue that

went on during the controversy? >> context is important, because we know that are risky adapting an evolving to try to defeat our security. we've gone from the 9/11-type attack to the shoe bomber to liquids. this happened to be the five- year anniversary today of one of the british authorities arrested 20 people as part of a plot. just a few were actually convicted later brought we saw toner cartridges being used last fall in cargo packages. of course, the underwear bomber. we have information now that has been put out about terrorists going to the extreme of having surgically implanted bombs that they would carry as a suicide bomber. that is the context for everything we do. these multiple layers of security are designed to provide the best possible security while respecting the privacy and civil liberties of everyone who travels.

and it is a balance that we needed to and try to strike every day. as it relates to the patdowns and imaging technology, those give us the best opportunities, for example, of detecting such up what was used on christmas day, and non-metallic device about this big, that thick, in the men's underwear. that is very difficult to detect. he goes through the metal detector, and it does not allow because there is no metal in the device. are for this and awareness is that there may be other people -- our focus and awareness is that there may be other people that terrorists are trying to use in that scenario so we are trying to do everything we can, the best training and tactics and enabled the best technology to provide the best possible security. >> it is a real judgment call for the individual tsa agents. particularly there was criticism of patting down children. but that could be a threat at

some point. >> unfortunately, terrorists don't follow our societal norms. we don't see children as being terrorists, we know that parents and others use in children to do bad things. that happened not only around the world, here in the u.s. in certain contexts. two 10-year-olds were used as a suicide bombers. last month in afghanistan, and 8-year-old girl was used by the caliban -- taliban to deliver a package that blew up. we are exploring ways and are trying different ways of screening children who are with their parents in a way that facilitates that, recognizing that in the great likelihood, that child is not being used to carry a bomb. >> we are trying to do everything we can technically

and on a secured basis at our airports, our ports, train stations. but what assurance do you have that other foreign security agencies to go to the same length we do? a lot of those ships and planes land here. >> of course, there is no guarantee in this business, and that has become very apparent given all the challenges we have. we are in the risk mitigation our management business rather than risk elimination. we will never have at 100% guarantee that everything is efficient and secure, because we would have to shut down -- there would be two-to-three-hour checkpoint lines. substantial slowdown. what we do with international partners is a fine standard they have to follow. if somebody wants to fly to the u.s. or ship packages to the west, they have to meet baseline standards, and we work with them to increase efficiency and

effectiveness in how they go about doing that. >> talking about slowdowns and compliance, i recall back in the 1990's, before september 11, obviously, when there was resistance among airlines for just things as basic as positive i.d. match. the airlines made the argument back and that it would slow air- traffic all across the country, americans would never agree to that invasion of privacy. obviously, that changed immediately. it was changed even before. as a matter of record, the airlines made money on it because people could no longer use third-party tickets. but what level of cooperation do you get from airlines now when things such as reenforcing doors or anything that costs them money -- >> we have excellent cooperation not only with the airlines themselves but with the airport authority's and executives at the association's they represent in terms of a finding collaborative solutions to

challenging problems. for example, we are working with the airline's right now on a new form of the security-based initiative. they have been very forward- leaning. i have spoken to the ceo's of the five major u.s. carriers in the past few weeks to thank them for their support, because they are spending money to make some changes that have helped us in terms of security functions and allows the possibility for more expedited screening at the checkpoint. it is a win-win, as we look at. >> talking about the airports, they have the option with your approval to opt out of tsa security. they can have competitive bidding and have a private security company come in. i know you have oversight, but you don't have a day-to-day management as such. is this something that is a concern in terms of ensuring there is a secure place at every airport, or do you think this is a trend that more airports will

go for? >> there are 16 airports out of the nearly 450 that have a privatized or force. we still have tsa management on the scene to oversee. they have to follow the exact same protocol and standards that we have. we find them to do an excellent job. the security is not an issue as much as the cost, because it does cost the taxpayers a little bit more to have those workforces. other than that, i am interested in any best practices as they develop or other things that we perhaps could learn from that we could deployed nationwide. that being said, i think tsa, as a government counterterrorism agency -- that is why we were created. so i think it is important for flexibility and new information on threats, to get that out quickly and modify our procedures quickly and does not require negotiations or contract

changes or things like that. >> tsa is constantly trying new things. some things work, some things don't. i remember that puffer machine -- history now. what about things like air marshals? is it cost-effective? does it provide a deterrent you want it to? >> i am not a strong supporter of the air marshals because of the deterrent -- i am a strong supporter of the air marshals because of the deterrent effect. it is somewhat to the secret service and protecting the president -- every day that goes by, we don't know what people did not try because of a great job that secret service does it day in and day out. what we try to do is make sure we are random and unpredictable in how we go about doing things, especially in the mass-transit area, where we have visible, intermodal protection response

teams, which are interagency, law enforcement agency, uniformed officers, perhaps canines, behavioral protection officers, who are there at the union station just up the road here. they may be there at tuesday at 10:00 a.m. if a possible terrorist is there to do surveillance casing, they not try, and let's tuesday at 10:00, but thursday at 3:00 p.m., another team may be there. terrorists cannot go to school on what we do to try to beat us. >> much of the focus is on air travel because there are so many people who do it, but there are some who are concerned about the level the ability of particularly train travel, but all -- about the vulnerability of a particularly train travel, but also a cruise ship travel. you have people getting on with bags that have not been

searched. do you see this as an artist that is -- as an area worthy of attention? >> it is something we tried with amtrak with their police force and the metro transit sheets across the country, where we recognize tsa cannot be all things to all people at all places at all times. how can we work effectively in augmenting or enhancing what they do, because they know the threats, they know the local population better than we do. our job is really an enabler of what they do it, whether through transportation security grant funding, training of officers and additional canines, things like that. those are some of the challenges. we recognize that it trains and buses and subways, it is in much more open architecture that aviation. there have been a number of attacks around the world, hundreds of attacks since 9/11. that is something that we recognize and that is why it is important working with state and

local authorities. >> what about the cruise ships? not everyone is aware of the changes of their. >> every cruise ship line as their own security force, and we work with them to make sure that they do proper screening before people get on board, including all the croute. there is back out checks and all those things are done. i could -- fortunately, we've not seen a tax plan on cruise ships and not carried out. there's been some successful attacks on it varies -- on ferries carrying lots of people. given the more open nature than airlines, it presents an opportunity for us to really leverage those resources. >> technology is evolving, for example, in the body imaging machines. those are getting better. qc over the next 10 years -- what do you see over the next 10 years as things we will be

experiencing at airports, rail stations? >> at airports, there is talk of the checkpoint of the future, the international air travel association promoting that, which i strongly endorse. the idea is to differentiate people between unknown travelers lower-risk and high-risk, -- between travelers low-risk and high-risk, frankly. it is the tunnel, if you will, filled with the sensors that will be able to take up explicit things. you'll be able to keep all of -- your jacket and your carry-on bag and things and shoes on, things like that. that is a great concept. it is not there from the technology perspective. my perspective and my strong belief is that the best tool that we have in this fight against terrorism is intelligence. if information on the front-end, whether it is the intelligence community or, for example, the

plot last fall -- that information, the tracking numbers of two packages from yemen to chicago, that was provided by a foreign intelligence service that provided the tracking numbers. we were able to track one in the middle east, one in the u.k., and actually find its packages. on first inspection, they did not look like bombs. they look like computer printers. but upon further inspection, we were able to disrupt so they did not cause catastrophic damage. that is what we try to do, to make sure that we have these multiple layers of security in place in a collaborative fashion both with our partners overseas and industry. >> i have a dozen more questions, but i can tell i have to share with our audience. if anyone has a question, we would be happy to entertain from the audience. we have someone with a microphone, so just raise your hand if you have a question. if he would give us your name

and your home town or your affiliation if you are media. >> i live right across the river in arlington. i used to say i travel for pleasure. that is kind of an oxymoron now. going to various airports, there is really a difference in how they treat what i like to think of as consumers of airport travel. for instance, charlotte is wonderful. i think everybody will agree with that. orlando, which is private, is just terrific. they have the screaming children and tired travellers and long lines, and they are always nice to you. atlanta is terrible. good days, bad days, i thought that if i give to somebody -- or if i passed through security, i distribute hershey's kisses, they are much nicer, but they probably should not take candy from strangers. [laughter] what kind of training do you have, or do you do any kind of

training, to say let's be a little bit nicer to the passengers? >> thank you for that question, and one of the things i learned when i came to tsa last year is that out of the airports around the country, if you have seen one airport, you have seen one airport. each new airport is laid out differently, the checkpoint configurations are different, the airport authorities use their space in different ways. what we do is provide training for our security officers in how to ride ou -- how to provide the most effective security, and there is a customer service aspect to that, but it is secondary to the security. everybody wants to make sure they are right at their destination, so how do we do that. what we are working on now is how do we do that in a more collaborative fashion. we have at tsa website and a blog where people can share their experiences. i would venture to say that if

we have 1000 people, we might get 1000 different opinions about how those work and others don't work, based on their own experiences. the idea is how can we find the most effective security in the most efficient way, facilitating the passenger, the customers' travel, recognizing that the vast majority of travelers do not pose a threat. >> do we have other questions? yes. a couple here, one down here. >> i am jane from new york city, and i was in new york city with my husband and son when the planes hit the twin towers. post-9/11, we are aware that a lot of information had been circulating about possible planes being flown into the world trade center. richard clarke being one of

the people in the administration, and in his book "against all enemies," he states that he was trying to get that information to bthe bush administration, and to verify what he said in his book -- to paraphrase what he said in his book, was not being heard. you have any information about how things could been handled differently? >> the 9/11 commission reports that the 9/11 commission did -- they did it outstanding job tracking down information and piecing together information that, frankly, some of what i did not know. i was brought in after words, so i did not have any insights about what richard clarke was or was not saying. but the dice/11 commission

report is out -- the 9/11 commission report is an outstanding monograph. there are other books in addition to richard clarke's that i would recommend. i don't have any personal knowledge on that. >> spindell media relations, new york city. it is well known that israel as an extremely effective deterrent program. should one travel to ben-gurion airport, for example, there is a screening which takes place that is distinctly different from what we experience in this country. have you investigated any of those particular best practices, and have you any, in that regard? >> yes, we have had a number of discussions with the israeli authorities, and they have a lot

of things to be commended. there is obviously things they do that go beyond what we are allowed to do here in terms of profiling and focusing on certain groups of people. ethnicity or religion -- we obviously don't do that. but there are a lot of things in terms of engagement with passengers that i believe are good tools. we are actually doing something at boston logan right now that is based not only on the israeli model but on other aviation authorities around the world, best practices that involve more passenger engagement. is more information intelligence screening than leaving everything to the physical screening. what i don't want to happen is to have the physical screening be the single point of failure. what i want to do is make sure we are informed by the latest intelligence techniques and things like that so that a possible terrorist is identified well before they get to the

airport. that is the best defense we have. we don't get that type of intelligence very often, and it becomes a question of how can we use tools available to us within our u.s. constitution from work, respecting privacy and civil liberties, to make sure we're doing the best possible job. >> question down here. >> thank you. adam nixon with middle east broadcasting. i want to ask about an interesting contradiction. with that pulls of -- we look at polls of error-americans, they are well integrated and seem -- did the happyara -- arab-americans, they are well integrated and seemed happy, but in contradiction to that we have homegrown terrorism. do you think there is a large

percentage of the population that supports homegrown terrorism that could be active, or is it just a small fringe element? >> i would say very brought on that and refer and defer to both of the fbi at the national counterterrorism center, which does a lot of work in that. but in a very broad sense, no, i don't think there is a broad support network for either al qaeda or other terrorist groups. there are always one-offs, whether you call them loan wolves or individuals and want to make any for themselves or something, or they act in radicalize on the internet or something like a -- i. or they have been at radicalize on the internet or something like that. given the freedoms that we have here -- fortunately, those individuals are almost always identified prior to them trying

to do something. >> "congressional quarterly." you mentioned cooperation with airlines. as far as checked baggage fees go, tsa says that the baggage of fees have driven up carry-on baggage rates and possibly makes screening more difficult. at the airline's expressed any desire to cooperate in -- and that -- have said the airline's expressed any desire to cooperate on that? >> we are not discussing that directly in terms of a security issue. that is taking place, i believe, at other levels of the government. the fact is that the number of check bags has gone down dramatically in the last few years, and a number of carry-on no one here ite inked a lot of things their carry-on bags, but the

fact is that each one of those makes it more difficult to detect what may be a fairly innocuous-parent item on an x- ray, for example -- innocuous- appearing in one index, for example, may be material that when combined could bring down an aircraft. that is a challenge we face, and we work closely with all our partners to try to address. as to the first part of your question, that is being done at different levels. >> question way up there. >> i don't have a question per se. i just want to thank you for helping make our country a safer place. i just want to say hi to my mom, who was watching live on c- span -- is watching live on c- span. [laughter]

>> what is your name? >> mike, i'm from florida. >> charlie clark. with the coming unionization and marketing of american federation of government employees, you expect major changes in work the speaker or effectiveness? >> the changes will not be apparent to passengers. it will deal with how we evaluate our security officers, things that are much more administrative, if you will, how they bid on a shift, for example, or their uniforms which there may be some changes that they may want to make so that process. as far as the passenger experience, i don't think will notice anything other than whatever may come about as a result of some of those changes. yeah, i think it's more an internal issue to t.s.a. rather than a public perspective.

>> any other questions? >> thanks, admin stator. i'm joe strong from the "new york daily news." my question is about trusted traveler. security experts are big fans of tiered screening. most of the enrollees will be frequent or professional travelers. the security experts also note that certain travelers, let's say, for example, children and the elderly run the risk of having a high risk score because you don't know a lot about them because they might not travel as much. so is there a practical solution, a perception problem that t.s.a. has about heightened screening for these apparently lower risk groups and how can t.s.a. manage perception was that in the media? >> you identified some good points and some of the challenges that we face as we move from a one size fits all

construct, that the more information people will share with us, just basic information if they're in a frequent travel program, that can help us make informed judgment and decisions about whether there is a possibility of expediting their screening from a physical standpoint. as it relates to children, again, we have some good initiatives underway to try to recognize that in all likelihood they're not terrorists and hopefully their parents or guardians are not using them as such. the same with the elderly, recognizing that the likelihood is that a very senior citizen is not a terrorist. we know there have been two 64-year-olds who were suicide bombers and there is a number of people on the terrorist watch list who are older than that. anytime you do a blanket exemption, if you will, then you run the risk. that's why i always want to maintain the random and unpredictable, and everybody is in a known traveler program

that we're still reserve that right. the global entry with the canadians or mexican entry points is a good opportunity for somebody to sign up, if you will, for a known or trusted traveler program and so that gives people an opportunity, if they are frequent travelers, and especially if they're traveling overseas which global entry is for, gives them something to sign up for and the likelihood as we roll this risk-based security initiative out, the airports will do it. this is going to take a while. there is not something that changes over night. any change we make we have to recognize that it is an enhancement to security because we're using our limited resources and focusing those on the unknowns and trying to make some good judgments and decision bs those that we do know more about. >> one final question because our time is running out sadly.

here we like to talk about the media and history and government and news. how helpful or harmful has the media been to t.s.a.'s mission? [laughter] >> obviously, the media can do a lot to help inform the traveling public as to what is going on and so that's a positive side of it. i think when we get focused on these individual situations that are taken out of context, frankly. so we have nearly 1.8 million people traveling every day that we screen here in the u.s. more than 2 million during busy travel times. if you think of how many times say over the last six months or a year that you have heard nothing, hopefully it's not something every day, but it seems like there is something once every few weeks or something, so the context of that is that we have screened,

going on nearly 6 billion people here in the u.s. since 9-11. anytime you take anything where people are engaged with the public 6 billion times there is bound to be some things where we could have done a better job. so it's not the media's fault for reporting. my only issue is to keep things in context of what we're trying to do and it's all for the benefit of the traveling public to keep them safe as they travel. >> administrator, we want to thank you so much for your time. we want to remind our audience that we have another program coming up on saturday, august 20, at 2:30 p.m. in the documentary theater. the guest is new orleans times columnist chris rose who is talking about coverage of hurricane katrina and i urge all of you, if you have time, to visit our katrina exhibit. it will be here through mid-september. thank you all for coming and thank you, administrator. >> thank you. [applause]

[captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] >> and you can all of this programming in our video library at c-span.org. more live coverage, the conversation of a use of unmanned technology including the u.s. military's use of drones for air strikes and robotic technology such as the use following the japan earthquake. live coverage at 4:00 p.m. eastern from the national press club. tonight on c-span, historians share their views on how history might judge president

obama compared to past presidents. they also predict the -- how the president will do in the 2012 election. it's moderated by abc news correspondent at 8:00 p.m. eastern. then the creators of twitter on what's ahead for internet users and twitter users with walter isakson. that gets underway at 9:25 eastern. >> seen as a testing ground for presidential hopefuls, republican candidates are gathering in iowa for some grassroots politics and state farm festivities. starting thursday, live from des moines, we'll interview the candidates and take your phone calls about politics. saturday we'll go to ames for the iowa straw polls where three of the past five winners have gone on to win the iowa caucus and two have won the presidency. road to the white house in iowa, this week on espn. >> all this week on "washington journal," a series on jobs in america and we're reairing the

program weeknights at 8:00 p.m. eastern on espn 3. this morning's guest, from the chamber of commerce, martin ragalia. we're looking at the private-public partnership. let me just begin with how a public private partnership works in theory. ? guest: in theory you have the public sector, controlli the permits, laying the groundwork, drawing the parameters of the project. then the private sector has an

interest in working with the government to provide the actual solution to the problem a situation where it is sometimes a matter of start up funding for credit insurance, credit overlay. that sort of thing, helping to facilitate the project. host: what is the economi theory in favor of this? guest: when you are dealing with things like public goods, things for which a private company would not enter and build a project because they cannot get any return out of it, like public roads, by working with the government you invigorate the private sector, giving them some benefit out of it. some of the road blocks to establishing the project are facilitated by the interaction between private sector and

government. there is no cookie cutter stance about how these work. host: we had a guest yesterday, an economist, who said that the reason why these public-private partnerships are a bad idea is because there is no market. that is why the private sector is not goinghere by themselves. why should these exist? guest: in the situation of a public road, a private company would not build a public road. that is a public good that the public sector has to provide. there are some infrastructure projects beyond roads and bridges. systems that will be operated partly by private companies. there is a benefit to the private sector to be involved in that aspect.

you have to find the places where the private sector can get a return on investment, then find the places in the project where they have to step in to help with permitting and the like. revision of credit or insurance. host: one example is an infrastructure bank. we have heard that proposal from the president. spurring job creation around the country, creating financing authority, sponsored by john kerry in massachusetts. the idea is to attract more infrastructurenvestments by creating an infrtructure bank that cld spur up to $640 billion in infrastructure spending or the next decade. what is the proof that that would happen?

guest: there is no proof. it is simply one of those projects that makes sense that it makes sense. right now we have a huge deficit and a debt problem. the first downgrade in american history. the federal government cannot simply ride line checks. but there are pieces of these projects that the private sector can make money off of. so, the government tries to come in with up-front funding and private sector cooperation on funding and construction of these projects. that is the problem with an infrastructure bank. the problem is that every single project has a certain amount of idiocy grassy to it. different from the last one, different from the next one. you cann just rubber-stamp them all. you have to look at everyone. meaning that you cannot do them

as quickly as you would like. it is a piece of the puzzle and it moves the ball forward. host: martin regalia, put on your economists hat. looking at those that have been unemployed for long time, our most of those numbers construction workers? are there enough unemployed construction workers to make an infrastructure bank effective? , guest: we are still down by 7.5 million jobs since the downturn. we have many that are marginally taxed and not even counted. working part-time, but for economic reasons they would rather work full time. a large number of them are in

extraction and construction industries. plenty of people could be brought back into construction projects. the majority of them are not construction builders, home workers. the layoffs in this downturn were very broadbased. there is enough supply to bring back, but the question is, how do you do that without running the deficit? host: continuing our weeklong series looking at the american workforce, a private public partnerships on the topic this morning. business owners, we have a separate line for you. 202-737-2579. we want to hear from you as well. is is from the department of labor, the joint effort with the chamber commerce to assist

military members in find civilian workplace jobs. can you put more meat on the bones of this proposal? guest: 8% to 9% of veterans are unemployed. they have put themselves in harm's way for the country. we owe them a great debt for that. many of these programs are trying to create an avenue where by veterans can be reabsorbed into the private sector more effectively, more quickly. what they are doing is training, providing the individuals with a better knowledge of how to operate in the private sector. they have been operating in a very controlled environment up to that time. how can they ma themselves

more presentable to businesses? it is also a situation where they want businesses to take a good look dead veterans. in the military they have learned to deal with catastrophic situations. it is a bringing together of the mines. we call it a -- coincidence of one. people want jobs and experience and you bring them together. it is another piece of the puzzle. veterans programs changes how you hire your veterans. meaning that in some cases the veteran will be more desirable and that a better wrote price point. it will not create net jobs in total. it is not a jobs creator for the

economy as much as it is an employment program for veterans. because these people have sacrificed so much, it is the right thing i think for t country to do. host: is it already under way? fixed guest: yes. i think it has been very successful. bringing together the -- coincidence ofeterans in businesses looking for people, showing how the veteran can service that need. host: john, pennsylvania, go ahead. let me push the button. caller: i have a big electrical business. [feedback] i have a little electrical business in harrisburg, pa.. i have problems with getting the big government jobs when it

comes to their bonding and all of that. host: i will perform -- i will take that point and i will let you go. in future, remember to turn your television down to avoid that annoying feedback. guest: this is a situation that we see with small businesses. not just veteran small businesses. burdensome red tape that exists out there today. it has been a main chamber expression to streamline these regulations. very different for small businesses, how do they go, where do they go, how do they make the applications, what kind of permitting do they need to qualify?

the sca does a pretty good job to help with that, but it is a big problem. many of these businesses were started by experts in their field, but dealing with the government can be a daunting obstacle. host: what is the small business lending fund? guest: there is a program for nding to small businesses that tries to make credit more available. trying in many cases to bring the person that needs credit to the notice of the bk's and provide insurance and overlapping coverage for the banks that make those loans. guest: banks and businesses work together to make those jobs -- host: banks and businesses work together to make those jobs? guest: i thi tt the mistake

we have made over the past two years is not focusing on t economy and focusing on jobs. you cannot get jobs without getting growth in the economy. providing a relative price point for a veteran or a new higher does not create a job. it changes the relative price of hiring person a versus person b. th does not create a job. you have to have growth. we have to grow above 2.5% to create jobs. looking at the jobs side without looking at the economics side misses the driver in the equation. host: dupont -- the public- private partnerships do what you say it needs to be done? guest: some of them do.

other public-private partnerships a look at various pieces within the economy and say -- why is that he'sot sharing the economic benefit? why haven't veterans, who have given so much for the country, become employed them those partnerships move to correct what is that perceived deficiencies. there are two reasons for having them. one of them actually focuses on creating more jobs. the other focuses on taking a disadvantaged piece of the economy been trying to bring them u to a place to take part in the opportunities out there. host: san bernardino, california. caller: good morning, c-span. the conversation this morning,

regarding public-private sector jobs coppola basically the government has -- sector jobs, basically the government has sent these out to the highest bidders. they take that money and they hire the cheapest workers that they can to retain the profits for themselves. we have done all of this work anhave nothing to show for. i guess it is not a long-term solution to the economy. guest: actually, it can be. some jobs are more permanent. they provide the wherewith to fund the demand th those

people spend. they buy drugs that the drug store, food at the grocery store. stores that want to stock their shelves, the economy is internet-connected that way. i think that it is wrong to say that any one job is not a good job. every job is a piece of the economy. if we are finding a place in the economy where the demand has not been met, we can further increase generations of intel. many little steps in the right direction will start to showing 117,000 jobs added in july. host: joblessness fell, but so did the share of the population oking for work.

here you can see where the jobs were added. construction, 8000, manufacturing, 24,000. health care, retail trade, financial services, all down. andy? guest: -- caller: there is a finite amount of jobs in the world. why would companies invest in the united states when they could invest in countries with eap labor? this high unemployment rate is the new normal and analysts are not being honest about what is going on. guest: an interesting point. the number of jobs in the world are not finite. we see them growing every day. last month we saw another 117 jobs.

these are the results of jobs being created in jo being lost. we can do much better than that. that is what we are shooting for. we want to hundred 50,000 jobs, 350 jobs per month. the issue of competitiveness about world, we are in a competitive world environment. it is not just a matter of what you pay a worker, it is what you get. yes, they earnore, but that is the key. they earn more by producing more. the fact that we are in a worldwide competition does no mean that we have to ship jobs overseas. for our system to be more competitive with those abroad, we would bring them home. host: patty murray was just

assigned to the super committee. she wrote this piece in "the washington journal" this morning. host: that is true. our educational system is failing the test right now. we have an economy that is becoming more technologically advanced, which requires greater

skills. as they pointed out, post- graduate skills in many cases. and we are not filling that need in terms of training. much of it will have to be retraining. another absence in this skill shortage is sply that the older workers worked with that one line of work for a long time. that line of work might be fading and another one might be coming up. not only is it educating youth, it will be reeducating the old war horses like myself to move into another line of work when it becomes available. wax often they are calling for public-private partnerships on this. including an integration of education. that allowstrategy's lawyers to work.

-- host: often they are calling for public private partnerships on this -- guest: right now, if you are a business and are training people, it is very difficult for them to bring the training skills that they have to the local educational system. trying to penetrate these vironments at the local level can be a daunting task. i think that some of these panerships are saying to the businesses -- what is the skill and training that you need? then try to chang the public education curriculums to meet that need. many people come out with degrees, but they are not degrees that are readily employable in the marketplace. driving the educaon crop -- education in the way of the employable would be held by a

long run. host: for a continued update on the stock drop this morning, the market opened up a few minutes ago. as we continue to talk about private sector jobs, buffalo's supply inc., what is this company? caller: we are a distributor of medical equipment and supplies. host: does the private sector do enough? caller: i am not sure that those partnerships would directly impact my business. i do not claim to be an expert onhem. host: would you call yourself a small-business owner? guest: -- caller: yes. host: earlier we were talking about the $30 billion to

encourage lending to small businesses. your viewpoint on that? guest: -- caller: certainly, small businesses have a more difficult time getting capital. to grow and hire people, they need access to capital. our company was founded on the principle that we should never be in debt. so, we have not been out in the capital market, looking for money. host: what are you hearing from other small business owners on this? caller: a lot of red tape. a lot of confusion. a lot of not thoroughly understanding the process. sba sgh a i thinksb improved in communicating their needs to small businesses.

host: we just read a piece saying that there was a skill gap. are you having trouble finding people with the right skills for your business? guest: given the unemployment situation, we should not have a problem meeting those needs. in terms of meeting the proper skill sets with job demands. host: are you going is a business? caller: we are just now seeing an upturn,o in cautiously optimistic. we will be hiring in the near future if things go well. host: are you concerned about the talk of deficit and debt reduction in the papers? we saw this from "the wall

street journal," yesterday. host: businesses, like yourself, which supply things for the federal government? government contracts? caller: certainly, there have been concern over fewer funds being available. i guess i am somewhat philosophical. the overall good, i think that a lot of spending is good for the general economy. we will find our way through. we offer a value proposition that will not be as easy. we will find ways to continue to grow our business. host: all right. harold jackson, thank you for your time. martin regalia, what did you ar from him? guest: the same thing that we hear from many of our small

businesses. availability of credit is an issue. it has been a tough few years. when they have more customers, they will hire more individuals. tt is the key. host: if the federal government is this ctomer and the federal government is cutting spending -- guest: if you serve as the need, the company will be there. they have much less to worry about than companies that do not. it is a competitive environment to provide a service that is needed. you provide the cheapest of the best service needed. you will maintain that customer. it is not a question of the federal government going away. that is what is misinterpreted about so much being done on the

debt and deficit. we are just trying to slow the growth of the federal deficit. as a result, maintained deficits smaller than the growth rate. bringing down the debt to gdp ratio, headed in the right direction. we are trying to change the trajectory. something that was so list in this current debt deal. it included spending cuts and was never intended to fix the debt. it wasntended to keep us out of the faults and start the process in the right rection. -- keep us out of the fall and start thprocess in the right direction. caller: i think that we are overlooking something. as a country, we need to be more self-sufficient. less reliance on the federal

sector. in terms of the federal debt, it is astronomical. we have main staples that people purchase every day. we have foods where we are not making what we are buying. [no audio] host: we lost you. sorry about that. do you want to take that? guest: some of that i would agree with, some of it i would not. we are in a worldwide economy. if we do not try to serve it that -- service those customers, we will gradually shrink on the world stage. at the same time, we have to learn to live within our own finances. and not to burden the economy with bright side is as opposed

to large size. we have not done that, which is why be have this huge debt level. get if you were to do it too quickly, you could crush the economy. enhancing growth is the prerequisite, keeping the growth growing and changing the trajectory. host: democratic caller. bronx. caller: your economics are incoherent. you said thatobs are key and customers are key. then you said that the government has a lot of jobs

they have had to stop because you want the government to shrink. therefore allowing customers who are not there for your businesses. ho[no audio] host: i apologize. we lost that call as well. we are having technical difficulties here. this is not on purpose. guest: i would beg to differ. when you look at an economy, broad based economy with a large federal sector, there are a lot of balances that havto take place. that being said, the underlying fundamental driver is the private sector. we have to unleash the private sector today. right now it is burdened with excessive regulation. a tax system that needs to be totally reformed. if we do those kinds of things,

to get the private sector moving and creating jobs, it creates demand and the need for businesses to hire people to meet that demand, creatg more income, jobs, and spending. sometimes that can be terribly confusing to the people that have never studied economics. sometimes confusing to those of us that do. listen to mr. ben bernanke. listen to the people on wall street. we do know that certain things retard growt certain things push jobs overseas. we have to get rid of those. excessive regulations. excessive taxation. we have to start doing the right thing in allowing the economy to work. host: let's try this again.

roger, business owner, tennessee. caller: i am watching you all and -- yes, i just wanted to say that i am watching you all right now and you are talking about jobs and everything. ford started to build a new transmission for their carpets. they are taking it to mexico. until we stop letting our businesses go to mexico, also bringing in cheap labor, all of these people -- the rich people, hiring them, i am a builder. i cannot understand these people. host: we will leave it there and take your point about trade policy. guest: right now we have to -- we have a free-trade agreement that is not being pushed forward. languishing washington, d.c.,

everyone has a different reason. while we are sitting here without these trade agreements, competitors abroad are meeting that market. a lot of people like to think of the u.s. the way that it was 100 years ago. when we were coming out of the industrial age, becoming a dominant power. or 50 years ago, after the second world war. we are not there anymore. for a lot of reasons. size. we are not even the largest economic block anymore the european union is larger. we have to interact with these people in a way that is different. producing most efficiently, effectively, selling where we can sell affectively. in doing that, we create jobs. not necessarily the same type of jobs. not necessarily manufacturing jobs.

different types of jobs. we produce what we have a relative level of experience in here, selling those abroad and making money. it is a different system that is always changing. of that industry is gradually shrinking because it is not worldwide competitive. host: republican line. robert, texas. caller: thank you for ting my call. the government thinks that it can create jobs. it cannot. the private sector can create jobs. we need to get into a mode where we just step back. starng businesses, helping people to get working, getting away from this government does

everything -- government does not do anything but get in the way. host: we will leave it there. let me show you this twitter message -- guest: the real estate bubble was the man did not by the private sector, but the government has for years nationalized the housing industry. fannie and freddie are back, but before that the problem was that we nationalized it too much. i think that you could make a very strong case for just the opposite. that in that case, we had too much government influence and interference. i think that the overall state

that we have unleashed on the private sector refers not to unfettered capitalism, but to overburdensome regulations. there is a balance. you do not want an economy with no regulation, oregulation that is so pervasive and hard to understand that you do not get people taking a chance. it has driven the economy since the beginning. risking their lives savings. going forward, creating bunesses. not just rich people. way back when, building computers in their garages, ozniak, working on an idea that no one thought would work. it is not just fat cats. providing capital to

entrepreneurs, moving the system in the direction of allowance. there is never a success without failure. when we criminalize failure, we retard the system. we do not see thkind of growth we would otherwise have. host: pam, your on t air. caller: i am just appalled at bureaucrats that tell us that free trade is working for the united states. to me, it is a completely failed experiment. but not to admit that it has failed, i cannot believe it. every job that we have has gone overseas. i had a business of 40 people in medical transcription that entire business sector is going to india.

the best jobs that we have are headed to india. guest: i love people that sit there and preface everything by saying that trade is a failed experiment, i started 10 years ago. we have been trading for a lot longer than 10 years. as the world economy changes and grows, we will have to trade a lot more. that does not mean that every particular sector benefits. it does not mean that trait does not destroy it some jobs while creating others. if someone says that their business did not do well because of trade, you kind of have to say -- that is a shame, is there another business that you could move into that would benefit from trade? we have become much more of a service economy. one of your own callers today

said that we ship all of the service jobs overseas. what is left? we have a problem growing right now, as well as a problem creating jobs. the problem is not the competition. we have leveled so much, and levels, we are having trouble competing in that new global environment. we have stepped up to the big leagues and we are not the only global player in town. we have got to meet that competition. if we keep sitting here and saying -- my goodness, look at everything these other guys have done. they did what we told them to do. become world traders. become more efficient. we will just shrink. we have to step up to the challenge. the trade is there.

get used to it. the rest of the world is there. get used to it. do not bemoan the fact that they are growing, figure out how to compete and take that business back. host: earlier we were talking about proposals like the vet program. what are you hearing about when congress returns? when could date address these proposals? guest: fall is going to focus again on the debt issue. we have that new joint committee on the deficit and the debt. i think that it would be good if we could deal with that in a long-term way. is hard to see where they fit into that context when you have

to give real legislation, forming in the proper way on the heels of an election campaign. the sun with the other issues was not focusing on it. host: the federal reserve, keeping interest rates low, do you think that will help spur spending? i ask this because of this week -- tw -- etweet -- host: does that get people spending? guest: i do not look at it as spending. i look at it as an underpinning of the very modest amount of

growth that we have right now. there was thought that they might announce of the purchase of laundering year securities. the fact of the matter is that as he maintains liquidity and keeping -- keeps places operating during this difficult time, that is their job, first and foremost. i think that they have done as much as they possibly can to provide liquidity and capital to the banking system. but with lack of demand, the woman is rig. who would expand businesses if customers are not coming in? as long as these businesses can meet the existing demand with a

current work force, that is the way they will do it. host of democratic line, spencer, chicago. -- host: democratic line, spencer, chicago. caller: starting back in the 1990's, economy and industry became aware that conforming companies told the business community a very bad set of rules to play by. outsourcing jobs does not work. you cannot outsourced jobs, because who can purchase them? we have to bail them out, because why? merchandise. if you continue the owner's role of saying -- ok, we have to

competeith global markets. number one, trade policy is very poor for our nation. it is destroying this economy. guest: i disagree with some, agree with others. your point about market entry is absolutely true. which is why have free trade agreements with the rea, colombia, panama, that we are sitting on that other people are taking advantage of. our competitors around the world are laughing at us. the fact of the matter is, if we are going to be competitive in the workspace, and we have to be, there is no alternative. a disconcerting fought for people my age and older, with the united states being the kingpin, but it is just not that way anymore.

we will have to try to be more competitive. sell goods abroad. we will use the money that we make selling goods to the rest of the world. host: patricia, a business owner, fort myers, florida. caller: we have downsized our construction busins considerably. host: what do you think about these public-private pat -- partnerships? caller: we are putting all of our issues into one basket. we have to separate. we have the mets cporations getting sustenance. oil companies, farm subsidies, defense contractors. you name it. these guys are just lining up with congress saying give me, give me, give m

the american worker is starving. host: as a construction business owner, will it help you if there was this infrastructure bank? caller: case in point, in florida we had a high-speed rail perceived as a public- private partnership. president obama said that he would dedicate so much of his infrastructure tnsportation money to build a high-speed rail. the governor rejected it. it was absurd. the company that should be applying for this project said they h done their homework on this. that they had built these in other countries. they know that they can make money. orlando is a huge worldwide attraction.

tampas a major hub. we can make this work. he did not do his homework or analyze. governorcott did not do his due diligence at all. he killed 25,000 jobs. host: we have to leave it there. we are running out of jobs. guest: and resting point. a multinational corporation, it is the model. we have companies downsizing that are doing the same thing. talking about the failure of a private public partnership to come to fruition, there was no partnership because there was no sign on the dotted line. you cannot hold the business community responsible because of the decision from the state government. they had their reasons for doing

so. it points out a couple of things. there are projects out there that would benefit in terms of the creation of jobs. the more that we can do to facilitate those projects by working together to make the process easier, the better off we are and the quicker we will get the >> we are live at the national press club for a conversation on unmanned technology. it is going to get underway in just a few minutes. we will have all of it live on c-span. in washington today, the u.s. announced a new round of

sanctions against syria. here is state department spokesman. >> the focus of our activity, as you know, based on the secretaries' meetings and phone calls and recent conversations with the prime minister is to continue to strengthen the international chorus of condemnation regarding the activities of the regime. i think our view is that this community of countries willing to call him out, call syria out,

for what it is doing is growing. over the past week, based largely on his actions, but also because of the strong diplomacy that we have been conducting with a number of countries, ec moves like the arab league, the saudi king and, other countries taking a strong stand and making clear that what is going on in syria is absolutely unacceptable to the international community. the fact that we got this u.n. security council presidential statement last week speaks to the fact that countries like china and russia are no longer willing to sit by. the question now is what message is the regime going to

take from this? are they going to stop the violence? are they going to pull the tanks back? are they going to allow a real democratic transition to take place? that is where we are on syria today. the treasury department today announced a new set of sanctions. we sanctioned the commercial bank of syria. with sanctions -- we sanctioned their largest mobile phone purveyor. >> where are we internationally? do you feel the countries who have notoriously come forward are backing that up with sufficient concrete steps with other sanctions? >> this is very much the focus of the yet -- of the diplomacy that we are engaged and to encourage as many countries as

possible to take national action, to ensure that we do as much as possible to increase the pressure and our own sanctions are designed to deny him the money to commit this kind of violence. >> we go live to th press club. introducing a discussion this afternoon on the use of unmanned technologies. just starting life here on c- span. >> this is being recorded. members can access the audio file through the website. others can purchase a copy from the club's broadcast operations center.

the e-mail is the following. please turn off any of these things that you might have. let me set the example here. there are upcomingclub, those a. any material related to this afternoon, if you have not already, please sign in porcine when you leave. -- or sign when you leave. drones, i am sure that our

speaker will explain that. speakers are -- the retired marine admiral david duncan hines. do i have this right here? retired air force charlie been. air force rookie thomas, not retired. on my far right, mr. john pretty. gentlemen, welcome to you all. glad to have you here. i want to welcome back the person that originally suggested this and did most of the work, melanie hampton. where are you? she is out working somewhere. the senior communications manager for unmanned associated vehicles.

there she is. here she is. [applause] i am sure that everyone in the room knows our newsmakers year. they are attending the 2011 auvsi show. products and organizations that will be used will be on display there, in some cases. not just military applications. one example is the northrop grumman uvs, being used in afghanistan and the aftermath of the nuclear reactor situation in japan. our topic today, as you know, is "beyond the drone's." melanie called this drones 101. that would be an advanced course for me. if you have a question

afterwards, let us know your name and affiliation and who you are addressing a question to. if you give me a signal, i will try to call on you in turn in as many as time permits. if you have not already done so, sign out when you leave. general, you are the first speaker. >> ok. first of all, thank you for this opportunity. i am a retired marine general in the marine corps. i hope that the dialogue will be as interesting as it was during my jsf days. i am now the irobot underground -- i want to talk it little bit about what we are doing and the experiences we have had. how do you go down?

look at that. ok. all right, it folks? looks like we will need the class on how to -- down there. it does seem to be doing that. good. let me talk about the robot experience we have had. for almost 10 years we have been reacting to different national responses. we had a number of different agencies that use these four different events in law enforcement. in the gulf of mexico we deployed an underwater robot that provided the means to track oil plumes below the surface. finally, we had robots that went

into the nuclear reactors in japan. first of all, let's talk about see glider in the gulf. everyone remembers the deep water verizon spill and -- deepwater horizon spill and the oil. we have an autonomous vehicle that can operate for up to nine months. it can maneuver around slowly and go to depths of 3,300 feet, providing you with all kinds of information relative to the water. in this case we did not have or developed a carbon sensor. so, we used a barometer typically used for biomass and a chemical signature to do oil detection. it was very successful. the doctor frequently cited the

utility, staying in the water for 90 days, but also the new science four different centers for carbon detection. we deployed a total of four 30 pound class robots into the devastation within one week of the disaster. we sent six employees that were there to provide assistance in assembling and training for the technical operators to be able to do this. our robot for the first ones in the reactor itself. they performed important operations. the outer door for the first unit had to be performed by a human. but afterwards it was so hot, it could not be done. the robot provided access to unit 1. i will show you some access video in a second. let me try to marry some of that

video for you. i believe that it is running. so, this footage was provided by pepsico -- tepco. it does not look like it will run for me. here we go. you can see the devastation site at fukushima. access was a significant problem in terms of the amount of debris spread around the reactor sell. april 17 was the first are rival of robots opening up the inner door and providing the first glimpses into this particular unit. unit 3. there was no power. the robots operated in tandem to provide light sources and perform initial readings. you are seeing an actual view of

the operators. they have learned how to operate these robots within one day so that they could get the first look. they are scanning the video and looking at the amount of debris inside. additional operations on the 26th of april, providing not only capability, but they used a strap on radiation center to be able to measure radiation levels, skewing the video camera from the robot. june 6, providing the first indications going into the first unit of the radiation levels because of the steam uprising. we saw radiation levels of over 4000. to put that in perspective, that

means that in 90 minutes. we have since seen radiation levels of 6010 thousand, some of it external to the actual cell. very significant radiation levels. part of the lesson is that many designs are not appropriate for those levels of radiation. but our robot still functioned today. finally, we are showing you what we call the roomba warrior. one of the problems that they had was the brief election. you get a lot of problems from the dust that accumulates. the japanese did a strap on modification with a made up vacuum cleaner to actually go into and operate this one robot providing a visual picture, the

other one performing the sweeping operation. since the time they have done this, they have had 30% reductions, allowing humans to get farther and farther into the container itself. ok. back to play. so, relative to operations for robots in these sectors, the overarching said -- over arching premises depth you can take these robots into places that are difficult to get access to. what i would submit to you is that there are less obvious reasons. robot can be more economical in disaster situations. particularly with human assistance.

a 300 pound class robot with a human being can provide a lot of the mechanical lifting capabilities that a human might be incapable of doing in a rescue operation. so, you have this great union of robots in humans in these disaster scenarios. with those coming number of challenges associated not just with robot operation, but with the of the disaster itself. immediately you have problems with communication and training issues. overcoming those issues is very important. additionally, it is simply understanding the definition of what that what the robot to do. paramount in picking the right kind of equipment and with the right communications protocols, it is the suitability of those systems to the environment. if you are trying to operate in

these very harsh environments, any customization is the to perform and protocols speak to the need for a very flexible and robust robot design that also includes different options for communications protocols. finally, the basic premise that you have to go with what you have. many organizations will dream up on the fly solutions to current problems. those are very time critical. it is important that there is this premise that you go with what you have and resist the premise that you can create something on the fly as a new solution. the key points we have had over a number of different opportunities to perform this, understanding the mission, what are the requirements in the local area in sending the right

people with the right equipment? having a family of vehicles that operate on the same kind of control with the same kinds of communications protocols many of those things are also able to adapt to mission changes. one thing that you learn in these environments is that change will happen. mission needs will crop up. the ability to adapt will allow for strap on customization and is critical. absolutely essential. you cannot go into these situations without rehearsing it with the folks that need to perform it on that end. some ability to reach back to your engineering staff and the subject matter. believe me, irobot did not know a lot about radiation before we started, but it learned a lot on

the way. ease of use and, and software, a common architecture across platforms, allowing for more efficient user training. having a platform that has a variety of communications protocol is essential to the operations. having the experience, having robots operating in harsh environments, that is one of the building foundations to understand the mission critical needs. once you have that established, the business relationship is critical. remember again, you go with what you have. the message here is picking the right partner with the right equipment billy matters. i guess we will save the questions for the end. charlie? i think you are up. [applause]

>> i can get your full name, if you would like. let's my name is charlie deane. i served a career in the army that i am very proud of. in america we work on many different types of technologies, providing tailored solutions to our customers. i want to talk to you about robotics. there is a revolution going on today. whenever the assets, they provide a lot of tools to different customers around the world. surface assets, under water assets as well. the resolute -- revolution has been percolating. we know the reasons for the advancement in the last decade.

the use of robots in saving lives has increased dramatically. over 12,000 have been defeated in combat by robots. for this purpose today, first responders all around the world are using robots to increase the distance between their operators and the dangerous environments in which they have to operate. north america provides a world class technology in a world with an unnamed ground vehicles, platforms ranging in scale from several pounds up to 8000 to 10,000 pounds. we talk about our role in fukushima as well. a quick example to get us into the first responder mission is this one that came out of a swat team earlier this summer in the

western united states. a woman had barricaded herself in her house and was using a high-powered rifle to engage the local swat team. they deployed a robot through the window into the house. the robot was able to put cameras on the woman. she locked herself into a room, but luckily she locked herself into a room with the robot. even in a closet, the robot was able to show activity by looking underneath the door. the swat team was able to safely get the woman out of the house without any people injured during the process. that is the key. adding distance and safety to current operations. america has over 3700 robots

around the world today, serving domestic, international, first responder customers. you can see the type of customers being serviced. power companies, police departments, the fbi, mining companies for a rescue type operations. u.s. military branches. many, many foreign militaries. one example that i like to highlight, as the gentleman just did, was our collective role in unmanned systems support to the people of japan. in march of this year, we all remember, there was a terrible earthquake. that earthquake and the series of earthquakes after that led to this tsunami that smashed into the east coast of japan, creating devastating results.

not only because of the actions of the earth shaking, but the blaze here up to 100 feet. thousands and thousands of people lost their lives infrastructure impacting the coast of the pain -- japan. the earthquakes continued. this map shows you the size of the earthquakes that were occurring, as well as those that were occurring on that date, and shortly thereafter. if you study this, on this picture you can see only 6.0 and higher earthquakes. it was a terrible time. the day after the earthquake, north america asked what we could do to support the people of japan. we immediately reached out that saturday to the prime minister's office and offered our support. they quickly took us up on the

offer. they examine our capabilities. different types of platforms that go across a wide variety of sizes and shapes, able to clear many different types of sensors with three different types of robots. primarily for use with fukushima. in the days that followed we all watched patel found in horror as we saw the place basically fall to its knees with the terrible outcome of what was happening in the reactors. very brave workers went in and immediately started providing on hand support without the initial help of robots. luckily, our country was up -- our company was on its way.

it was terrible. here is what it looked like before the earthquake. of course, the onrush of ocean water. here is what it looked like a couple of days later. robots were used for mapping, cleanup, radiation detection. for general reconnaissance of what was going on in the areas. going from our dragon runner 20, a 20 pound robot, to our town robots, of which we have many of thousands of a round the world today. all of the way up to our bobcat partnership. bobcat donated, for free, bobcats to the people of japan.

this was not about a contract. this was all about helping mankind. we brought in the equipment shortly thereafter. the bobcats took a couple of more days to plan the shipping of. they do not fit into the suitcase hold of airplanes that you and i ride. we immediately started trading the japanese and electric power co. operators. it was interesting. new groups of operators came to us each day, but they get younger. the employees of the company learned how to operate robots, which are simple to operate, they realize perhaps it was a young person's sport. they use video game controllers

to drive them. gerald talked about translation. that is the kind of translation we are talking about right there. here you can see workers practicing driving with robots without being able to see them. in this case, there was a facility behind a concrete wall. they were planning to drive out of view of the operators, using monitors and controllers in a remote manner. in this case the two operators -- in the bottom right, this is a talent. of course, the large one is a bobcat. sharing the imagery coming back from those platforms, helping one another as they were moving debris.

as you can see from the calamity of the site, the bobcat became the most useful of the robots that we sent, because of its size. all of the robots were great. but the size of the bobcat in the chaos of the site made a able to move a lot of the debris that was there, allowing smaller robots to gain access to the complex beyond the piles of debris. translator of the year was the xbox 360 hand controller. other robots, as they went into the hot zone, went on to tepco travelers. they had been working on the

site since the latter part of march. more pictures that qaeda not long ago, showing the robots working. the key message here is not only help and respond, but how can you prepare before these events take place? in is easy to talk about preparation. of course, the harder part is acting to do the preparation. we spent a lot of time with our customers, listening to what they do in their work environments and what they need from systems that companies like ours provide. we work with them to convince them to prepare. if you look at the bring a fire arm around the pacific, it is not hard to imagine what happened in tokyo. we know the entire area of

shakes often. it could happen somewhere else. hopefully not, but there are other nuclear power plants around that ring of fire. mother nature is troublesome, giving an the opportunity, unfortunately, from time to time, to react. preparation is the key. we learned that the debris and construction after such events must be dealt with as you find it. assets being used as you have them. it is hard to utilize capabilities on the fly, so you go with what you have. we had robots with sensors on them. passing data back to the controllers so that the

operators could be remote from those robots. we learned that we had to deal with the massive nature of the outcome of those events. oftentimes organizations that have the need to not have the budget. we have to work with them in advance so that they can be ready. robots are the key of many military operations over the last decade. they extend the distance between operators and dangerous environments in which they have to operate. japan was a great example of that. 20 year-old, they are the rock stars. they get this technology. they can learn how to use a robot within hours. someone my age or so, might take the better part of a day.

but in general, it is quite fast. the alternative is human exposure. it is not a good alternative. we continue to safeguard personnel. a quick photo of one of our talents. used by fire departments around the world and the u.s. military. that concludes my presentation. [applause] >> cannot speak without a briefing. come on. i do not know where she hid my

briefing. go to the rabbit. ok, here it is. good. all right. bear with me, just for a second. everyone needed a break anyways, right? all right. i am lieutenant colonel rick thomas from the air force division of the intel branch, also known as the global lock died.

-- global hawk guy. i want to start off by saying that it is not the first time it has operated in disaster relief environments. the first one was in the southern california fires of 2007. it had to be advantageous, located in the northern part, but the next year it just so happened that we had fires in northern california that we supported. recently in haiti, we also supported that. this was the first time it had operated in the pacific theater. let me see if i can make this thing go. there we go. you already heard that the earthquake was devastating. one thing that i wanted to show with this slide was the fact that whenever commanders were

trying to plan for humanitarian assistance, they needed to know how bad it was. they really needed some way of getting the people, with some of the briefings that you heard here, they had to get them there somehow. the global hawk was asked to support the government of japan to find out how many airports were affected. also, how do the cities look? what kind of lack of communication? what kind of services are available? we can definitely see if services are responding. this was asked for by the government of japan. this is being persnickety today. when we looked around the pacific theater, it was a long

insurance asset. and a remotely piloted vehicle. it was the best one to satisfy those persistent dynamic imagery requirements. what does that mean? we could market over for up to 20 hours, dynamically task it. as new requirements became evident to aid workers, we could test it again. like i said, within 21 hours of receiving that request, the global hawk was airborne. one month earlier than we had even intended for it to operate. doing standouts and so forth, it was an incredible effort. first of all, they had to fix communications. we were not preparing to go to japan. fixing things that were not ready. someone has to look at all of that.

there was not a lot of that laying around. we had to find someone who was going to do that. i counted it the other day. there were 31 different government agencies, including the president's office, asking for imagery. so, that needed to be prioritized. during that time, the global hawk flew 21 missions. thousands of images. i bet you are hungry for imagery. the global hawk is similar to a spot -- spy plane, so the government has asked that we not release that imagery. i will have to talk you through it. as i said, the president's office asked for an update. he wanted to know, amongst other

things, the size of the reaction -- reactors. then taking a global temperature gauge, and we come back and it is hotter, you know we have got a problem. we did that over 20 different missions. and all of that debris that washed into see, we need to find those. the ronald reagan carrier group was also asked to respond. it does not want to just --

well, so we're sure of time of -- short on time. essentially, support for many of these government organizations, global hawk is often first on station because of its range. it can carry them at range and is able to give them support. and then the reactors, as well as the porous that found the debris and wash of the ocean that is my briefing in a nutshell.

i will turn it over to our final speaker. [applause] >> no one is going to scare me away with all i.t. staff.

>> good afternoon. i am with the u.s. customs protection. i happen to live in north dakota and and the director of the national security operations center there. we operate two nc9 creditors, seven of them operating at the border.

we have had the aircraft primarily for law-enforcement purposes. we have had occasion to apply these technologies toward disaster relief operations. notably, we have imagery, video from fires. the colonel's initial speech is a very nice lead in to what i am going to talk to you about. kind of a big question when it comes to civil support and disaster relief. how bad is it? we sourcing those intelligently, speeding aid to those that need it becomes critical to decision makers. especially when we are resources ltd.. call it the economics of scarcity. one example here is -- where is the fire? anyone ever been to a forest

fire? it is mostly a lot of smoke. you do not see the fire. here at the forestry service they can apply their fire -- there skills to where the fire is, not where they are not. a very important message here -- resource management. how bad is it? in 2005, i went to katrina. we went to assist katrina working with our partners. for five days, we did not lift a jug of water or save a person. reassessed the situation to try to determine if critical infrastructure existed and how we would be rushing supplies and vehicles to people so that they could repair electrical lines, railway cars, things like that. we would come back at the end of

every day, we would sticky tape notes about where the damage was and how and what the main supply routes would be. on a conference table, that was considered a common operating picture in 2005. i am changing a little bit to show you -- i just want to pull this up. usually capturing radar, we are able to capture data and send it electronically over a system that was developed on an m-class level to a variety of emergency responders. they are the ones that run the water department, the electrical department. as well as the police

department. the common operating feature becomes important. if i close this, will that close? sorry. mario, i got it. i am smarter than this. will it open? >> drag it down. >> ok. here is an image of north dakota, during the floods. you can see a broad scope of the city. it is a common operating picture. a 1 meter resolution. the fact that the radar gives

you a black-and-white image that you can look that becomes important. it is common. you can see it and understand it. you can see changes i antwrens that are important when it comes to flooding. in this example, the flood is a slowly moving disaster. if i need to move resources and i only have so many dump trucks, i do not want to put them someplace they are not needed. it becomes very critical to these emergency managers. it becomes very important as a recurring theme in our world. the cost of a flood becomes very expensive. knowing when it will impact and the extent to which it will impact becomes very important.

we could look at the floor -- the fact that there is even more flooding. >> of course, that's how we are using a lot of this data. for the department of bureau land management, with fires, that was an example of leading those resources with infrared imagery. moving those assets around in real-time, i will tell you what, jeanne. we cannot turn it around. this is a unique device. when be paired up with the mt9, we were provided with things

that we could not normally do. it becomes very important, especially when we have people that want to dynamically retest the aircraft to see something immediately. something that we collect and use near real-time, along with the things that we want to see immediately. it goes back to -- how bad is it? >> which one do you want? >> model 7.

let's go back to the main points. being able to use this aircraft with a variety of means to get that aerial perspective is really the key to success for a lot of these civil support measures. given that clarity, you are moving the fall of war and the fall of battle. say no to exactly how bad the situation is in knowing the assets they need to bring to a fight. have you ever had to pick up one of your children after they had wrecked your car and the child says that it was not that bad? and you get there in your car is in four pieces? if you had known ahead of time, you could have changed the dynamic of your feelings.

we can brush public -- critical needs, delaying access the biggest thing that we have drawn from this is that this is something that we did as an aside, but it became an ever- evolving mission as something that we became good at. getting that information to all users in the emergency operations centers and into the local governments. so, it has been a phenomenal event for all of us. each year, as they say, the big one will eventually come.

by being to apply this thought -- technology in a smarm manner, marines can get a common operating schedule. >> i am with the group code pink. we know drones to have killed hundreds and hundreds of innocent people. some of us are going to show that for each innocent person killed -- there are seven innocent people killed for each militant. >> please ask a question to the speaker, not to the audience.

>> i want to pass out a flier. >> no flyers. >> no flyers? you can go to see how we are protesting at the air force base. i wonder what you have to say about the drones that have killed hundreds of civilians. >> are you questioning any particular speaker? >> anyone want to answer that question? you do not have to. >> i would really like an answer. >> they will get -- you will get one, if they give you one. >> we have no weapon is programs. weaponized programs. >> global hawk is not weaponized. >> by was wondering if,

throughout the mission, you learned of any areas [inaudible] capabilities. >> we are always learning what they are capable of doing. i told them that they could tell if it was hot or cold, but we found out by taking relative temperature in the area, we could find out the relative heat of the reactors. pretty close. especially when we were talking about huge temperatures. the key thing is trying to find out how best to go after this. everyone is always rushing in to try to figure out how to prioritize. the one good thing about the cameras is that we take a wide

swath and see a lot of various. smaller systems are going to be in a more isolated area. it can take up to two kilometers in an area to see what is going on. >> anyone else? next question. yes, sir. >> [unintelligible] friends and allies, using it as a shared asset in the region. let's i can answer that

question. there is nothing definitive about sharing, but we do need to have fought engagement. if something happens in the streets tomorrow, a major shipping line, we need to be able to share that information with host nation countries to be able to get airspace. those discussions have been occurring in piecemeal. now that it has deployed, they are starting to pick up more and more. >> are there any steps under way to create an organization that would oversee the shared use of assets? >> and not a shared use. different countries have different needs. lockable hawk is part of an enterprise.

nothing formal. >> anyone else want to respond to that one? next question? this gentleman in the blue shirt. and then you, sir. >> how far is the air force going into driving operational evaluation reports? >> we have made great strides. remember, the test was a point in time to find out the things we had missed. since then, we have corrected. the best one is probably the 25 kilovolt generator. it is operating over 6000 hours without incident. before we could barely get through 170 hours without replacing the generator.

we found that there was a lot of demand. >> yes, sir? >> recently -- let's name and affiliation. >> taught very, los angeles. thety -- todd berry, los angeles. i am wondering, are other countries going to be using these drones on their own civilians? maybe even here? let's let me talk about here. back to the 2007 fires, we had huge -- trying to set this stage for you. the entire area was on fire through los angeles. they were going to shut down the southern california after a day. they were going to shut down the

entire arab -- california faa. they were going to shut down the entire aerospace. unfortunately, as i said, this is a spy plane. people told me that we would go to jail if that gets sent to u.s. soil. it had to go through northern command to get presidential approval to say that we were doing humanitarian relief. we do not go with collection on u.s. soil. there are many laws that would prevent us from doing that. let's anyone else? yes, sir? -- >> anyone else?

>> [unintelligible] >> we had only been doing training missions up to that point. we had to quickly fix the terminal that was broken. as i mentioned, the president said that he needed information now and this was the only asset that could provide that broad view. the government of japan was willing to get any help that they could. >> when did you hear from japanese drones? >> i do not have the exact date. we were flying within 21 hours afterwards. >> there has been a lot of talks -- >> name and affiliation? >> sorry, air force times. the next atrocity response, i

was wondering, from the industry office, there has been interest out there in that aspect. >> i am not real familiar with that term. >> mass atrocity response prevention operations. using american assets for peacekeeping tactics. i was wondering if there was anything on the air force level going on there. >> that would probably be above specifics. anyone else? >> i am not aware of doctoring. however, many, many of our united nations brethren use our assets. whether they are peacekeeping operations or disaster relief

operations, they do have an unmanned assets today. >> john bennett, the hill newspaper. there are new concerns about the operating and procurement costs. in this new budget environment, what are you doing to get the costs down? had you sped up efforts, given recent developments? >> i will take it, but you have got to flip these other guys some questions. through the development of the program, looking at the material data, it is a complex system. we are not always certain how much it would cost. in those days it was supposed to be $10 million per copy. but no one knows where those numbers came from. we try to find out who said that, but there was no data

behind it. cost were already starting to come down as we began to realize which things were more reliable. we liked to say that the global hawke would eventually translate into that role, going back into the 50's. they have a lot of experience in their logistics' and repair cycles. we just received our first brand new blowpipe hawk < -- first brand new global hawk last year. >> of the costs coming down? let's percentage wise, it is in the low digits. 5% to 10% right now. but for a million-dollar program, that is significant. >> one more question.

if you have not signed in, please assign out. >> if the operating costs are coming down, when you look at the procurement numbers, the president's budget showed $2 billion. i was wondering, why is that? >> we have discovered that estimates, african estimates, air combat command estimates, they are estimates. we try to do interviews and a lot of it is estimates. i do not know how many tires i will need depending on the operations i will do, and so forth. we are already starting to discover and understand those cost. cost.