of a colombian military and police. the results are becoming increasingly clear. the colombian government is now in control of the vast majority of the country and they are largely on the run. in central america, the impact of transnational crime is most acute. the efforts of south, to defect and monitor aerial in the region, has driven these criminal organizations to more complex methods of trafficking their drugs, money, and weapons including fully submersible weapons. they have begun to take advantage of nations that lack the capacity or the will to confront their trafficking. these complex criminal networks require southcom to continue to

expand its activities with willing partners to confront the threat. further south, general fraser, a different picture emerges. brazil, argentina, and chilly are developed nations. they contribute to multilateral operations around the globe. these contributions are important and should not go unnoticed. in venezuela, the united states is confronted by a government and military that is a purveyor of instability. president chavez and his followers sold and stability into trance criminal organizations -- transnational criminal organizations. we look forward to your testimony on that matter as well. i just touched the surface of the issues that face to enter commands. we look forward to hearing your testimony and to continue to do everything we can to help southcom and northcom

accomplished their security objectives. we thank you a gallon for appearing before the committee and for your service to our nation. -- we thank you a again for your appearing before the committee. >> i want to extend my appreciation to the dedicated men and women serving under their commands. i especially want to recognize general fraser as this will be his final time testifying before the committee in uniform. i imagine he will be celebrating this occasion later today. what is clear from the testimony this committee has received over the last several weeks from our various regional combat commanders is that the threats confronting our nation, our interests, and our ideals are not diminishing, rather they are increasing in scope and complexity. as a result, our armed forces

remain mightily important to our national security. this is particularly true of the situation and our own hemisphere. the horrific violence attributed to transnational criminal organizations and cartels continues to threaten the united states and the road governance and security across the region. -- erode governance and security across the region. the transit easily underground territory and borders. their distribution networks of run in sale and -- have grown in scale and sophistication. it includes not just drugs at but human beings, cats, and military grade weapons. -- cash, and military grade weapons.

a particular concern is the deteriorating situation in central america. as the general boats and his testimony, and i quote, central america has become the shipment zone for illicit trafficking in the hemisphere. approximately 90% of cocaine destined for the united states transits the subregion. as a result, violence has risen to alarming levels. last year the city of and honduras undertook war is in mexico as the most dangerous city in the world. -- undertook juarez in mexico as the most dangerous city in the world. in mexico we have witnessed an escalation of violence that continues to terrorize its citizens. the president and his administration have demonstrated

courageous leadership in their country's fight against drug cartels and criminal gangs. but this fight has come at great costs. since 2006, nearly 50,000 mexicans have been killed as a result of drug-related violence, including 13,000 last year alone. such tragic figures serve as a stark reminder of the threat that these groups pose and underscore the need for continued u.s. support to our partners in mexico. the threat from these groups does not and at the border, however. according to the 2011 national direct threat assessment released by the justice department, the cartels now maintain a presence in over 1000 u.s. cities. general jacoby, i look forward to your assessment of the reach of these networks, when northern command is doing to assist u.s. law-enforcement counterparts in combating them, and what can be

done to improve and expand the partnership. general jacoby as the commander of northern command, you are tasked with one of the most fundamental responsibilities, the defense of the homeland. what this committee has learned is that the world remains enormously complex and dangerous. this places significant responsibility on new and northern command to properly posture itself to defend against and respond to the myriad of threats that confront us. i am interested in your testimony of what the greatest threats to the homeland are and what is being done by your command in coordination with the inner agency to address them. again, i thank you both for appearing before the committee today and a look forward to your testimony. >> thank you very much, senator mccain. >> thank you for the opportunity to appear before you this morning. thank you for the kind words not only for me, but more important

for the men and women who serve in the united states southern command. it really is my distinguished farmer -- it really is my distinguished honor to serve them today. i join my close friend and partner chuck jacoby. we have a clear and close partnership between northern command and southern command as we work the topics and criminal organizations transiting through our two regions. the relationships between our staffs grow closer every day. with the continued support of congressmen and members of this committee, southern command will continue defending the southern approaches to the united states, enhancing regional security, and building an enduring partnerships. i have prepared a false statement and request it will be entered into the record. >> it will be entered into the record. >> i want to discuss two topics

with you today. this is countering transnational organized crime. my other topic is an during an building partnerships. as i have discussed with you in previous testimony, u.s. southern command has increasingly focused on a concern that permeates the region -- transnational organized crime. as vice president bided discussed and his visit to mexico and honduras last week, it is impacting safety in central america, especially guatemala, el salvador, and honduras. transnational criminal organizations threatened to overwhelm law-enforcement capacities. in an effort to reduce violence and halt the spread of these groups, these countries have deployed their militaries in support of law enforcement organizations. last year the president implemented a strategy to combat transnational crime. u.s. southern command developed

and implemented a strategy to disrupt trafficking in south america and arrivals tons of central america. in central america we train our partner militaries to support the law enforcement organizations. u.s. southern command supports interagency international efforts by providing network analysis of transnational criminal organizations and their operations. we are developing a regional maritime interdiction plan to enhance the capability of our caribbean partners. in south america, we will sustain our support to colombia and peru as the fight narco terrorist groups in these countries. bau.s. and a command is working to build partnerships by enhancing cooperation and promoting information sharing

with interagency operations. we are strengthening our partitions through traditional military engagement programs and activities with our counterparts across latin america. we work with and to strengthen humanitarian assistance. we remain ready to respond should our assistance be requested. last year we conducted hundreds of training and educational events, 12 major multinational exercise with partner nations, and 56 medical readiness training exercises in 13 different countries. this sustained engagement is building benefits. last year for the first time, columbia assumed a commander role during pan and max, our national effort of defense of the panama canal.

in closing, i would like to think the congress for your years of support to columbia. as you mentioned, i would like to ask your continued support. finally, i would like to 38 -- thank you for your and wavering support for the u.s. military who were diligently every day to ensure our security. >> thank you for the opportunity to appear before you this morning. it is an honor to be here. is a pleasure to join my fellow combatant commander and friend, general fraser. on behalf of the men and women of u.s. northern command, i appreciate this committee pose a continued support of our missions of homeland defense, including ballistic missile defense.

the fed supports the civil authorities for which the high last year was the tea response to hurricane i read and -- team response to hurricane irene. in the case of norad, our missions include aerospace warning and control of our safe and successful operation noble eagle. in maritime morning, we continue to grow capability through into approved -- we are steadily improving our security operation with our good friends in mexico and the bahamas at a pace determined by mutual agreement and wisconsin respect for national sovereignty. our vision -- and respect for national sovereignty. we view our missions as a sacred

trust by our governments and our citizens. we appreciate the american people and their elected representatives in congress, they rightly have high expectations of our ability to defend them at home. my priorities are to expand and strengthen our trust the partnerships, to advance and sustain the by national military command norad, to gain and maintain all situational awareness including air, space, cyberspace, land, maritime, and the unique fast-changing domain known as the arctic. to take care of our people as they are our foundation. i am proud of the committed southwest men and women, americans and canadians to serve in our commands. when appropriate and in

accordance with the stafford act, and other laws and guidance such as under the request of the governor and under the direction of president and secretary of defense, u.s. northern command post together the capacities of the department of defense to apply the impact of the federal agencies such as our close partner fema. the 2012 national defense authorization act put into law initiative supported by the council of governors and the secretary of defense concerning tool status commanders and activation of reserves in domestic disaster response, i appreciate the committee's support for the two important measures which will help save american lives. it is my privilege to serve in afghanistan and iraq. i believe in the crucible of over 10 years of continued conflict with the support of congress, we have developed the finest total force that i have ever seen.

this past year has been busy. we synchronized our activities, and we have done our part to realize the efficiencies that we have worked for the budget process. four f why 13, reducing our funding by 6%. maintaining our vigilance, we will be able to continue to defend the american people. thank you for this opportunity to be here today. i look forward to the discussion. >> we will have a seven-minute first round. let me ask both of you, the defense department that created a new defense strategy to guide creation of fiscal year 2013 defense budget request, it is our understanding the development at the strategy was a highly inclusive process that

each of you had the opportunity to provide input into the development of a new strategy. as the budget requests support the strategy, and do you support the budget? >> chairman, we were very much included in the process of the development of the is strategy through a series of conversations with the chairman, the secretary of defense. and from where i said, i am very comfortable that the budget supports the strategy. i can perform my mission within the allocated resources. >> chairman, yes, i do. i feel in the case of the homeland with the strategy, the homeland was appropriately considered. i believe the budget supports the execution of the strategy. >> thank you. general jacoby, as the executive

branch works to their roles and missions of various military and civilian agencies for our nation's cyber security, are you working with other agencies to determine what roles and missions would be appropriate for northcom in regard to cyber security? >> we are working very closely, particularly in the department of, and security. within the department of defense, of course. >> we face a number of militias, cyber activity from hackers to intrusions to steal our intellectual property and secrets. also, the possibility of an attack that could disrupt or damage or destroy our infrastructure, be it civilian or military. the director of national

intelligence has told us that among the most difficult challenges he faces are the following -- distinguishing between cyber espionage intrusions and disrupted attacks, and providing timely warning of cyber threats and incidents. now, are you involved in an effort to distinguish between these various types of cyber activity in order to determine whether and when our nation is under a cyber attacks and to provide timely warning of such an attack? can you give us a status report as to where those discussions are? how close are we to reaching criteria to make that kind of distinction? >> these are important suspects to have raised. my principal responsibility and cyber domain is consequence management in the event of a

catastrophic cyber attack on could bentry, northcom called upon to provide support. we think our role is broader than that. as you mentioned, we have some work to do in the fighting what is an attack and the cyber domain. that is a work in progress. however, i believe it will be a matter of policy in the and to clearly define what is an attack or what is not an attack. until then, i continue to work closely, particularly with general alexander and cyber com to ensure we have ample warning if there is activity that is taking place that could compromise the defense of the homeland. we have the cooperation across the department of defense and with our partners in the department of common security to achieve that end.

>> check in we can all understand why it has to be worked in progress given the complexity of the issue. would you say that we have some way of bringing to a resolution that issue so we can have some criteria to determine when the nation is under an attack military attack -- or a military like attack that requires a response? do you believe we will have that kind of criteria within a year? is that a reasonable expectation? >> i do not think that is unreasonable. i would not want to put an exact timetable on it. i think there is a momentum across the department and across the government. we appreciate the support in helping us think through this. i know you have had a successful tabletop exercise. lots of good feedback from that. continued efforts like that to

educate and understand will help us get more quickly to that state where we can define better the criteria that would determine whether we are under an attack or not. >> do you support the law of the sea convention? and if so, why? >> that is correct. it is my position. as the commander responsible for the arctic in my area of responsibility, it would be very helpful to have a seat at the table as we begin the long process of determining continental shelf and all of the attributes to the arctic that competing nations will be interested in. >> general jacoby, d support the

current plan to conduct two flight tests to the system to verify a atmospheric kill vehicle that failed in the last flight test before your resume production or refurbishment? >> yes, i do. >> do you agree with general o'reilly of the missile defense agency that it is essential to have operational production quality kill vehicle hardware on the flight test planned? >> there have been suggestions by some in congress we should deploy a ground-based interceptor to defend the homeland against a possible

missile threat. is there a requirement for deployment of an east coast site? are you seeking to deploy such a site on the east coast? >> today's threats do not require in east coast missile field. we do not have plans to do so. >> thank you, senator mccain. >> thank you again for the witnesses. as you well know, nearly 50,000 mexican citizens have lost their lives as a result to violence. nearly 13,000 last year alone that shows an increasing trend according to those numbers. i note that recently the state department issued a travelers'

advisory and virtually every one of the northern states of mexico, what is your assessment of the current situation in mexico? >> i concur with the numbers that you mentioned. violence went up again in 2011. it began to trail off as the year concluded. i do not think there are any conclusions yet to be drawn from that. the mexicans are in a tough fight with a brutal adaptable enemy. in my estimation they have not blink. they have taken the fight to the trans criminal organizations -- transnational criminal organizations, but there is a lot of work to be done. we will provide support to them as their request in the fight. >> last year they had 13,000 die which is a very high number. does that indicate the travelers' advisory that had to be issued -- does that indicate

we are winning or losing or a stalemate? what is the basic situation here? what's i think it is too soon to make an estimation on winning or losing -- >> i think it is too soon to make an estimation on winning or losing. >> i appreciate courageous decisions. i think we should have an assessment of whether we are succeeding or failing and whether the mexican government is succeeding or failing and then we should look at what strategies we are using. i am asking, has the violence done worse or better? do you think we are succeeding or failing? i would really appreciate that assessment. >> i think the violence has continued to increase. it was not a tremendous job this year.

>> 22 of the top 27 trafficking figure set the mexican government has gone after has taken off the board. it has not have an appreciable positive effect. i believe there are other things that need to be done. the mexican military is working to try to establish security by reducing the violence across the communities, particularly in the northeast. i think that is the correct strategy to follow. >> your assessment across the border? >> the situation across the border, we see all of the bad things that can be attributed to a transnational criminal organization appearing at the border. we know from our experiences and afghanistan and iraq, weak

institutions are exploited. the illicit activity expresses themselves on the border, trafficing, illicit trafficking cash,man beings, weapons, cats drugs. >> is that a correct assessment? >> that is correct. >> is it your view that we still need to -- we have improved border security, but we need to take additional steps on the border security? >> it is my view, senator, we need to continue our efforts along the border. >>i.e., additional steps?

>> what we do is provide support to the lead agencies, the department of homeland's security, primarily, justice department organizations as well. it is mutually beneficial to both the agencies and the soldiers and sailors to -- soldiers and sailors and marines that are training. >> maybe for you and general fraser, we have identified a lot of the cartels and their leaders. according to the assessment released by the justice department, the cartels have presence and over 1000 u.s. cities. why do we not know their names? maybe that is an elementary question, but maybe i could ask you guys, we know the names and of the cartel leaders but we do not know the names of the people who are running the drug rings

in over 1000 cities -- or do we know them? >> my estimation is that we know to some level the members of the cartel's that are operating within the united states. i have spoken to several agencies within the united states about this issue. i think that we have loose connections with some of the cartels and mexico. i believe that we have our own gang problem -- issues in the united states. i think they feed off of transnational criminal organizations. we recognize this as a problem. i know that our federal agencies are working on that. >> guatemala has declared its second "military state of siege" to try to deal with the

increasing violence of mexican cartels operating within its borders. how serious is this problem in guatemala, the mexican cartels extending their operations into not just guatemala but into central and south america? >> it is an effort that we see that is moving down through central america as mexico increases their pressure, we see that the networks are moving into central america. we see their footprints as well. >> doocy these and some countries? >> i think they have some better equipment. as you look at some of the high- powered weapons that they have, in some cases they're better

equipped than the military and law-enforcement counterparts. >> with this much money watching a wound, the issue of corruption remains a very serious one. >> corruption is still very very serious throughout much of central america. >> thank you very much. >> thank you for your service. this set of hearings is to inform us as we enact our authorization bill. we are working in the context of a new defense guidance which suggests the calls for

rebalancing for the asia/pacific and of not ignoring the middle east which continues to be in very active and has an lot of threats to us there. it strikes me that as your two commands come before us, though you don't get enough attention publicly, you are involved in matters that are released secured -- really important to the security of the united states and to its people. i am concerned to which the cuts in funding in that the defense budget or the pressure is constricting your ability to do the job that we need you to do. i noticed that last week you told reporters that some can

only interdict about 33% of of served illicit transit in the region on route to the united states because what we have picked a to be insufficient assets or personnel. we intercept 33% of what we believe is out there. i wanted to ask you just to amplify another little bit and in a specific way, if you would indicate to the committee what specific assets would you like to see more of which would help you and your successor fulfill the mandate, the responsibility we have given you? >> the figures that you "are correct. this is the organization and

this is the availability of not only the department of defense ships but also others. what we're working on is how they can make available capacities which are not traditional capacities that we might look for. marine vessels, offshore control vessels. this is a really maritime and farm it. we're working with our partner and we are looking to provide them with interceptor capacity. it is not only with the u.s. that has a role in this effort, it is the partner nations we are working with. >> my concern and you

illustrated to that there is tremendous demand in a lot of sections of the world for our maritime capabilities. obviously we're focused on the iranian threat and the middle east and the strait of hormuz and we are moving more assets. some have been engage in afghanistan. can't you get an little bit more specific? for instance, on the aircraft and the needs that you think are in your area of responsibility. i know that a number of those have been occupied. they are slated to cut the air national guard squadrons.

if tell me about the needs for those. >> we see a great opportunity for the use of those airplanes and support of the partners. many of our partner it nations take captured drug trafficking aircraft that are very similar in form and they transfer them with equipment and they perform the role very similar. we think that this is a great companion to that effort and i am comfortable with the fact that they are focused in the place that we need them right now as a nation and as those become available, we have opportunities and we can make use of them. >> the command is being affected by the retirement of the parade class frigates which have been a

real mainstay of those interdiction efforts. >> that is one of the issues we have seen with the availability of naval ships with the retirement of those free gifts. this has been a gap we have seen in a few years coming so the combat ship will have a great capacity to store our mission in the future. >> i think that we are not giving the command the assets that you need. it is not your fault, it is our fault. . it you had some things to say about iranian activity. we are all aware of this

remarkable storage within the last year of the connection to the mexican transnational criminal groups aimed at sending someone to the saudi ambassador. i would like to invite you to talk about this and there is a natural coming together. it seems almost inevitable. if someone would like to do as damage, they will find their way to these transnational criminal groups that have become quite adept at getting into the u.s. and getting stuff into the u.s.. general, if you can describe for the record here some of what you say in your statement about the

quite methodical movement of iranian activities, personnel into latin america which is obviously not good for us. >> iran is very engaged in the region. they have doubled their number of embassies in the past seven years. they have for the cultural centers. we see their activity and is trying to build cultural awareness. they are seeing an opportunity with some of the anti-u.s. focused countries within the region as a method of being able to do that. our concern remains the traditional connections with hezbollah and hamas that have organizations. they are focused on financial

support, 80 back in the middle east. they are involved in illicit activity. that is the connection that we continue to look for as we watch in the future. >> do you want to add anything to that? >> we're looking for the counter-terrorism nexus with the transnational criminal organizations, so we had our eye on that closely. we have an intimate relationship between the home game and the away game. what we're doing is very important and so making that intelligence connective tissue with the other commands is critical to us. there is an extraordinary amount of money.

we will be watching this carefully and working with mexican partners. >> thank you so much to both of you for your service. you have been a good friend as well as provided good leadership to the air force and that will be missed. in your written statements, legacy fighters are aging and recapitalizing our fighter, a tanker, and early warning aircraft. are you confident that the air force will provide the required aircraft and resources for the aerospace controller commission over the past 10 years and is there a risk that we might not be able to provide the same amount of coverage based on a

reduced number of tactical aircraft? >> no, i am not concerned about the aircraft. whether it is of 16's, f-22's, this goes on through a rigorous process. all of our lord says can meet the standards required for the mission. i know the air force had to make some tough calls but i have great faith that they will provide capable aircraft for us to use in the future. i note it includes capitalization. i am a big fan of the air force, of continuing those efforts but i have the trust and confidence that the air force will give me what i need to get the job done. >> both of you have mentioned the western hemisphere and have acknowledge the importance of

this program. i am pleased to serve with both of you. you have been their lager and you have been a real asset and put a lot of time and provided great leadership to that institution. i would appreciate any thoughts you have regarding the trendy with the mexican and south american military personnel have been received and how it allows them to be better capable of confronting these transnational criminal organizations that are so active in the region. what additional rule can be played to increase our corp.? also as i have done in the past, i appreciate your comment on the wisdom of the u.s. for the seat and making public the names of the foreign the military, and law-enforcement personnel that france there.

>> thank you for your support. it remains a very important organization for us. we have had almost 40,000 people trading -- training in the last 11 years. we find and i have talked with many of the graduates who go through the institution. one is not only a partnership with the u.s. and understanding as we work through this and the respect for civil authority, as the chairman has asked. we respect human rights, respect for the rule of law, and other training capacity. the partnership that they form with one another from this institution is very important as well.

as we look at the situation of transnational organized crime and impacting that in the future as well as working with law enforcement partners, those partnerships that they form with one another as well as with the international community are critical to our success in the future. >> the release of the names. >> that was the question that was studied. the secretary determined that he was not intending to release those names and i support that position. >> ok. we discussed the need for and you noted the need for imagery intelligence, a wide area of coverage, moving target indicators, management tools and biometrics. since we spoke last year, do you believe that you're getting the support that you need from the dot and intelligence committee

in terms of prioritizing and acquiring those assets and has indeed changed in any way? >> is a complex undertaking that we work and i have very many of those same requirements as we look into the future. i am comfortable with the prioritization of those assets as we approach the multitude of requests and requirements that are on the architecture. we are continuing to take roads and pathways down, opportunities in the information that is available. there is a lot of social media, a lot of information that is available and we're looking very deliberately into those areas as well as working with other agencies to figure out how we can take advantage of the information that is there. we'll continue those efforts as well as working with the entire department of defense and agency

in order to fulfil our requirements. >> i want to go back to this issue of cyber security and your comments and response to senator levin. you have noted that northcom and norad operate on data and networking system that require it to network infrastructure and this prose is a great risk. we know that russia and china are leveraging as be nudged to steal secrets from the u.s. areas of information and to indications technology including aerospace, are nautical technologies, are at the greatest risk right now. can you comment on what you believe northcom and norad need in order to mitigate these risks and phone abilities to those systems?

-- and vulnerabilities of those systems? >> i feel that they are secure right now but you have to stay vigilant. there is great capability in the hacking world to but at risk points of vulnerability especially where we have interconnectedness between government, military, commercial. we watched that closely. that is a great area of concern. we are coming up with news you need defense solutions as part of what we're doing including receiving some expertise and reinforcement in our cyber warriors at u.s. northern command. >> have you seen any increase in this area? >> not against northern command, senator. >> thank you very much.

senator lieberman touched on issues such as capacity, particularly the time capacity. one aspect of this are the reports frequently of submarines, submersibles used to transport narcotics. does that pose an emerging problem which complicates for the your ability to interdicted these vessels with maritime in the air? >> it remains a concern. for the first time this year, we sought semi submersibles in the region. the use of those vessels continues to expand within the transnational criminal organizations. as i look at the problem, this is not just in our time problem. they are both in the jungles of columbia and they require those assets and they are

commercially-available assets. they arrive somewhere off the coast of central america and they transfer their goods there. it is an expensive proposition to try to follow them, find them, detect them as they go to the maritime environment. we are working the entire connection and our focus is really on where they are built and where they arrive to address the problem with trying to detect them and then intercept them when we do find them. >> i presume that this is a collaborative effort with the host countries. they are doing it in colombia and other places and your working closely with their intelligence services to do that? >> yes, it is a great collaboration. we rely on law enforcement collaboration and it is really those countries and their law

enforcement capacities that take action within their territory. within our interagency, it is very nice as well. >> one of the consequences of our active commitment is the other factors. do you think that you have adequate support to pursue these construction projects in the jungles and pinpoint them early on or is that a deficiency? >> i think i have adequate assets. we are looking at capacity that can look through triple canopy jumbles. that is a capacity that we are testing and working on today. that will help us as we look at that. there are test programs to build that capacity. >> can you comment on the soon to be expansion of the panama

canal in terms of your operations? i think that 2014, they are scheduled to begin in the transit with the new canal which would be 8 huge huge change to seaborne transportation. do you have any specific insights? >> you are correct, 2014 is the schedule time line and the government is very focused on achieving that goal. it will change the amount of commercial activity that comes through the panama canal. we conducted exercise which is an international exercise, 80 nations participated last year. this supports the government of panama in defense of the panama canal. we will continue those efforts

as we look at that expansion as it happens. i don't see a direct change to the threat or the concerns as we look into the future but our exercises remain critical to that effort. >> there is another emerging corridor and that is the arctic ocean. given your requirements in your day-to-day coordination with the canadian authorities, the navy is predicting and in some cases, at least one or two months of transit by 2020 of commercial ships through the arctic which opens up questions of security, of search and rescue, of environmental response, where are we in that endeavor? >> thank you, senator. this is a unique to maine and it is changing every day for us. we work closely with the

canadiens on how they think about the arctic and how they are planning for it. the are really working in three and five-year blocks. this will be a white paper and we have done a gap assessment principally in the area of communications, the main awareness, infrastructure and presence. what we will recommend to the future which might lead to prevent investments and this has already increased since 2008. they will be drilling starting in the beaufort sea. security interests follow closely behind economic interests. we will be implementing this for

the department of defense. >> strategic command has assets within your area of missile silos, i presume. you have the norad system, your assets. have you and the strategic command together done a vulnerability analysis relative to your dependence upon civilian utilities, civilian systems that are less secure than the military systems? >> yes, we have. we have also exercised those extensively and have ready ourselves in that regard. >> you are confident that you can continue to respond to the situation of a cyber attack or

anything that would go after going after your installations or support utilities, supporting civilian complexes? >> in particular, with regards to our national military command, i believe that our network is secure. >> this can operate if these civilians networks are compromised and go down. >> i believe so, senator. there is great interconnectedness across the country and from the energy system, the transportation system. there will be a second and third quarter of wholesale attack on the cyber system for fun. in terms of our mission area, we are adequately defended. vigilance will be needed because

the cyber enemy's will continue to advance. >> can you operate under an environment where the worst case, all of these civilians have fought board networks have gone down? you have to go back to getting on the telephone. maybe like a land line or sending a message. i think sometimes we have become so dependent upon the gps systems, on the cell phones to exercise the point where you might even have to rely upon this?

>> that is a great question. that is exactly what we have exercised. i will tell you that it is very painful but doable but it takes a long time to recover your network. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for your service. general frazier, thank you for all you have done for our country. we will miss having your around here and testifying before our committee. i want to ask you in your written testimony, you described the role of russia and you said that russia's out reach is centered primarily on arms sales. is that right? >> yes, ma'am. >> as i understand it, the sales are actually to venezuela, is

that right? >> the principal purchaser of french and equipment is venezuela but they are also -- of russian equipment is venezuela but they are selling it to other people. >> is it true that the venezuelan regime is the largest importer of russian arms in the world? >> for last year, yes. >> they are selling arms to cuba? >> yes, ma'am. >> they are selling arms to or take applause nicaragua -- they're selling arms to ortega's nicaragua? >> yes, ma'am. >> unfortunately, this is part of a pattern for russia. this is something that we had before the committee last week and i deeply concerned about the as are others on this committee,

which is also brushup's role in selling arms to syria even as the bloodshed continues. russai's rolelso brushup los in selling arms to syria. i want to take the opportunity if you look at the pattern here in addition with russian obstructionism in the efforts to sanctioning obstructionism with respect to our efforts of sanctioning iran, that this is a troubling pattern. when it comes to syria, i want to say this -- i was proud to join my colleagues in writing a letter to secretary panetta to express our outrage. my colleagues -- and yesterday our secretary of state, secretary clinton, spared with

-- sparred with a representative of russia, and she said russia was standing silent as assad kills his people. when i was attorney general in new hampshire, if you know someone is killing someone, like the regime is doing with their own people and you know when the provide them with arms, you're not standing silent. you are an accomplice to those killings. this is a pattern we're seeing from russia. i want to take this opportunity to express my outrage that russia it is not only providing arms to some of the most despotic regimes in the world, but one that is killing its own people, and i would hope russians would stop this and stop trying to spr with secretary clinton over what is

obvious and they should become a member of the international community to support sanctions against syria. selling arms to people like chavez, as well as interactions with cuba. i want to ask you both about the national guard, in particular our state partnership program. general fraser, the guard in new hampshire has had a state partnership program with the southern command with el salvador. can you let us know what you think is the value of the state partnership program, and also, your view is on the partnership between the guard in new hampshire and the program in el salvador? how does that help our national interests? >> i am a strong supporter of the program. one of the values the program brings is the fact cardmember's

stay in their units longer than active duty personnel, and that provides the opportunity to build a relationship with that country they are working in. we have state partners with 22 different countries within the region, and is a critical long- term partnership building capacity that we see. new hampshire, working with bellsouth corp., was a great partner of the united states -- working with bellsouth ever, was a great partner really helps build their routine tactical asset -- capacity come a good relationship back and forth between the two partners. >> is this an effected use of our resources in terms of building partnerships? >> i think it is an effective tool. the benefit week date from the state partners is because of their civilian jobs, they have opportunities to share experience that is beyond military experience.

>> general jacoby, did you want to add your opinion? >> senator, thank you. from my career experience compare it is very effective, effective use of resources. consistency over time and helps us broaden our relationships around the world. >> i was struck in your testimony, general to kobe, how you talked about national guard is a partner and all we do, is the language you use. as we look at this challenging time in terms of unfortunately not only the cuts that the department of defense is facing now, but sequestration, how important is it that we not only maintain a robust active duty and resources for that in terms of training, but also for our guard as well? >> the guard is our natural

partner. >> i should include reserves. >> they function in all our mission sets, and banks to congress, the reserves and now function to the civil authorities. it makes sense. we solve problems locally, and that guard is available fast and efficient in that way. from defending their homeland to supported civil of parties to helping us with some of our engagements with the countr ies, the guard is important. >> did you want at anything, general fraser? >> we are in agreement here, that the state partnership program is a natural ally. we depend heavily on the national guard in our engagement, not only with our partners, but as we work within our capacity to provide exercise support and other capacities.

across the board we rely heavily on the national guard as well as reserve combat missions. >> thank you, both. >> senator begich. >> good to see you. i feel like i am an alaska right now, both of you up their commanding operations. it is great be back in a forum where we are all three here. they could very much. let me start, general jacoby, and we had a brief meeting last weekend with regard to last at command and what is gonna on, and i want to lead into the arctic. the general description is, can you tell me from your perspective the value of alaskan command in regard to the connection of northcom? can you tell me how that plays and what the role and responsibility is? of course, i am biased, and i

hope it is a good answer. >> when i was commander of the mys. army in alaska, commander was doug fraser creek outcome was valuable. senator, a last it is unique, should teach it significance to the fund -- to the country, and more so as to our gaze turns toward the arctic. it requires a 3-starke command. it requires a joint command, and i think alcom remains relevant and important to the defense of the homeland. many tasks that take place in alaska are tasks that support northcom and norad in our homeland defense role, to include defense support to civil authorities through jtf alaska.

you have the right command structure up there. >> that meet at more -- let me add more. although you are southern command, general freezer, you had experience, and general jacoby, maybe you can respond. >> we have had a good working relationship with the sick man -- with pacific command, and they have strategic significance and alaska. as both a norad and northcom commander, i believe i occupy 85% of the commander's time. >> senator reed was leading into that, and he indicated -- and you indicated that the admiral signed a document indicating the

gap analysis that may be needed. is the analysis -- by a circuit as long term -- of what will be needed there to make our presence there, and by signing that agreement you believe that this agreement in the future of the arctic is going to be another piece of the equation to our military positioning. is that a fair statement? , yes, it is. the admiral and i share great interest in the arctic. of course, we need to move forward with consensus of what are the capabilities required and implications for what are the investments that should be made. we have an opportunity, while we watch the arctic, to get ahead to show security requirements. working closely with the coast

guard, navy, other partners, putting homeland security, and staying tied to the canadians, is a a framework that is important now. >> a few years ago you had 50 chips going through the bering sea. now it is close to a thousand. in the arctic, it was 7, and now it is 34. it is moving in a rapid pace of activity up there, and our friends from china and russia are very interested. china is curious about their efforts. again, your analysis -- will that be utilized as you move forward in your budget planning, how these pieces fit in, and where you need to allocate assets? >> yes, that is an important first that with our closest partners to look at the gaps

particularly in how you communicate, how you see and understand what infrastructure we may need and what kind the continued presence you may require in the arctic. we come to a consensus on that, and that we help inform our integrated priority list so that we can influence budgets over the time to components to the services. that is the start of the process. we received this responsibility in the latest update, and i am happy to say we are moving out on that. >> let me, if i can, thank you for your service. you will be missed. i know you have been an incredible asset for this country. let me ask you a couple questions about southern command, and the first is as we move down the path with the panama canal pulling into -- out

of our control and out of total control, do we have any worry as we worry about commercial lanes with piracy? do we have any worry about what might happen? it is an odd question, but when you are from alaska and we talk about fisheries, we hate pirates. i am thinking of panama. what is their ability to manage that? >> the government of panama and the authorities are doing a great job. it is efficient, effective, and is a big income provider for the government of panama, we do not see indications of the car seat on either end of that panel can now. it is an area we continue to watch. >> we had great conversations when the hurricane went to haiti, and tell me how southern

command is continuing to prepare and be ready for those kinds of responses for natural disasters? that was the first one that is pretty significant that i will as a member of the senate was seeing southern command respond to. any of your thoughts on that. >> we remain prepared. the hurricane season is our number-one concern because that happens on an annual basis. we have a the leopard plant we have developed post -- we have a deliberate plan, a graduate the plan depending on what the needs of any request may be. we continue to exercise that. as we look at the hurricane season we prepare for that, not only within our headquarters, but with our partners, and we worked the government of haiti to be able to respond should a

hurricane impact them. >> you have designed after going through that experience, seeing some areas of improvement, to work off of that in expanding the preparation at different levels. is that a fair statement? >> it is a fair statement, to include, and normally we do not have the authority to spend dod dollars outside a 72-hour emergency capacity. we have received authority from the department of defense for up to $3 million so we can start the process and respond on a rapid basis. >> very good. thank you very much. thank you both for your service. >> senator brown. >> thank you, senator levin.

i want to address my questions -- a fall, what senator ayotte said. i participated in paraguay, fighting our relationships with places where we do not have a lot of money, but we can get a .alue on our dollar general fraser, thank you for your service and support. general chocolate, could you expand on commons -- general jacoby, could you expand on comments with suspected drug operations and natural and man- made disasters. could you expand on that just a touch? >> we had a great initiative last year with the dual status commander. we had an opportunity to test

that in a way we have not done in the past in august with hurricane irene, and i am proud to report as a team that the very first opportunity we had to complete -- to employ dual status commanders, we did. it was the intent of congress and the council of governors. that program is alive and well, and we will continue to grow that and look at ways to employee dual status commanders in regional and other events. a big progress. we are working with the reserve force, the air force and the army, to take advantage of the authorization we have to involuntary activation to support civil authority. there is huge capacity in reserves distributed around the country, and that was a great

move your continuing to work on. >> there was an instance where there was a tornado and the unit was there and they could not respond. that made no sense. >> i think we fixed that one. >> talking about commanders -- how is that training going to satisfy being on track? >> with the april class we will have trained at least two dual status commanders for every state, and that is huge. there is always one in the queue, and you keep that training course going. >> how long is the course? >> two weeks, but it dovetails with another course and builds on previous programs that gives you not just a certified commander, but a team of guardsmen and northcom folks that work together, studied the problem, and at pushed out

horizons. >> it may not be bad idea to start it at a lower level, something to keep your eye on as we go along. general fraser, foreign influence in your aor and how this influences your operation -- what about the role of china? >> senator, china is very engaged in the region as well. they are from a diplomatic and commercial and economic standpoint is where they are engaged. they are the leading trading partner with brazil, chile, and per room, and they are extending -- expanding into military-to-military relationships. they have had visits to various countries in the region. they are selling military , and they also

provide education and training in china for officers and their families. >> similar to what we do at the war college. i have had personal experience with countries, in paraguay, they said, if we do not do it, china will. if we do not provide them with x, they will get it from china. is that an accurate statement? >> we have seen increasing interest by china in the region. i see both of us engaged in the region and i would seek there is an opportunity for both of us as we engage with our partners to help ensure the security and stability. >> that is another reason for the state partnership, so

they can see the interaction and develop that relationship, which is important. is that a fair statement? >> the relationships we have built through programs are critical to the future. we see it all the time around the world. we do not know when a crisis is coming. to have a shared experience with one of our partners is critical. >> we saw that in egypt when we were able to pick up the phone and say stand down. general jacoby, a fair statement as well? >> yes. >> i am concerned about the cuts in the international art and how it may affect the mission. the army has done it well in terms of trying to be strategic with cuts. i deeply concerned, especially about the air sovereignty alert mission. do you share those same concerns, because i am hearing from my folks back home they had

no knowledge any of these cuts were coming. there was no communication, and out of left field, here we go, and i am looking at massachusetts and eastern seaboard, being able to respond to our part of the world. does not make any sense. >> the air force had some tough choices to make, tough decisions. the secretary asked us to turn over every rock. i believe the homeland was treated fairly, and is treated as job one. we need to be diligent and sure we continue the programs necessary to defend the country, and that includes the air control alert mission. in terms of defense support to civil authorities, the guard -- the air guard specifically -- is very good at that mission. i will count on the united

states air force to support our requirement, but all of us had to make tough choices and heated to see some of these cuts happen. >> i am hopeful we will be able have a conversation, because when you're talking about the best value for the dollar, it does not make sense when you are talking about protecting the homeland. we are not just talking about protecting the homeland. a lot of these folks are back filling regular army units, and the army seems to have it right. the air force, it is not over, and i am seeing evidence that these cuts make sense. i wanted to bring that to your attention. i appreciate your input. thank you. >> senator udall. >> good morning.

if i could follow up on senator brown's question. what i hear you saying is the proposed reduction in the army and air guard will not affect your mission. you believe you can deliver on that mission. >> that is correct. >> that he turned -- let me turn to an specific element in the change that is under way in this area. there has been a decision in the 24-hour alert requirement. do you have a say in that matter and what factors and assumptions went into that decision, and will it affect the aca mission? >> a very tough decision that was part of the process across every service to find the savings required. i believe we did adequately

address the strategic requirements of the homeland. in the analysis, as a team effort, there was a decision taken to reduce by two. command took responsibility for identifying those two bases. we did two independent studies. both commands get up with the and answer, lutduluth langley. i specifically felt that in the case of those two basis i had the authorities already resident under my authority as the norad commanders to the gate on short notice the loss of those two bases. i can change on my own authority dealer conditions that could in the case of the threat stand that back up. >> if that changes i will ask you take the time to notify the

committee and notify me, if you would. >> i am passionate about the air control alert. there is a high expectation that we will defend the country's aerospace, and i will make sure mike views are known. >> let's turn to critical infrastructure, if we might. and the vulnerability that our infrastructure has to either cyber or physical attack. what stepsu think in thi need to be taken to protect those components, and what role as northcom @ in protecting those measures? >> there is a number of critical infrastructure protection requirements, principally those live with the other sectors of the government, and so northcom's principal responsibility is to provide defense support to civil authorities and the consequent

management of disasters within certain sectors, particularly if cyber attack. we would roll in and if requested provide defense support in recovering from that. critical infrastructure -- we're more concerned now about systems than we are places, and so things like the national energy grid, transportation system, those are being looked at hard, and we are in support of our partners, bridgeville early in dhhs, in determining ways we can help. >> of course we have a lot of work left to do, and i am optimistic we will work on the floor of the senate to place for a cybersecurity unit, that you will play a key role in advising us. i would like to turn, general fraser, to the reports that

islamist groups are recruiting in your aor. what are the conditions facilitating islamist recruiting and fund-raising in the most troubling areas? what can we do to address these conditions? >> there are groups are advocating and proselytizing in largely muslim communities within latin america. the muslim community is very small within the region, 1% of the total and habitants, but they are deliberately advocating. the situation and the conditions that enable that are ones that you see in many countries in the region, poverty rates, income inequality, corruption that is there, and it is in some of those cases it is an anti-u.s. perspective. >> it bears watching obviously

and hopefully the lessons we have learned and the rest of the work we can apply, and thank you for drawing our attention to this. south america has had its violent intervals in its history, but if that i -- but it has very little history of islamist or terrorism of any kind trick is a worldwide phenomenon that we need to be able to respond to. >> we are playing close attention to this issue. we do not see great success in their efforts. >> our good friend, when he relinquished command in 2010, he talked about his concerns about our aging air defense systems. we know he talked about temporary fixes to take us forward. what is your current assessment of the modernization in this

important area? >> we are eager to have the f-35 come on line. we are eager to continue the extension programs for the f- 16's. the most important thing we do as combat and the matter is we conduct frequent periodic inspections of our air control alert squadrons. they continue to do well in these, and we will maintain vigilance. we are a stakeholder and capable aircraft stretching out into the future. >> if you had more the citrus, -- if you had more resources, you could put them to work? >> we would know what to do with additional resources. >> talk a little more about iran's outreach efforts in south america. we know shot is and ought minute jaunt -- chavez and ahmadinijad.

hmadinijad.t och waa he visited the region. we saw it as a diplomatic effort, and we saw he did not really get the reception or the support he was looking for. we need to be vigilant. it feels like it is a throwback to the cold war when the soviet union was looking for allies. this is serious, and thank you for your leadership in this area. i wanted to do two final things. i wanted to thank general fraser for your formal service, and you

and general jacobi go back a long way. godspeed and thank you again for your service. general jacoby, i've wanted to put on the record that the flow of drugs into our country is significant and substantial and worrisome, but it is a symptom of the demand that exists in our country. you will go to the ends of the earth to cut off the flow, but we as a country have to have a continued discussion about what we do to dampen that. i am a senator that understands that as a challenge to face. thanks for your service. -- >> senator they hagan. >> i wanted to ask questions about ecuador. the 2009 closing of the location

at the air force base in ecuador and the objection of the u.s. ambassador in april last year as stressed the u.s.-ecuadorean ties. how would you characterize the current status of the counter- narcotics cooperation between the united states and the government of ecuador, and what needs to be done to strengthen our cooperation with regard to both counter-terrorism and counter-narcotics? >> we continue to engage with the military and ecuador. we had good relations with them. they are working close with their neighbors as well. we have seen an impact, especially from the maritime traffic, that now is able and uses ecuador to depart. we have seen an increase in that activity. we continue to have discussions with them and work with them to adjust and address this problem. >> dod support to the u.s. law

enforcement agencies and the mexican military supports the broader counter trans-national criminal organization's fight. northcom provide support to both u.s. and foreign law enforcement agencies. general jacoby, what type of mutually beneficial dod support is provided towards this end, and are we doing enough to foster the import relationships with law enforcement agencies, state, and the national guard counter drug task forces? >> thank you, senator. in northcom, a partnership star center of gravity. in the homeland we do things in support of our partners, dhhs, department of justice, and along the border that is where you find our efforts in support of

those lead agencies. what we do is provide them operational support and -- analytic support, technical support, all with the check port of mutually beneficial. mainly for us that means it is a good trading opportunity for the military forces that are partnered up, primarily with cpbbp customs support. just this month we have conducted nimbus 2 in the tucson sector where the first armored division soldiers feel they got better training than they got prior to deployment at any time in the past 10 years trip it is a complex environment with a thinking, not corporate enemy, and it provides good support to cbp. have a good relationship.

it is critical to continue expand our partnerships in the northcom headquarters. we have 32 agencies represented there. we have never had better sharing of information across the enter agency, and i am proud of that. >> thank you. that is a lot of agencies to coordinate. so thinking. i think it is very important for us to counter the transnational criminal organizations and their illicit traffic activities. central that is building the partnership capacity you are working on several -- every day to prevent them from operating in these permissive environment. i chaired the subcommittee on an emerging threats and capabilities, and i am concerned central america has become the preferred transit zone for the

transnational criminal organizations, which seem to have diversified their portfolios, drugs, chemicals, commercial weapons from the u.s., and obviously the trafficking of people. the limited capabilities of the central american states have allowed the mexican transnationals established ports of entry for illegal drugs coming from south america, and the mexican-guatemala border area is particularly vulnerable. southcom is working to develop a regional operations capability . what types of resources does this regional operational capability require, and what are the objectives? >> it is a broad effort of government and the international committee with a group of friends and donors who support

this effort. from the department of defense stanford, we are a supported organization. it is not military activity. we have a role to support those military's who have been asked to support law enforcement, to help address this question. we are continuing training and equipping it with our partner militaries, helping them work with their partners, but real solutions are in the rest of our foreign affairs support. it is in the usaid programs, a judiciary programs, all of us working together with those governments to solve this problem. >> general jacobi? >> i concur with general fraser. we understand this is a whole requirement, but the participation of the militar ies in guatemala and mexico is

very good and is improving, and there is efforts and a consciousness on the mechanism but on the mexican side of the importance of the southern border. i see them taking action. >> together colombia, peru and bolivia produce nearly most of the world possible supply of cocaine, and in recent years progress in could curling -- in controlling cocaine production has resulted in an increase of production in peru and bolivia. i do not know if you agree with that, but i would like to know, and what would be your plan to prevent further cocaine production increases? >> i agree with that effort. we have seen a reduction in the cocaine production in colombia, and as traffickers have worked

other places, they have gone into peruke and bolivia. comesof the colocaine from colombia. we're working with columbia in this effort, and the eradication of cocaine -- other parts of our government, the part of state, supporting those efforts trip were working with prune, the military, in per route to reduce their impact -- in peru to reduce their impact in that country as you watch brazil, the united states, and bolivia signed the agreement to address transnational organized crime in bolivia, and that is an ongoing effort. >> before i recognize senator blumenthal, i would ask him to take the gamble, because i m

going to have to leave. i have an additional question of general jacoby, and that has to do with the anti-terror some joint exercise with russia we conduct annually. you indicated that the benefits we realize this sort of the exercise are invaluable. this is what they're prepared statement tells us. you hope over time it would lead to greater levels of cooperation among our nations, referring to us and russia. are you hoping we can enhance the cooperation militarily? do you plan to have direct interaction with the russian counterparts as part of that effort? >> yes, i do. diligent eagle last year was very successful vigilant -- vigilant eagle was a very

successful exercise last year. we shared a scenario where we shared a picture that was required to deal with a threat adequately. it was an important step forward in creating confidence on both sides to ensure there is transparency and what our military activities are, particularly in the alaska region. so we are going to do vigilant eagle again this year. i will discuss the tactics, techniques, and procedures which my russian counterpart. we have areas of counterparts with russians that i think are important and should be sustained. as we have discussed earlier in the testimony, we need to keep our eyes wide open, but there is good potential for cooperation. >> thank you, both. thank you for your great service and leadership, and, general

fresher, again, we wish you all the best as you take on another chapter and responsibility in your life. we wish you and your family all the best. >> thank you, mr. chairman. it has been a great honor. >> center thuman fall? >> i am honored to take over levin for the 1 final questioning, and thank you for your extra reservists. i will try to of repeating some of the questions i know about, but i do have a number that may elicit some of the same testimony. i'd want to come back to the air craft that are being drawn down from the air national guard, a

decision that affects connecticut, because we will lose the lift capacity of the c27j and 137 aircraft will be lost to the air national guard, which i regard as important, because connecticut is one of the 27 states affected. i wonder if you have done an analysis of what the affects will be -- the effects will be of that drop out? >> senator, thank you for the question. the air national guard is an important partner to u.s. northcom and norad. the guard has done in valuable service in defended the homeland and support to civil authorities. the air force had some tough decisions to make, tough choices that all the combat and commanders had in order to meet the significant budget reductions. what i do as a commander is put

requirements on the table, and there is one to support civil authorities and one to defend the homeland. i trust the air force to beat that record with total force. loss of guard will be felt and they are a tremendous asset, and so it is part of the pain that all the commanders will feel as a result of this very important round of budget decisions. >> can you be more precise about it it will be a felt -- will be felt? >> we will be able to mitigate the loss. the loss of the two bases was within the capability of the norad commander and i can mitigate that. it was just sitting alert at that location. >> any other attacks -- defects

that you have foreseen? >> no. >> that we go to sidebar, if i may. you answered one of the questions earlier about the task of defining criteria that would constitute an act of war in case of a sniper attack. my understanding is those attacks are ongoing even as we speak. not only against the defense industrial base, a certain private sector allowance, but also our actual defense capabilities. i wonder if you could be somewhat more precise about where you think we are in the fighting those criteria? you used the word meant them -- the word momentum. >> yesterday i had a conversation with general

alexander. he is developing criteria. we will address that in a collaborative fashion, of the momentum is not just in defense, but within the broader community of agencies and organizations concerned about cyber security. i would concur as a military professional. we are undergoing malicious activity on that debt. the challenge is, how do we define that as an attacke on our country? it ends up being a policy question, where are the red lines? where delicious activity transforms into an attack, and what can be connected that might define malicious activity as a

serious attack? >> would you agree that part of defense against that attack and part of defining criteria has to be deciding what the offense should be, what the deterrent should be? >> i believe the country requires and the department requires a full spectrum computer network operations exportations. >> thank you. i want to ask you a question that i do not believe has been covered, and it may be a little beyond the normal purview of what you do. obviously, over the time that you have been in this job, over the time we have been aware of conditions in the arctic, there have been changes to the typography and other

environmental aspects, and i am not going to go into detail because you are much closer to it than he could be, sitting here. i wonder whether those climate change issues affect your strategic thinking, your practical approach to that part of the world? >> the opening of the arctic has driven us to a new imperative within the command to consider the arctic in a different way. starting with a unified command plan, the most recent change which keep us arctic geographic and responsibilities as well as directing we become the advocate for arctic capabilities, as (aperture and look differently at. it is not just a geographical location, but a specific domain that requires special

capabilities and capacities to operate effectively. with the opening of the arctic there should be commercial and economic interests. historically does have followed security interests, and we will seek to stay ahead of the challenge and make sure the arctic is exported and the resources exploited in a collaborative, a peaceful way. >> this is a burgeoning area of responsibility? >> i believe so. we are working close with canada. canada has it as a top priority. i am in a unique position in my relations with canada, so what we are joined at the hip not with just canada, but all eight of the northern region countries. >> to some marines play a role and that thinking? >> -- do submarines play an active role in that thinking? >> yes.

>> and they are important to economic and national security? >> as the market opens up, we will find all types of commercial, economic, and military activity. >> thank you. my time has expired, which means your time expired. thankfully, i am sure, from your standpoint. of what to thank you again for your service and for your sacrifice to your families, service and sacrifice, and for being with us today. thank you very much, gentlemen. i declare this hearing is adjourned. thank you. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] [captioning performed by national captioning institute]

primary elections are underway today in mississippi and alabama. on c-span this evening, beginning at 7:00 eastern, watch coverage with real time election results and speeches by candidates. you can participate on-line and follow us on twitter. coverage coming up tonight on

7:00 here on c-span. president obama announced a new trade case against china. joining the european union and japan, united states is bringing the case to the world trade organization to facilitate talks with china over exports of rare earth minerals used to make high-tech items. in his comments, the president also spoke about the recent killing of afghan civilians and called on the pentagon to do a full investigation of the incident. from the white house rose garden, this is just under 10 minutes. >> i want to make an announcement about our efforts to stand up for u.s. businesses and workers. i like to say a few words about the situation in afghanistan. over the weekend, there was a tragic incident in which a number of afghan civilians were killed. when i spoke to president karzai said the united states takes

this as seriously as it it were our own citizens and our own children who were murdered. we're heartbroken over the loss of innocent life. the killing of innocent civilians is outrageous and unacceptable here is not who we are as a country, and it does not represent our military. for that reason i have directed the pentagon to make sure that we spare no effort in conducting a full investigation. i can assure the american people and the afghan people that we will follow the facts wherever they lead us, and we will make sure that anybody who was involved is held fully accountable with the full force of the law. yesterday i met with general allen and the ambassador corker who were in washington, and i have confidence in them and in the many americans who are

serving in afghanistan and who have made extraordinary sacrifices to be there. today i will meet with prime minister cameron, who is part of our coalition serving in afghanistan, and we will consult about the way forward as we prepare for the summit in chicago in the spring. make no mistake, we have a strategy that will allow us to responsibly wind down this war. we are transitioning to the afghans who are moving into the lead. that will allow us to bring our troops home. we are already scheduled to remove 22,000 troops -- 23,000 troops by the end of summer, followed by 10,000 that we withdrew last year we will continue the work of devastating al qaeda's leadership and the nine that a safe haven. there's no question we face a difficult challenge in afghanistan, but i am confident we can continue the work of

meeting our adjectives -- objectives, and bringing this war to a close. what of the things i talked about during the state of the union was making america more competitive in the global economy. the good news is that we have the best workers and the best businesses in the world. they turned out the best products, and when the plane field is level, they will always compete and succeed against every country on earth. but the key is to make sure that the playing field is level. frankly sometimes it is not. i will always try to work our differences through with other countries. the preferred dialogue. that is especially true when it comes to keep trading partners like china. we have a constructive economic relationship with china, and we are committed to work with them.

when it is necessary, i will take action if our workers and our businesses are being subjected to unfair practices. since i took office, we have brought trade cases against china at nearly twice the rate as the last administration. and these actions are making a difference. for example, we called it an unfair search in chinese tires, which has helped put over 1000 american workers back on the job. we have not stopped there. two weeks ago i created a trade enforcement even to aggressively investigate any unfair trade practice is taking place anywhere in the world. as they wrap up efforts, everyone will be on notice -- he should not skirt the rules. i signed a bill to help american

companies that are facing unfair foreign competition. these companies employ tens of thousands of americans in nearly 40 states. because of subsidies from foreign governments, some of their competitors are selling part -- products at an artificially low price. that needs to stop. this morning we're taking an additional step forward. we are bringing a new case against china and we're being joined by japan and some european allies trick this case involves something called rare earth materials, used by mitt manufacturers to make high-tech products like advanced batteries that power everything from cars to cell phones. we want our companies billed as product right here in america, but to do that american manufacturers need have access to rare earth materials, which china supplies. if china would let the market work on its own we would have no objections, but their policies are preventing that from happening. they go against the very rules

that china agreed to fall it -- to follow. manufactureto advanced cars is too poor, and we cannot let that energy energy crist industry tic root and others' countries because they brought to break the rules ro. we will keep working every single day to get american workers and american businesses a fair shot in the global economy. we will make sure this is not a country known for what we consume. america needs to get back to doing what it has always done best -- a country that builds and sells products where the world that are stamped with the crowd word "made in america, " that is how we are going to build an economy made to last. thank you very much, everybody.

>> road to the white house coverage continues in a few moments when we bring you coverage of the alabama and mississippi primaries treat you

hear from newt gingrich and rick santorum and emails. on c-span2, energy secretary steven chu testified about his department's loan guarantee program. starting right now on c-span3, a forum on the future of the voting rights act. this is our seventh episode and the second time c-span is taking us nationally. we would like to welcome our viewers on c-span. feedback from the last program was amazing, how many people have watched it. i encourage everyone on c-span, when you tweet let us know that you're watching on c-span. if you have questions, ask us. if you have comments, please fire away. if you have critiques, and them here.

this is broadcast on channel 8 and on politico across our platforms. we're here to talk about mississippi and alabama tonight. throughout the caucuses and american samoa, hawaii. we promise to pay attention to ron paul but he is taking a day off. we will not talk as much about him. paul addicts should send e-mail to harris. the big three have a realistic chance of winning this race. the polls showed it to close to call. romney doing well in both states. you have the inside, they think it will be a split decision. >> we're hearing from a couple of people. it sounds like the alabama numbers -- there was an early wave that broke on drudge

report. alabama is likely to go to santorum and romney is a close second. newt is not in for a good night. we will see if newt gingrich does not follow with a win. he put out to a very -- put out a very busy schedule. >> you are mentioning the website that dare not speak its name. the drudge report. the exit polls which often get leak don drudge and everyone who is a political journalist knows about capriotes that should come with those. they drive coverage in a big way. you can see it in the early coverage that the networks have.

we watched you guys another -- the other day participating in the newscast. >> we appreciate it. >> the tone early in the evening was quite markedly different than the other. it is an interesting phenomenon. we're so starved for information early in the evening that we will build a narrative often driven by drudge, that may or may not hold up a couple of hours later. >> this is from actual reporting. the note talking heads down. -- no talking head zone. this is from various friends in the campaign. >> everybody needs to take this with the grain of salt, a huge shaker. we're grasping for pieces of information that may or may not hold up. >> there are no knowns.

we iwll bring -- will bring in jonathan martin. this is a tutorial on southern politics. he will bring in his expertise into this conversation. step back for a minute. mitt romney, the story of this campaign is his inability to sell himself as likable or someone who can get republicans enthusiastic. why? >> he is the epitome of an establishment candidate. in an anti-establishment year and a party that is inflamed with anti-establishment sentiment. it was only establishment voters, he would be doing great. we have seen he is doing great in these early primaries with country club republicans. where he has not done great is -- everyone whgoes through

gravitates to the republican party. everyone who is also are skeptical. >> i will disagree a little bit. i think he is a tepid establishment candidate. we have not seen the establishment coalesce around him as we saw with john mccain. he does not have a lot of folks who do not like him. >> he has anything about that. the establishment is not doing cartwheels over him but they acquiesced long ago. the rest of the party is slowly, tentatively trying to fall in love. >> that is not the only -- they're having trouble falling in love because personally has trouble connecting. this is a hackneyed theme but there is something to it. some -- there is a debate this week about what is an attempt at

humor. what is not funny and awkward. >> we have seen it before. within the same coverage with john kerry and al gore. we have argued about this. can he overcome this? it is much more intense and it seemed much more solidified that he is weird and is -- does not connect with voters. he suffers from some of the same problems for some of the same reasons. >> also both those candidates came close but none of them actually won the popular vote. both those cabinets, -- candidates lost control of their public image. there were seen by voters in ways that would not be recognizable. if you look -- lose control of your public image, things that you think our strengths get played as witnesses. we have seen that with romney. probably what he is most proud of in his professional life is

his business success. he thought that would be a big attributes. it is a subject of mockery. he cannot seem to get over it. he mentioned the other day that he knows professional football owners. you think he would have learned that lesson. you do get the sense that the criticisms are in his head. remember to not be rich. remember to be authentic. the more you think about it, the more you do it. >> we have to enter gibson -- ginger gibson. we will have jay and then marr -- harris. a debate over how it will president obama is. ever we get to it. >> you obviously have. >> i brought my game.

ginger, your with gingrich. we need to know you are hearing from gingrich. you think this night could be a bit -- a big night? could they win either state? in which stated they have the best chance of winning? >> earlier today his body language was dour. we do not know what that was based on. he gave a 15 minute speech where he barely talked about the election, never mentioned his opponents in the prairie, barely talked about barack obama. he talked about technology and cyber security. we have seen him come and go. after super tuesday, he gave a flat speech in jackson. on wednesday and thursday, today, got excited and today, seemed to be a little flutter. his campaign was optimistic. they thought they could do well and they thought they could do well in alabama. they picked here to do their return.

his ben optimistic. they're not an exit polling. they are going on in shoestring, going around during rallies the best he can. the only places he can find based on the crowds. >> let's orient ourselves especially for the viewers turning us on c-span on the delegate count today. you have mitt romney with 424 delegates which is twice as many as rick santorum and four times as many as newt gingrich. we can dispute how many of those are secure and not secure. it might not change. he has a decisive advantage. mitt romney has won several more states than the other candidates have. he has raised and spent more money. that is one of the big reasons that everyone talks about him as being the front-runner. jonathan martin who is joining us now wrote this morning about how there is the opportunity for romney to put this race away if he were to win both the southern

states tonight. maybe he was overdoing it, hyperventilating of debt. -- a bit. a question for you and we will pop out. we had mike allen predicting if it is a bad night, newt gingrich will drop out as soon as next week. you think that could happen? >> it could happen. he is determined and he is running and nothing to this campaign. he wants to keep going. he could keep going when people stopping attention. he could drop out. there was a moment when his numbers were down and he knew he was going to lose that he seemed resigned and he could not win south carolina, he was done. we have not seen the look of defeat that we saw that day. that south carolina win gave him a boost. if you lost your again and lost big, it could be another moment where we are seeing him resign himself to the fact that he is

not going to rally enough support to keep moving. we will be looking for that. we will be looking for how he speaks tonight, flashes of the iowa concession speech which was a little angry or flashes of the georgia speech where he only one georgia but he was optimistic. we will see his body language. whether the end could be soon or he could try to trudge through state-by-state. >> we will come back to you later and you have to tell our viewers what it is like to be on the campaign trail with newt gingrich. what is like to be a political reporter who has to do four or five different states in a day. i will let you collect your thoughts and you can be at your articulate best. we are bringing in one of our political writers. there is a debate about whether he ironses shirts or if he should on tv. given the c-span audience is

very respectful. you can wait on this and let him now. we are here about your expertise. southern politics is different for the republican party, different for both parties. we can help people understand the state of public -- southern politics. >> i want to thank the good folks at c-span for carrying us live. i want to say it is good to be here on set so i can answer your negative personal attacks and respond in kind as opposed to being in some far-flung ballroom. we're mere feet away. i spent the last couple of days in jackson, mississippi and birmingham and there is no question these are two states that are widely seen in the national of i as conservative as they come but i do not think folks appreciate how much conservative they have gotten

since president obama was elected. this-tradition of a rural, white, southern democrat is something of a dying breed. it has really been put on the endangered species list. every single democrat in the alabama and mississippi delegation lost a white democrat, that is. both houses would way. democratic we construction swept away. over a dozen democrats in the houses change parties because they saw the handwriting on the wall. these are two states that have become really conservative, more conservative in the obama year. what does that mean as far as this race goes? voters want someone who can channel their anger and contempt for president obama. they want someone who will be

president obama. those are two things -- the intention. that is the story of this campaign. these voters -- last night in birmingham when the monitor opened up and said we're beating president obama this fall, the mere mention of beating president obama provoked standing ovation, hooting and hollering. anything the candidate said the rest of the night. you have that on the one hand, this burning desire to unseat president obama. the two states have become even more conservative in the course of the last 40 years and who want the candidate who is more pure than is a table in this election. >> there was a poll and we're arguing about it. this democratic polling operation whose polling seems to be pretty good. they ask a question in mississippi and alabama. do you think the president is a

christian or muslim and you believe in evolution? on both scores, the conservatives in mississippi and alabama seem different than the rest of the country. 60% thinks that he is a muslim despite the fact that he is a question. the majority do not believe in evolution. it is different from the rest of the country. do we think that is true and does it matter and how much does that complicate life for republicans trying to navigate the politics of politics and regional disputes? >> it is not clear how complicated that will be. one of the troubling things the fact this question has been asked. it is not that this was asked in other states. it was only asked in the southern states. not ask as routinely by -- asked as routinely aby ppp. i do think we have yet to see

how this will go. we had donald trump who is a mint from the circuit. this is going [inaudible] >> the mainstreaming of trump from march or april 2011 when he was known as -- for birtherism, and how he is a mainstream started for mitt romney. back to the topic at hand. it is hard to get away from the race question. it permeates especially when you have the first black president in the white house. i do not want to be construed as saying that is driving entirely the dislike for this president. i think it is a conservative part of the world. any central left or liberal press that will not be held in

great esteem. clinton was not popular along -- among conservatives in the south either. he was himself a white southerner. there is no question that that issue is there still in the sense. the parties have become not just more polarized, they have become more drawn along racial lines. these democratic -- the democratic party, democrats and republicans will say it is becoming a black party and it is a concern for a lot of folks in both parties. that is not healthy for the states or of democracy. republicans want to get black votes and democrats to survive, they need to keep white voters in their fold. >> it would be great if you could tweet any questions you have and you could e-mail me live.com.y at politico

i would love to get someone who believes that obama is a muslim. we want to understand how conservatives in different regions thing. we think it is important to the process. if this were a two-person race, would it be different? do we think santorum versus romney would be a big win? is a morse but then that? >> mitt romney would not be in the game if it was not a two- person race. >> is this going to be a game changer going forward and that is more complicated. >> it gets to the heart of that. >> i think if there was a two- person race weeks ago, this is the same thing you're saying. we would be looking at a different race. i do not think mitt romney would be dominating. >> he would not have set foot in those states.

if it was newt or santorum, he would not be there. >> we can go back earlier than that. >> i got an e-mail from craig gordon. the white house pool reports he is not watching this program. he is with the british prime minister in dayton, ohio at a basketball game, eating a hot dog. >> this is the no talking head zone. >> what is the best thing you ate on your sudden visit? >> -- southern visit? >> [unintelligible]

>> there are folks i am talking to who say that -- he is got some followers on twitter. >> hav eyou -- have you tweeted y et? -- yet? >> this is -- >> can i just say, the interesting thing will be important to watch. in mississippi and alabama. it will be an interesting task of whether or not romney can find the votes from suburbanites and folks who make 75 k or higher a year. if that adds up to 32 or 33%. if it does, does he have a shot to win one of the states?

charlie has walked through the jarret murphree of the states and -- the geography of the states. in places of the -- like the coast and memphis. to find a lot more two-income families. educated folks who are romney's wheelhouse. if he can crack 30%, he has a shot at the state. >> what are the two things that the campaign is most worried about based on the last two months? it could be a demographic, fund- raising, one of the things they're worried about? >> evangelicals and blue-collar workers. >> what happened to his approval among independent voters during the course of this long primary. what maggie says, his recurring

problem with downscale voters. that demographic in every state is the cocktail party. the folks who make 100 k or more or 200 k or motere -- more. romney is winning that demographic by 35% in some cases. with folks that are like him. people who have advanced college degrees to make a lot of money, professionals who care about the bottom line, who read "the wall street journal." who follow their portfolio. that is his of voter who wants taxes generally kept low. a light touch on regulation. a strong foreign policy. but is focused on economics. he is not drawing from the folks that are driven to politics because they're passionate about abortion or gay rights. >> you had that great piece, the

difference in going to romney event or gingrich event. >> also florida where it was so vivid going to the events. could see the classification. going to romney event is like going to the president's suite at a college football game. you go in and the men might be wearing ties -- there wearing a nice -- they are wearing a nice button down shot. it is folks who are not tracking mud into the club. our people, as the saying goes. if you go to -- the newt event was jeans shorts, a fanny bag, homemade signs. when newt faded, the same thing

carried on but it was santorum. it was the exact same divide. and went to a friday night knights of columbus of and for santorum -- event for santorum. they made an industry out of indicators in american politics. you can see the exit data. there was nuns in one corner and a family of 10 kids that were from a catholic school in one corner. there was a guy, a t-shirt, jeans, winter coat, baseball hat on. it was a santorum demographic. it go to romney events, a much different story. -- you go to tuolumne events, a much different story. have toney fofolks appeal to those voters. one of his weaknesses is with

non-college educated voters. >> that must make republicans burn. you have polls showing -- president obama is eminently beatable and that is what frustrates republicans. they look at this independent numbers and working class whites and they see opportunity, opportunity. i'm not so certain that one of these guys are the right fit to seize that opportunity. >> there is that theory which is concerned that republicans will not be excited and not come out. you are seeing these lower numbers and that is an indicator that people are not jazzed. republicans will be met -- more excited. i do not think primary turnout is indicative of what you'll see in the general. what i do think is an issue is in the romney campaign you had romney making these attacks for weeks now. that is why his numbers are

down. what he is doing is mocking his opponents while not putting a bigger ideas. >> there is a -- also famous beyond that. famous for doing demographic data. taken to the penn level, it is working class white women. that is who the obama folks are looking at. it is hard for them to bring to many working-class white men into the fold. i think they are single romney's -- seeing romney's struggles. >> our roving camera is finally working. to orient our watchers, there he

is. we are taking a deep inside the politico newsroom and on the campaign trail. we're going to wanda summers with rick santorum. we are going to mike allen who has some fresh data for as. tell us something cool. >> if you cannot be vince lombardi, what coach would you want to be? the coach the romney campaign said is they are woody hayes. it is not pretty but he will get what he -- where he is headed. they're on a good trajectory. this is not the result would have asked santa for. romneyland is calmer. the last three nights have

been like an existential threat. will he make it tonight? he knows he does not have to win. they're grateful he is not coming in third in both places. are you ready for production? >> i am already -- always ready. >> the results are close enough. when 8:00 eastern rolls around, we're not going to get a poll call right away from the ap or the network. there will hold off. this is my prediction. we will hear about alabama first. it will be in rick santorum when. we will hear about mississippi second. it will be a mitt romney win. >> we have the print edition of tomorrow's paper. can we scroll to the top? this is a story that we did

about how the president had that poll today. 41% approval if true. that will be a problem. my city editor had a civil war headline on his desk that said "important if true," about the obama poll. we passed ann cronyn. and -- we are passing craig cam and charlie cam. this is a good neighborhood. romney is feeling good. a split decision. the santorum camp is saying we will get what we want. a two-man race. newt gingrich will not be a big factor.

whether he is in or not. they expect a dogfight going to the convention. >> hit the twitter and let us know if that makes you dizzy. and my point about the five from boston, i was talking to romney adviser. they said do not forget hawaii. the the shaved ice is great out there. hawaii tonight is that in their caucuses. we will have results at about 2:00 a.m.. >> we will not be live at 2:00 a.m. >> last time we went longer.

>> also american samoa. >> a quarter of them are mormon. >> how many hawaiians are mormon? >> i don't think that there is a campus. >> didn't mitt romney speak a few blocks away from the campus? >> i think he is there right now. couldon't know if you hear mike allen as he went around the newsroom that he is predicting that santorum will win in alabama and he is probably basing that on nothing other than his own gut. what are you hearing from the santorum folks? >> the advisers are feeling very good looking at the exit polls.

they can do very well tonight and move on forward. i was talking to them about their path forward. wisconsin is a very big state to them. they are looking forward to what is coming next. they are looking at it and if they don't win of states, they're looking for a path forward and they are feeling very confident about their chances. looking at the polls, that was predicted. you have to feel good if you are rick santorum and looking to narrow the field down to a two- man race. >> there is a discussion about how much pressure they have put on newt gingrich to get out. clearly, you don't want this from the candidates themselves but you can do this through surrogates. particularly, the factors that are close to santorum and close

to gingrich. how much of that is going on? >> you have seen that ratchet up. this is coming from a key places. this region should be natural and hospital will to newt gingrich. lots naturally hospitable to newt gingrich. -- this region should be naturally hospitable to newt gingrich. this is a moment that they can seize and take that two-man race. >> stand by, we will be checking in with you throughout the night. santorum is picking up on the exit poll results. let's go to our media room. for those just joining us, we have patrick gavin monitoring

all of the state-based web sites, so you don't have to bother clicking around. we will tell you everything that you need to know. >> i want to get your attention on a key interesting tweets. everyone send us your questions. one is from an adviser giving us credit. what i like about this is that it is like a local access cable. we want all of our international viewers telling us where you are, what you're watching, how we can make these results more applicable. all lot of reporters are looking at exit polls. many of them are trying to get any sort of information that they can.

there are some things coming out of this from exit polls that you can't predict will be used in the spins down tonight. every candidate can pick and choose what they want to see. what we are seeing in alabama is that for very conservative voters, most of them want to go for santorum, all 19% 4 mitt romney. 52% say mitt romney is not conservative enough. that is another feather in the hat for rick santorum. we have a great local blog telling us about 1/3 of voters did not make up their mind. the last few days. some of these candidates, if they don't have a good dad, they have a lot of data that they can pull to try to spin reporters.

>> i gave the wrong e-mail address if you want to e-mail me. again, i especially want to hear from voters in the 87 states today. give us your take, ask questions. when you are doing this, we're getting fees from the folks on the campaign trying to tell us what is going on. what is the most interesting thing that your seeing other than i think that santorum are to emerge as nervous? >> newt gingrich is definitely nervous. the thing to watch for is what he says. we will not hear from mitt romney. rick santorum was freaking out a little bit. his campaign is not have a pollster. they're going by the seat of their pants. >> talk about the difference.

there is a difference between a corporate professional campaign- >> and the run the campaign. >> and little centcom campaign. -- and the little santorum campaign. >> if you are mitt romney you has issues with the babe's, you can't keep it going. i think that mitt romney could be in trouble. the santorum campaign has led a lot of opportunities that they have not made the most of. they raised $5 million in february. why they did not go on the air in ohio and a major way was a real question considering how close the race was. rick santorum and our colleague

got to this in a very good piece about the rick santorum style of managing the campaign. this is how he ran his campaigns in pennsylvania. the campaign's mere the candidate. with mitt romney, you have this sort of corporate larger model and rick santorum is that we can pick and choose our spots that sometimes you miss and we're not pulling, you are at the mercy of what your seeing and public. >> some of the people on twitter call this one of the greatest rock bands. me, i think that a bomb that is able to be beat. our colleague is in the tank for obama.

>> you are giving yourself a lot of hedging. >> less talk about this, can republicans put up a candidate who can beat obama? i was saying not to buy it. you go back to the health-care debate and the president lost independent voters. they went against him by about 20 points and they were down on him because they felt that he went too far too fast growing government. that group remains as skeptical today as they were in the summer and that number might go up and down but it is almost constant over time. but once you get to a general election, you will have a 55th the country with independence that have a largely unfavorable impression of the president. about 40% have a favorable

impression of health care reform. that is a tough environment. >> >> everyone is entitled to their own opinion. byou and i have the same view of this question. we can make it look like we're on opposite sides. i agree with the political failure of obama in the first term was independent voters taking flight. they did so early and they did so dramatically. that has been a huge problem. they did not expect to win back independence in the way that

they have in 2008. they realize that is out of reach. they are signaling a willingness to be receptive to obama, particularly obama vs somebody. they will run a somebody with a specific name. >> what does that mean? >> the contrast will sharpen. there is the support for obama continuing to be fragile. you have catholic voters supporting obama, that is very big. some independents are coming back. we have always believed and the

obama people have been up front about this, they cleaned mccain's clocked in 2008. they thought it would always be a 51%-52% election. anyone can win and the circumstances. it is hard to be an incumbent. all things being equal, the natural momentum of things is that you give someone a second term. >> who wins? to what do you attribute the tip and the approval rating for the president that the two polls have showed? >> i think it is gas. people are fickle.

independent voters in particular. if you look at the recent elections where you have these huge swings, from republican control, to democratic control in 2006, to 2010. independent voters don't like what democrat serve up, they don't like what democrats serve out their debt they don't like the fact that the government does not seem to people to do anything productive than any other point in their lifetime. this volatility will not end. >> the polls to serve a function of checking some once the ticket of mood at the moment. are they in a good mood? a crappy mood. that is expressed in sort of

real time in the polls. people are mad about a gasoline prices. that is an expression in real time. here is a theory, voters are uncomfortable with one thing about obama and that is his arrogance, his tendency to overreach. if given power, he will go farther than they want him to. i think the phenomenon where he was clearly seen as rising, he had his game back, the economy is doing better, he looks like he is the favorite for reelection. that fact alone said people -- had people go, well, wait a minute. i bought him to behave. i want him to suffer this. i don't want this to be a cakewalk. >> this is not about a system, this is a check and balance.

>> yes, this is, not so fast. independent voters require all at the personal of all. they recoiled at the ideological level if we give him an unchecked power, particularly if democrats managed to come back in the house, they will take the country somewhere i know one ago. they want to tap the brakes, that is different than stopping the car. >> we will have a ticket that will have the results going all night. just to show you how much we want feedback and response to feedback. people with like a constant scroll of the results so they don't have to go anywhere else. another addition is that we have three different outlets in alabama and mississippi that are taking a live stream on their website.

the more people, the merrier. >> what was the one question, you will not see mitt romney today. if he was there in front of you, what is the one question that you want to ask him? >> i'm sorry, i did not hear that. >> if he was right there in front of you now, what is the one question you would want to ask him? >> the question now is whether he thinks that newt gingrich and rick santorum have the option to get out of the race. this is clearly the case that his campaign has been making, he is the only one with a delicate path to nomination and he has

been edging towards the idea that he is inevitable. the idea is to get him to come out and say it, otherwise it is difficult to figure out what he has been getting at. >> have you been traveling and f said that did get a deal on what has talking about? how do you think he reacts to that? >> i think that he knows, it is clear to him that some of the things that he has said has not been helpful. there are a couple of topics he is fluent in. he is talking about his family, people's businesses. he goes to these factories, even into restaurants, he always asks for the proprietor, how was

your business organized, how many employees do you have? those are the things that are in the wheelhouse. he is talking about college football and things about his comfort zone -- outside of his comfort zone, he is uncomfortable. he is in the fluid in the tax code and how businesses operate. >> this criticism hurt his feelings? >> i think that this hurts everyone's feelings. he has been at this for six years. he has developed a strong set of callousness in a lot of it. clearly, there are occasions

where we have seen people get under his skin, whether it was for parry in the debates. he has not been perfect in keeping that skilled reserve. >> i have a question that is building off of what you have just said. have you seen any sense he has gotten more comfortable? is there a different side that is coming out is this a flexibility on the trail? can he handle himself better? >> we have seen him get in trouble when he has gotten too comfortable. he was talking to the chamber of commerce in new hampshire when he said he would like to be able to fire people who provide him port services. he was making the point about health insurance flexibility he must be careful that he does not

get too comfortable and get to the point where he thinks he is on the speaking to the people in the room and not to the worldwide audience. sometimes, business people use words and phrases that don't necessarily translate to the wider electorate. >> thank you very much. the "l.a. times" is reporting that obama has a chos -- has chosen his final four. i have asked viewers to e-mail us and to tweet. i'm getting tons of requests from people. i've will read this whole e-mail to you. "going into the 2008 election, i

did not care about the fate issue. i did not care about what their religion is. there is no way that obama can reconcile his apologist policies with the christian faith. he bowed to the saudi prince. he apologized to the afghans after the koran burning. it is his policies that lead me to believe that he is a muslim." the question i have, do we think that this is a very prevalent view in the conservative base or is this overblown by the media? >> i think it is a prevalent view. it has reached a certain level of heights.

this came out more than expected to apparent to we talk about this are there with donald trump. we will find out within the next 8 months how serious the people look at this and have serious of an issue this is. on the one hand, i can praise them for asking the questions although that i think they were doing it to drive a headline. i think there is the sentiment in the conservative base and it will take a while to dispel it. >> we are going to cry gordon in the news room. we're taking you deep into the newsroom. he said he has some of the b matter, some of the background information that you put together in the stories as we prepare was the polls close. this will happen in about 8 minutes. what do you have for us? >> i hate to give up the punch

line but just to give you a sense of how we do this, we always tell the reporters to write up b matter as opposed to a matter. you can put a story very quickly. we focus a lot on speed. i went in and i cheated and i've looked at the file. the top of the story says liberty, missouri. he is not calling this race for mitt romney but he is ready to go. you will read those words tomorrow depending upon the results. that is and the but how we do it. you have to be careful. >> you think you know what is going to happen and then your editor is doing the exact

opposite. >> i have an awesome 2004 election night analysis about how john kerry pecan the next president of the united states. >> -- how john carey became the next president of the united states. kerry became the next president. we have news from a rhyme a source. does he have more sources. -- we have more news from a romney source. >> results will be coming in at about five minutes. i don't think that we anticipate ap calling the race.

they aren't the gold standard for calling these races. we tend to live by those. if we get other exit data, we will share it with you. we are getting complaints that we are not giving newt gingrich enough coverage. can either of you lay out a scenario where newt gingrich can stay alive and get to the convention or is that totally impossible? >> there is no one other than mitt romney that can take a path to the nomination on a conventional route by the delegates and going over the top. romney is the only one that will do that. if gingrich or santorum or anyone else found occasion to really _ mitt romney's weakness at to make the case, this guy is damaged goods and we're headed for a debacle. that would open up the process.

that is why candidates stay in. they are waiting not to amass delicate spot for lightning to strike last delegates -- they are not waiting for mass delegates but for lightning to strike. they're waiting to say that mitt romney cannot be the nominee. >> chaos would have to be some disqualified thing coming out about mitt romney. it would have to be some unexpected thing. >> i don't think it has happened. if he came in third in every state tonight, that starts in chaos. >> i don't think that will happen and you don't either. we would have had to have that start happening already and all of the other candidates are trying now. this is not really about amassing delegates, they will

never get enough. they are trying to keep mitt romney from getting to 1144. texas is a big state and rick perry has endorsed newt gingrich. if he loses, it is difficult for him to stay relevant and save money. if you are rick santorum and newt gingrich, how you make the case getting to the convention and even if mitt romney is below 1144, the voters did not vote for me and these primaries. the people rejected me on either, temperament, i could not run a real or effective campaign. what is the argument that there is more conservatives among us because mitt romney still has an argument over these guys? >> the argument that mitt romney only one because we had a divided field would clearly be more popular than mitt romney.

>> do either of you know where ron paul is tonight? >> this one is really not good for him. it is not like this strategy of his has worked so well. in one of the states, he is pulling 8%. >> will he dropped out? -- drop out? >> i think a lot of what he's doing as about his son and his son's future. he has found a way to get his message across without winning states but he could not get much media attention. he is just going under. this thing that is going on between him and mitt romney where it is not quite an alliance but it is an alliance, right? ron paul has been criticizing mitt romney's rivals, he has not been criticizing mitt romney.

>> one and a half minutes away from the polls closing. both mississippi and alabama. i don't think that the ap will call either of the states for viewers. we are being carried out several websites. we are getting tons of feed back. on twitter, you can get us at politicolive. we are getting tons of incoming. i can read about 10% of fees. mikey is ready in the news room. you promised something good. >> from the folks are feeling good. -- mitt romney's folks are feeling good. this is close enough results. we will not hear a call right away from a peak or the next