being on facebook. -- minds of people. being in india, of being chinese, being catholic, and being on facebook. there is the emerging importance of the internet. it holds for the world's population as we conduct and conclude our conversations across a range of issues. range of issues. i think we have time for one more question if anyone has one. if not, it is great seeing you two together. there are two places that could set a global precedents -- join me in thanking our speakers. [applause] if i could ask the members of the first panel to come on up.

>> coming up next, former speaker of the house newt gingrich withdraw from the presidential campaign the justice department holds a news conference on charges of more than $450 million in medicare fraud. later, the national urban league releases this year's report on the state of black america. >> bin laden was a strategically relevant communicator with various outfits. to a certain extent, i have to confess -- i worked on the probable loss. he knew bin laden was involved in communication. we knew he was making out reach early on in somalia.

we knew he was involved of all of these types of things. we knew he was there and doing that. as a consequence, bin laden was relevant. >> that was a national project house national security change in the year since the death of a son of bin laden? see what they have to say online at the c-span video library. all archived and searchable. >> former house speaker newt gingrich resigned from the president to campaign today. thanking supporters and journalists, he said he was returning to the role of active citizen, focusing his time on energy and space policy. he did not formally endorsed governor mitt romney for president. this is about 45 minutes. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012]

[applause] >> well, thank you all for coming. on may 11, we formally announced our candidacy. i want to thank everyone who helped through the last year. it has been an increasing year far the entire family -- been an amazing year for the entire family. i want to thank jimmy and jackie, who brought with them i

think, the two best debate coaches. [applause] whenever i did well in the debates, i ascribe it to maggie and margaret, who were diligent in briefing me on the debates. mother to thank calista's who faithfully watched this campaign online, filled with questions and wondering what exactly was going on. she put up with almost as much as we did. i also want to single out the over 179,000 donors who helped us at newt.org. i should single out my brother and his wife, who are here. randy has been all over the country, campaigning for me and i am very grateful.

bob walker was our chairman. we go all the way back to the days in the house. i think we helped coinvent c- span. we did a number of things to help create a house republican majority. i also want to thank the team that stuck with us throughout the whole process, which was a truly wild ride. i could never have predicted neither the high points nor the low points. there were all amazing and astonishing. there are some key election officials i want to thank. upmyer who linda sotomayo stayed with us when we were supposedly dead and when we rebounded. linda was just spectacular,

solidly campaigning all across the state of iowa. i also want to thank speaker paulsen of iowa and speaker bill o'brien of new hampshire, who worked very hard and, by the way, is a model of balancing the budget the right way. in new hampshire, they first get the revenue number and then appropriate up to the revenue numbers. they do not start with a spending number and try to figure out how to find the taxes. they start with what is coming in and figure out what to spend. it is a remarkable project remarkably successful program. i want to thank the georgia house members. i think one of the high moments of the campaign was carrying georgia by 156 counties to 3. it gave us a good feeling that back home we had a very solid base.

my daughter's in carroll county, we had 60% of the vote. we had a a strong base of support from the people who knew us best. i could not be here and not thank governor rick perry. he stuck with us all the way through. towards the end when things got the call, i called and he said i am with you until the cows come home. he said, "i am pretty comfortable as a farmer in texas understanding that." , i also want to thank herman cain for campaigning for us and michael reagan who campaigned for us and communicated pretty clearly the relationship we had with his dad. todd palin, who also worked very hard. although there were not associated with the campaign, it would be impossible for me to be here and thank everybody without thinking sheldon who single-handedly came pretty

close to matching mitt romney's super pac. we share a combined concern about the middle east, american security, and the survival of israel. we are very good friends. i have to thank the voters of south carolina and apologize. we have a broken their tradition of always picking the nominee. this will always be me fell slightly guilty every time we go through south carolina, but they were tremendous. they were welcoming, enthusiastic. the size of the victory were the story. i expect our whole family will always remember south carolina because it was a tremendous, tremendous experience. today, i am suspending the campaign, but suspending the campaign does not mean suspending citizenship calsita and i -- calista and i

are committed to being an active citizen. i have been an active citizen since august 1958 when my dad was serving in the army in europe. this will be 54 years of work on three things -- what does america need to do to be free, safe, and prosperous? two -- how would you explain that to the american people said they gave you permission to do what is needed? 3 -- how would you implement the changes at the american people gave you permission? starting in 1960 when my father was assigned to fort benning, i was a volunteer in the nixon campaign. in 1964, i dropped out of college to run a congressional race. we lost twice for congress -- once in the middle of watergate, and once with jimmy carter.

from 1978-1984, a 16-year journey to build a majority. helping reagan in the eight years as president, with bob walker and others developing a generation of solutions and training, building a contract with america, which led to the largest one-party increase in american history. 9 million additional votes. it was a positive campaign that attracted people and mattered to them. in the process, which won control of the house for the first time in 40 years and past welfare reform working in a bipartisan manner with a democrat in the white house. in 1996, we were the first reelected republican majority since 1928. we did it not by flinching, not by compromising, but by standing

firm for balanced budgets, more taxes, smaller government, and reform. in that period, we were able to work with president clinton on four consecutive balanced budgets. we did it in a bipartisan manner because we represented the will of the american people, not the will of washington, d.c. from 2001-2006, i worked as a volunteer on national security and health issues in the breast administration. in 2008, we develop the american solutions -- drill here, drill now, pay less. we raised the central importance of an american independence energy plan so that no future president would ever again about to a saudi king and so we would not be dependent on the strait of hormuz and dealing with the iranians. i have tried to move the

national debate, including 22 books, starting with "window of opportunity." i have released seven documentaries. calista is trying to lead and educate with "sweet land of liberty," which educates four- year olds about american liberty. we are now going to put down the role of candid and candidate- spouse and take back up the role of active citizen. i thought to date -- i happen to get an e-mail from polymers -- from congressman tom cole of oklahoma. he captured the moment when he said the following -- "newt is liberated to do what he does best -- adapt conservative views to the challenges of the 21st century. in some ways, his best days may be ahead of him." we want to focus on a series of

key issues and find a way to educate and move the country and policy in washington, d.c. central to all of this is our deep commitment on american exception alyssum and american history and our sense that we cannot truly be americans if we have amnesia about who we are, where we came from, and what principles have made us great. we will spend a great deal of time on religious liberty. my newsletter today specifically -- is specifically on the whole issue of religious liberty. i appreciate the working relationship we have with human events in developing issues like this. i want to continue to work on american energy independence. this is central to job creation, our balance of payments, the strength of the american dollar, dealing with radical islam. if we do it right, we will not only create energy independence and with millions of new jobs,

but we will create trillions of dollars in royalties, which if we impose discipline in washington, could be put into a fund to repay the national debt and leave maggie and robert's generation debt free. balancing the budget and using american energy to pay off the national debt. in a real sense, we could be free of both radical islam, saudi kings, and chinese bondholders all with the same strategy. in addition, we will go to college campuses and talk about personal social security savings accounts are matthew and -- maggie and robert's generation. the big zero texas counties have used that model so that people of their generation can have larger retirement accounts while growing the national economy, independent of political influence and a system much fairer than the current system. we are going to also

reemphasized the work ethic, something i know was controversial in one of our debates. one proposal will be to modernize unemployment compensation to attached to it a training component so that if you sign up to get the money, you have to sign up to learn because by definition if you are currently unemployed, you need better job skills. in north dakota, 3.5% of people are unemployed. they cannot fill the oil fields because people who are unemployed do not have the skills. there is no reason to give people money nine weeks are doing nothing. this is an important national debate about a country that was formed in 16 07 by john smith saying to aristocrats in st. paul, if you do not work, you do not eat. you'll see us come back and talk about that.

beyond that, i want to come back on one of the projects i feel sad about not saying very well. if we really horney's the food and drug administration, we can have a remarkable short time absolute revolutions of better health, or independent living, longer living, and at lower costs. part of the great challenge of washington is how you take an idea like that and move it from the scientific world where everyone says it is right into the political world where no one has a clue what it means? this is an enormous challenge to us. we also want to focus on what a post-obamacare health care system should look like and take back something i worked on my entire career. just before i ran for president, i was the longest serving teacher for one and two-star teachers -- generals.

i will focus again on national security and free zones. radical islamist who still do not have a strategy. it is nice that the president broadcast from afghanistan, but the center of islam is yemen. i think we have to recognize we do not have a grand strategy in this zone. we have to deal with the rise of china, which is not automatically a threat, but is a reality. we have to deal with new technologies that do threaten us, whether it is cyber warfare or electromagnetic pulse. finally, on the topic of new technology, i will cheerfully take back up the issue of space. my wife has pointed out to me approximately 219 times that moon-colony was not my most

clever, met in this campaign. r comment in this campaign. if we want to be the leading country in the world, we have to be the leading country in space. what i call for is beginning to happen. the founders of google are talking about a private-sector effort to mine and afterward. there is less red tape to mine an asteroid than the epa of the united states. the space-adventure program hopes to have a private-sector opportunity to circle the moon by 2015. as many of you know, there is a low earth orbit project under way. next week, nasa is building on something george w. bush started and obama expanded on. they will launch a private sector rocket in an effort to

broaden our capacity. this is not frivolous. it is the fundamental question about whether we are a country that dreams and has the courage to say to young people, yes there is a wonderful pitched -- future doing really important things. i happen to think there is a better future than methamphetamine and cocaine. i will argue for an american future of doing things that matter. we also need to have new models of an effective, affordable life-it project lifetime learning. we have to replace the 130-year- old civil service model with modern management systems. this is a big issue that is fundamental to the united states. we have been obsolete system that is impossible to make work effectively. the forces that support it will fight every inch of the way. this may be too big a challenge, but we do need to have a national discussion about how to get congress to be effective. congress has decayed

dramatically in the last 20 years. the senate has become a dysfunctional institution. under our constitution, if congress does not understand things and cannot legislate things, you cannot fix it. it is really important that we have a much bigger national debate. because we will pursue solutions, we want those solutions to be real. we will campaign for a republican president, a republican house, a republican senate, republican governors, state legislators. america is a complex, mosaic government. the presidency matters. but so do all the other offices of self-government. if you are going to have change in america, it has to occur in many places simultaneously.

as to the presidency, i am asked sometimes, it is mitt romney conservative enough? my answer is simple. compared to barack obama? this is not a choice between mitt romney and ronald reagan. this is a choice between mitt romney and the most radical, leftist president in american history. if you simply take judges and ask yourself, who are the kind of people governor romney would be inclined to a point? who are the kind of people barack obama of points? if you look at his pledge to cut spending, something we will help him with, to balance the budget, to work with paul ryan and others on the entitlement crisis, to focus on economic growth by creating private-

sector jobs, something i would suggest governor romney knows about 60,000 times more than president obama. think about appointing common sense regulators. as compared to the obama epa regulator his said, it is nice to crucify industry because it teaches them a lesson. you cannot get a much bigger gap. a republican sweep this fall would revitalize america just as the reagan sweep of 1980 revitalize america. we have done before, and we can do it again. i always tell people, economic recovery will begin late on election night. when people realize that obama is gone. by the next morning, people will make new decisions about investing, hiring. but beyond this election, the

election is just an interim step, and then you have the next struggle. we had to work for eight months to pass the reagan tax cuts. look at what scott walker is going through in wisconsin. the election just starts the dance, it does not end it. every \conservative should be prepared to work every single day to bring to bear the best ideas and to develop the best future. i think in the reagan tradition, there is a shining future ahead. i think maggie and robert's generation will live in a safer and more prosperous generation. i am certain -- it is almost inevitable. i think they will live in a generation that has resolved the challenge of optimism. of alzheimer's, of parkinson's.

that has mastered mental-health. i think their generation will look back in the olden days when people did not have holograms at home and had to do so many things manually. they will live in a very different world. i am confident about this feature for maggie and robert because i have written three novels on at george washington, and i know what he went through. i have written four novels on the civil war. i know what we went through as a people to preserve this country. the germans and japanese, underestimated us and thought we could never mobilize and we did not know how to fight. the soviets said that they would bury us.

the japanese in the 1980's were going to be the next superpower until their system collapsed in 1989. currently, the chinese are the latest example of somebody else who is magically going to appear, who will take on 305 million people and somehow be more innovative, more effective, more clever. i do not believe that. with every great challenge, americans have reinvented themselves and their country. building within the framework of the declaration of independence, the constitution, and the federalist papers, we are liberated to use common sense and courage to create a better future. we pledge to work with you and with every american who wants to create that better future. to once again challenge the institutions that do not work,

challenge the premise is that do not work, to create new solutions, new opportunities, so that the 21st century will be the third century of freedom in american exceptionalism. thank you very much. [applause] >> new cambridge this afternoon, announcing he is ending his bid for the presidency. his former rival, mitt romney, will be on the campaign trail tomorrow in portsmouth, va., with governor bob macdonald. they will talk about u.s. energy production. that starts at 1:15 eastern here on c-span.

coming up at the top of the hour, a form from the national urban league on the state of black america in 2012. that is at 9:00 eastern. >> between 1971-1973, president richard nixon secretly recorded nearly 4000 hours of phone calls and meetings. >> i have done this so often in conversations with people. >> every saturday this month on c-span radio, hear more of the nixon tapes, including discussions with former presidents and intelligence agency heads saturday at 6:00 p.m. eastern. this week, gerald ford, ronald reagan, and george h. w. bush. >> spend the weekend in oklahoma

city with booktv and american history tv. check in on literary life with governor mary fowler's must read history books. the letter to america. rare books from galileo, the americas, and others. sunday at 5:00 p.m. eastern, oklahoma history on american history tv on c-span3. tour the oklahoma city bombing memorial, plus a look at african-american life in 1920's oklahoma and native american artifacts from the special collections at the oklahoma history center. the local content vehicle exports the cities across america. this weekend, oklahoma city on c-span2 and c-span3.

>> at the justice department charged doctors and health care providers with medicare fraud. the jump -- the charges amount to more than $450 million. attorney general eric holder made the announcement. he was joined by health and human services secretary capping sebelius and other officials. this is about half an hour. >> deputy director, scheck -- sean joyce, gary cantrell, and peter budetti. we are announcing the latest achievement in the long going fight against medicare fraud. as part of a coordinated, nationwide sit down, the medicare fraud strike force, joined by the department of justice and h. h. s, comprised of federal, state, and law-

enforcement officials from across the country -- we chart 170 defendants in seven different cities for their alleged participation in fraud schemes involving approximately $452 million in false billing. this is the highest amount of false medicare billing involved in a single takedown in the strike force's five-year history. the chart -- the defendants include doctors, nurses, social workers, and others accused of a range of serious offenses, including health care fraud, conspiracy to commit health care fraud, money laundering, and all violations of the anti-kickback statutes. roughly 500 agents and investigators a nationwide, from the fbi, state and local offices, the office of the inspector general, and the medicare fraud control unit.

working in close cooperation, we lost and advanced numerous extensive investigations, executed approximately 20 search warrants, and have taken into custody 91 of the charged defendants. i am proud of each one of them. the justice department will move aggressively those who would defraud the medicare program for their personal gain. we are at the heart of this administration's commitment of protecting the american people from all forms of health care fraud. we have seen too many communities with high health care cost. it threatens the integrity of our entire health care system. three years ago, this commitment inspire the department of justice and health and human services to launch a health care fraud prevention the team to take the fight against

health care fraud to a new level. the key to our success has been the charging of 1430 defendants with more than $4 trillion in faults charges. over the last three fiscal years, every dollar we have spent fighting against health care fraud we have returned on average $7 to the u.s. treasury, the medicare trust fund, and others. despite these results, much more remains to be done. fortunately, our determination to build on the progress we have made has strengthened partnerships we have established through all levels of government. announcement crews, our approach is never been more effective. thank you once again for your

ongoing contributions. it is now my privilege to turn things over to my friend, secretary kathleen sebelius. >> thank you, general. i want to start by recognizing wonderful leadership of attorney-general eric holder and our entire collaborative team at the justice department in this effort. with me on stage is -- as the general has already said, are partners from the fbi, the justice department, as well as office,pector general's and our office of integrity. we are here as representatives of literally thousands of people throughout this country who are now focused and determined to stamp out fraud in our medicare program. today's historic takedown is the latest milestone the obama

administration's coordinated campaign to stamp out fraud in our health care system. when president obama took office, he asked the attorney general and me to make fraud prevention a cabinet-level priority. since then, we have more than quadrupled the task force teams operating around the country, charging hundreds of individuals with seeking to defraud medicare and medicaid of billions of taxpayer dollars. those efforts got another boost when two-years ago the president signed the affordable care act, one of the strongest, anti- health care fraud in american history. at the law provided new resources to help law enforcement catch criminals and establish tougher sentences for those who got caught. it established new a party to prevent fraud in the first place by finding phony claims

before they were able to do major damage. today's takedown opens a window into this new approach. in the past, the government was often too-three steps behind perpetrators, -- 2-3 steps behind perpetrators, paying out false claims, and trying to track down the bad guys after we got a tip. we were often showing up after the criminals had skipped down, taking their fraudulent billings with them. now we are analyzing patterns and trends in claims data instead of going claim by claim. in one of the schemes are brought down today, investigators spotted a high volume of claims from a mental health service provider that did not make medical sense. they referred the matter to special agents around our office of the inspector general who drilled deeper into the data and ultimately found evidence of

a fraud. it was the data analysis that launched the case. it was also data analysis that accelerated the investigation, allowing for targeted interviews. we are taking this a successful model and repeating it across the country. this coordinated approach is also -- medicare will stop paying claims until they have been investigated fully. we have this authority thanks to the affordable care act. it will ensure no one who is part of an illegal scheme can keep catching -- keep cashing in. we have been talking about strengthening medicare and for the future. last week, are trustees report showed the affordable care at, including these anti-fraud provisions, have extended the life of the medicare trust fund

by eight years until 2024. we want to continue building on these efforts to ensure every taxpayer dollar is spent wisely and to prevent -- protect medicare and medicaid for generations to come. i would now like to turn the podium over to assistant breuer. general, or any brelany >> today we are announcing charges against 107 defendants in seven cities across the country, from los angeles to chicago to miami, these defendants allegedly submitted over $450 million in fraudulent claims to the medicare program. this represents the largest medicare fraud pay down in department history. -- history as measured by the amount of fraudulent billings. these fraud schemes were committed by people up and down

the chain of health care providers. from doctors, nurses, and licensed clinical social workers, to office managers and patient recruiters. court papers detail the links to which these defendants allegedly went to defraud the medicare program that reached, for example -- seven defendants are charged with running two community health centers that million in225 fraudulent claims to medicare, the largest ever alleged. these defendants allegedly recruited elderly, drug addicted, and mentally ill patients from nursing homes and homeless shelters in order to submit false claims on their behalf. they also allegedly falsified patient's notes and attendance

records and forced signatures of medical professionals all to make it appear as those these patients were receiving medical services when they were not. in fact, they never received these services. the defendant did not stop there. according to court papers, multiple defendants went so far as to steer incriminating documents to the u.s. attorney's office in baton rouge where one said if he had a bonfire of fabricated patient notes -- we have charged owners and operators of four private ambulance companies with billing medicare for millions of dollars worth of phony or unnecessary ambulance rides. in miami, detroit, and other cities, we have charged dozens of other defendants with equally fraudulent schemes.

today's operation marked the fourth in a series of historic medicare-fraud take down over the past two years. these indictments remind us that medicare is an attractive target for criminals, but it should also remind those criminals that they risked prosecution and prison time every time they submit a false claim. if you do not believe in it, asked the former owner of a mental health center company in miami who was sentenced last year to 50 years in prison, or his two co owners, each of which was sentenced to 35 years. the medicare fraud strike force is in nine cities across the country. our record shows we are achieving great results. i am honored to lead the criminal division as it partners with the u.s. attorney's offices, hhs, and our other

state and local law enforcement colleagues to fight medicare fraud. thank you. i would now like to turn it over to my friend and colleague, sean joyce. >> as attorney general and secretary sebelius have noted, medicare fraud drives up the cost of health care. it makes it more challenging for our seniors and those who are seriously ill to obtain the care they need. those who commit health care fraud operate in big cities and small towns alike. their schemes vary in size, scope, and sophistication, but they all share the belief that medicare funds are free for the taking. health care fraud is a lucrative business. that is why more and more criminal enterprises are getting into the act. the syndicate strategy is to

shield money and destroyed detection. they shift from one jurisdiction to the neck, to find new patients and new victims. they are savvy to health care rules and regulations and they know how to exploit the system. this makes health care fraud difficult to identify and spot. its shares -- shows the importance of working with our partners so we can obtain the type of result you see here today. the fbi is currently a bit to getting more than 2600 cases of health care fraud. more than 500 analysts are using intelligence to identify emerging schemes and techniques. as part of the health care fraud prevention and enforcement action team, the fbi is committed to preventing and prosecuting health care fraud. today's arrest shows the ongoing success of the medicare fraud task force. in 2011, with our health care

fraud law enforcement partners, we obtain more than 300 disruptions and dismantlement of criminal enterprises. we charred more than 16 of the people and did -- and obtained more than 1700 convictions. our combined efforts return over $4 billion to the u.s. treasury. today's takedown is the result of a strong partnership. our work is not done. the health care system is a critical piece of our infrastructure. we must do everything to protect the integrity of the medicare system and our broad health care system. now, i would like to turn things over to deputy inspector general gary cantrell of hhs. >> good afternoon. we are all familiar with the threat medicare fraud poses to the american taxpayer. it also exposes some of our most

vulnerable citizens to identity fact and it even patient harm. today, the opposite -- office of inspector general deployed more than 200 special agents across the country to execute arrest and search warrants. we work closely with the fbi and other federal and local partners. indictmentike force and arrest all accountable more than 100 individuals who have allegedly defrauded the health care program and taxpayers of more than $450 million. it also sends a message to would-be criminals that there is a price to pay. the strike force model has made us faster and more effective. we use claims data to analyze suspected fraud. it is a team-based approach. it is carried out quickly in coordination with prosecutors.

forensics enables us to analyze medical, financial, and other records to ferret out fraud and criminal conspiracies. instead of working from the bottom up, we target the fraud at its source. we also refer providers for payment suspension or other administrative actions, stopping a national dollars from going out the door. oid is committed to using these tools to minimize the loss of program dollars. the indictments announced today demonstrate that we are fighting back, leveraging data, technology, and expertise to achieve record-setting results in fraud enforcement. we recovered more than $7 for every dollar spent fighting health care fraud. we are breaking previous records today. because of this partnership, i know it will not be the last

time. thank you. i would now like to introduce dr. peter budetti, hhs. >> thank you, deputy inspector, one of my partners in fighting health care fraud. today we have imposed payment suspensions and other appropriate minister of actions against 52 providers to ensure that further program dollars do not go out the door. these providers of various types, including home help agencies, pain management clinics, and ambulance services will stop receiving payment until the investigations are resolved and appropriate determinations have been made. these actions are being taken under one of the powerful anti- fraud provisions in the affordable care act, authorizing suspension of payments pending investigation of fraud. they also represent an

unprecedented degree of cooperation, which is made it possible to tie our civil administrative actions together with the criminal ones. today's historic takedown is just the beginning. in the near future, we will see results will demonstrate we are able to prevent fraud from escalating to the and level we have brought down today. now, a desolate place to turn things back over to the secretary and the attorney general. reggie i am -- now, i am pleased to turn things back over to the secretary and the attorney general. >> we allege that in connection with the civil related action here that some of the defendants from baton rouge were at the attorney's office during civil discovery and destroyed documents. >> and were they in washington at the time? >> i am cannot go any further

than that. >> do you have an indication how much you will be able to recover? >> how much will we be able to recover? we do not know that. we will be calculating that as we proceed with the analysis of the administrative actions we've taken. the funds that were mentioned, so far that have gone out the door, we will stop payments -- claims that are already in place and ending new ones coming in. the supervisors are the ones who bill us. >> when we speak about $450 million, that is the money

sought by the defendants. you should not assume $450 million was actually paid out. that was the total amount they were requesting. >> how much was paid out? >> what are the emerging scam areas? >> as the secretary mentioned, a couple of the new things was the ambulance and fraud. obviously, we are continuing to look into identifying new techniques. one of the critical things we do uniquely with our partners is through data analysis, where we end up targeting specific cities. it is a focused, intelligence-

driven approach, identifying these critical cities where it is really a problem. >> let me clarify one thing -- back to the earlier question -- the 52 providers are the billing operators. their payment has been suspended. some of these individuals who are part of the 106 who were actually arrested today are in the umbrella organizations of those providers. we stopped payment on the providers. we will be conducting full investigations. i just want to clarify -- they are part of the same collaborators. >> can i ask you about the trial of former major-league baseball player, roger clemens -- the prosecution said today his testimony may only be 50/50. the judge is considering the

vast testimony in deliberations. what would you say to people who say this is not the best use of prosecutorial resources? >> i have not heard of the references that you made there. one has to view these cases in their totality. i do not know what that witness said where the context of the statement. the charges are serious. it is about testifying falsely before congress. on that basis, i think it was a justified use of our resources to bring the case. >> it has been two years since the gulf oil spill. when do you expect more criminal charges? would you expect a trial to go forward before you step down as attorney general? >> when will that be? [laughter]

i want to say that, as we have indicated fairly consistently, it is the -- it is our attention -- intentions to hold all oil parties responsible for the spill and make sure the american taxpayers do not spend a dime for restoration of the region. that manner is ongoing as indicated in a part -- remarks i made when we announced the initial indictments. we expect there will be others. we are working on the civil side as well as the criminal side. i do not want to put a timeframe on will charges will be brought. the manner is ongoing. >> the targeted killing program -- what is the status of that? do you expect to release more

information? >> the judge was very understanding when we indicated we did need additional time because there were high-level consultations under way. this is an administration the want to be as transparent as we can with regard to how we employ force in these matters. at the same time, we have to balance that with the need to protect the methods we use to protect the american people. we will strike that proper balance and share information as we can. >> [unintelligible] >> one of the things we are discussing -- there are a whole variety of things we want to make available. again, we have to make sure that in making things available, we

need to explain in a documentary away what it is the government goes through in making these determinations. we have to protect the ability we have to keep the american people safe. we will be going to the process of the next couple of weeks or so >> secretary sebelius -- weeks or so. >> secretaries of delays, the finance -- secretary sebelius, the finance committee is looking for feedback. one staffer said there has been a lot of concern about contractors -- integrity contractors having been overly aggressive. is your office aware of any of those complaints? >> i am not sure it is directly related to fraud. we have been made aware of a couple of instances where the bill collection area at there have been some aggressive

contractors working on behalf of all hospitals who have allegedly engaged in the tactics of confronting patients in the hospital setting and making it clear they were actually bill collectors and not part of the hospital system. we are in the process of looking into those allegations. i think that is what you may -- the line >> at various types of integrity contractors -- >> of various types of integrity contractors. >> we are always looking to make sure that all of our enforcement entities, including our contractors, are doing things appropriately. i do not know what specific allegations you are referring to, but if there are specific

concerns, we want to know about them and we will certainly look into them. we are aware that when ever we want to hold someone accountable, either for possible fraud or having retained overpayments, that is something that involves a degree of interaction that sometimes it raises questions like that. i do not know exactly what you are talking about. >> the ninth circuit today declined to hold [unintelligible] >> is there a check? >> should legal advice go unchecked? >> i will have to look at the opinion and what the basis of for the core's determination was. they are very good people who

work very hard, look at the law, and come up with determinations based on the fax and to the extent that opinions are issued that are inconsistent with the facts, the law, our traditions -- we will repudiate them. that is what we have done with regard to some of the opinions in connection with the matter is the ninth circuit is dealing with. >> thank you very much. >> the national urban league releases their report on the state of black america. it focuses on challenges to the african-american community. later, the marine corps university host a symposium on the evolution of global terrorist organizations, like al qaeda.

>> former treasury secretarys join other scholars thursday morning at the brookings and institution. the discussion is on u.s. tax policy, the exploration of the bush era tax cuts, the national deficit, and raising the debt limit. live at 9:30 eastern on c-span2. >> bin laden was a strategically irrelevant communicator with various outfits. to a certain extent, i have to confess that i worked with afghanistan. he new bin laden personally was involved in communications, trying to corral. we knew he was making out reach early on to our shabaab in somalia. we knew he was there and doing

that. as a consequence, bin laden was relevant. >> counter-terrorism and national-security in the year since the death of a solid bin laden. former officials, analysts, and intelligence officials away in online at the c-span video library, all archived and searchable. >> the national urban league released its report on the state of black america early this spring. it focused on new voting loss in 34 states and african american voter participation. they also discussed barriers to education, equality, and employment in the african- american community. speakers include the urban league president. this is about 1.5 hours. >> before we began our panel, a

lot me offer some remarks for this year's state of black america. i want to thank the howard university community, the staff, at the faculty, and students and alumni. let me mention the howard university alumni club who are watching this event at the university. let's give them a big hand. we want to thank the xavier williams and at&t. at&t has been a strong supporter of the national golden league.

it is the second year in the row. let's give at&t -- [applause] i want to thank tonya who works very closely but us. let me say how stimulating, how powerful it has spent this week with urban leaguers to have been here on capitol hill. with the department of education and development. services carrying the message of empowerment. board members and young professionals, give yourselves a big round of applause.

[applause] since 1976, the national urban league has anually presented the state a black america. this report began when former president vernon jordan watched president ford present his state of the union in the mid-1970's. in that state of the union address, he did not mention urban. he did not mention black, poor people or there concerns even once. so vernon jordan said if he will not do it, he will.

we have presented this report which is called the state of black america. friends and colleagues, when we talk about the state of black america, we are talking about the state of the nation. [applause] as black america and urban communities go, so goes this nation. we are indispensable a and inextricably wound in bound together as a single nation here 21st century. each share we ask what is the stake of black america? i must report that the state of black america is that we are under attack. we are the quality of education.

how is the quality of education under attack? when tens of thousands of schoolteachers are laid off in school district after school district, in cities across the nation, and the quality of education is under attack. when 10% of the people control 2/3rds of the net worth, when unemployment has skyrocketed to nearly 145%, 15%, economic equality is under attack. vote is the rigtght to under attack.

democracy is under attack. why is democracy under attack? let us walk back to 1890. poll taxes, literacy ehensionnd comprh tests were launched in an effort to keep newly freed slaves from participating fully in the election process. the grandfather clause, when these were taken together, a state that in the 1880s had a black governor, there were only 750 black men on the voting rolls.

indeed, i spoke to my mother. 1953, she returned to new orleans a graduate of boston university. she had been a classmate of dr. martin luther king. she went down to the voter registration office. [phone ringing] [laughter] mother. she went down to the voter registration office to present herself to register to vote. the registrar looked at her registration card and said what color are your eyes? she said, as she had placed, "my

eyes are brown." the registrar looked at her and said "no, your eyes are black." she said "no my eyes are brown." refused to leave. the registrar return 15 minutes later and she was allowed to register to vote. the point is, the indignity and the harassment, the gamesmanship and the difficulty place in the way of people prior to the voting at this something we must be reminded of. in 2012 we are witnesses to an avalanche of new voting laws in

34 states across the nation. seekoting laws wwould strict but no identification requirements, restrict early voting. new laws that make it difficult for people to carry out voter registration. we ask a simple question "why and why now?" why and why now is there this new avalanche? we say it is an attack on democracy. we say that these new voters oppression loss is something we must collectively recess. -- laws is something we must collectively resist. we believe they can impact the

voter registration of 5 million voters across the nation. recently, i am proud that a circuit court judge in wisconsin signed an injection of earlier this week to prevent the wisconsin voter i.d. law from taking effect. just yesterday. [applause] he paid someone to drive him to the polls. when here bribes comment he took out his veterans identification card -- when he arrived, he took

out his veteran identification card and was turned away by the pull commissioner there who said that the veterans identification card did not meet the new stricter requirements of ohio law. ladies and gentlemen and colleagues, this a voter suppression law is going to affect african-americans. it will affect senior citizens of all races. young people of all races. case in point, in the state of texas, led the voter i.d. law allows one to use a gun ownership permit as proper identification but says that and the university of texas

is insufficient. what message does that say to young people? what message does that send? a voter suppression, there is a chain of evidence. bob ehrlich, a former governor of maryland, said that suppression of boats is a desired outcome. we want to create confusion, frustration, and dampen enthusiasm. tom corbett, at the governor of pennsylvania, said we must keep the boat in philadelphia below 50 -- vote in philadelphia below 50%. later on, he had cut $860 million from the budget for public education.

ladies and gentlemen comment that is why tonight the national urban league is announcing our occupied the vote campaign. [applause] if we're going to have a voice on education in schools and teachers, we must vote. if we're going to have a voice on economic equality, jobs, policy, workforce policy, we must vote. if we're going to have a voice on this new discussion about what the plan for america is going to be to build a 21st century economy, we must vote. not only must we vote, we must resist efforts in 2012 to

enact these voter suppression laws. 7 states have enacted these voters oppression laws. i am proud that the attorney general and the division as several rights refused to pre- clear south carolina's both your id log -- voter id law. we will join in encouraging that the department of justice refused to pre-clear any voter id law enacted by any state. andvoice mnust bust be strong unyielding. we must occupy the vote not to vote because it is the right

thing to do, but because we want a voice. college students at howard university are facing increasing costs, increasing challenges to affordability. young people who are fishing colleges are finding difficulty in jobs -- who are finishing colleges are finding difficulty and jobs. we must occupied the vote so we have a voice. the urban league is launching its on-line election center. this on-line election center that you see on the screen will be a comprehensive place where you will be able to learn about the boating laws in your state.

tonight before we start the panel, i want to introduce your to several people. i want to introduce you to these people who have been helped by the urban league affiliates across the nation. we have to be those that connect the dots.

this is some cases with private dollars. this is good for investing in people. i am proud to introduce someone he met during lunch, and griffon.mine she joined the digital connectors program last fall before she enrolled in those problem.

she is going to be a businesswoman and an entrepreneur iss. put your hands together for jasmine griffon. our next speaker was homeless when he joined the program. that program helped him identify scholarship opportunities, financial a document, and determines the college in programs that best matched his interest and career aspirations. he is now a student at the delaware state university. [applause]

he was a centennial youth speaker in 2010 right here in washington. where is deborah? is she in the audience? we are going to give them a big hand for making a difference. thank you. finally, we have carol perkins. carol perkins is a graduate of the mature workers program at the urban league of essex county in the work, and new jersey. i am happy to report that because of the workers program, carol found at a filling full- time job after nearly four years of unemployment. through the program, she was able to refine her job skills

and learn new skills that resulted in a brand new career opportunity. she is here with the president and ceo of the urban league of essex county. let's give them a big round of applause. jasmine and carol are what the urban league movement is all about. some people and organizations talk a big game. they are talk tanks. some produce fancy position papers. i respect fancy position papers. but they produce fancy position papers and we call them think tanks. then the urban league is on the ground, in the community, it

beat in the street, and helping people like jason, raykwan and carol. we are a "do tank." let's put our hands together for the doers, the achievers. we are going to give you a round of applauce. -- of applause. colleagues, before we began, we must occupy the vote. it is time for us to say not now, not on our watch will we allow the hands of time to be

racheted back. not on our watch are we going to allow the gains made to expand democracy to be rolled back. not now and not on our what are we going to allow a nation that has spent $1 trillion trying to promote democracy abroad erect fences and barries to democracy here at home. not now and not on our watch are we going to be pushed a way from the decision making tables when it comes to jobs and economic policy. not on our watch and not now. we must occupy the vote. are you ready? we are going to take a short

break and then i am goign tng to come back. 30 seconds. this is a townhall. this is a townhall discussion. webcast.v eoe on the c-span is taping us tonight. we want tto thank all of the social media, twitter foll owers. let's give them a hand. if you will, do not leave. stand at ease for 30 seconds. we must occupy the vote.

let me very proudly ask you to put your hands together for mr. jeff johnson. jeff johnson, raise your hand. he is our floor moderator. we are proud that he is back with us for yet the second year in a row. it is my honor to introduce our panelists. first, the blogger me keli goff. she is on msnbc every monday.

give her a hand. the activist and writer, mr. kevin powell. the president and ceo of the urban league of greater new orleans, our host for the 2012 urban league's annual conference, and nolan rollins. the dean of the school of education right here at howard university, dr. leslie. the activist and a radio host, at the truth stare, war and -- the truth sayer, warren ballentine.

i will have to do this by memory. the leader of the hip hip action caucus, reverend cllennox yearwood. a professor here, dr. gregory carr. and very proudly, the winner of our student essay context an alumnus of the urban league, miss desiree lockee. our panel a big

round of applause. [applause] i want to start desiree with you and kevil powell and pose the same questoin. ion. you heard the conversation about voter suppression. you know that young people play to this incredible role in the 2008 election cycle. what does 2000 and 12 hold -- 2012 hold when it comes to young people and voting? >> i believe that 2012 is very important for young voters. we are in a position where we are looking at candidates across the board and people who will represent our best interest as

people who were going out into the professional field for the first time. we are definitely looking at the economy and to be will believe will be the best in terms of providing jobs and making sure the economy is sustainable in our careers. that is very important. in terms of voter suppression, as it young people, and this is the first time they're voting in college. for a lot of us, we have not been exposed to the political process on a personal level until now. it is really important to find us information we need so we can be educated voters doing what is best for our future. >> thank you. >> good evening. is this on? is it on? it is on. good evening. i just spent the last two months visiting 15 different

schools. this generation in the audience, you are the most brilliant, why is generation will ever produce an american history in my opinion. you all have got to take the leadership. it is so critical that you understand what you did in 2008, even if you are not 18. it was the. that put a barack obama into the presidency. -- it was that. . that the barack obama into the presidency. when i was a college student, this was the work we did, making sure we register people to vote. i hope you'll take seriously the need around the country. you all have to play a role in the agenda for the next four years. i hope it will be the same

person. i cannot say that here perce. you have to be active in saying this. it is really in your hands. >> you all talked to lots of people all the time. you also listened to a lot of people all the time. bartz together late gun people, young and -- particularly, yong oung people and voters. what stimulates their interest? >> thank you for having me here. the hip-hop caucus is always a delight to have them working side-by-side with the urban league, fighting for our people.

is that what i care, as whear, this is not a game. our mothers are dying. our mothers are having foreclosures. our mothers are getting cancer. our kids are getting as much. this is not a game. right now the reality is if we do not have it now, at this point, then it will have catastrophic results going forward into the next year and next 10 years going forward.

.> thank you appeare send them to hu. education is so important to thesthis generation. they can have a civil rights movement by facebook or twitter. they can literally start a movement overnight. education is a big piece of that.

they want to have the opportunity. when i went to the not a job application, have you in the last five years ever been arrested. we have to understand what is happening in this country when you talk about jobs. they go hand in hand. criminality goes in there too. we are getting locked up at high rates. even the college students are getting locked up at high rates. even when you get this not balanced federal charge, it is like a scarlet letter a.

kids are saying what can we do if we go to school, get a degree? now the moment is not just about education. that is why the urban league is so important. you also have to be able to be an entrepreneur and understand the system they operate in. >> the young people put president obama into office. it was not just be spirit of

young people, it was the young people. he would not be in office without black women and young people. that is by the numbers. there is something like 5 million new voters and 2 million were under 30. despite super pacs, you don't have to write a million-dollar check to make a difference. this is the first thing i wanted to say. the second thing i wanted to say in terms of issues is something that i have been writing a lot about.

one of the issues we have been writing a lot is about the issue of the classifieds. i felt particularly passionate about this. my grandparents were from the cotton belt. my parents went to segregated schools. the idea that they can have a child grow up and go to a place like nyu. she said she never really thought about it. that is the world to his growing up in. when we look at this country and how far i have come compared to where my grandparents were, to think that my knees may not be able to cut as far as i have mayause of the -- neiiece not be able to come as far as i have because of affordability, something that just happened in

january that speaks to some of the issues i have been writing about, i get students from e- mails is and what to do what you have done. it pays me to think that. it pains me to think this one i get the e-mails. i do not know that it still be impossible for you to do its. even though i don't come from a rich background, i was able to have a little bit of help from people who care about me to get back initial foot in the door and have a little bit of a leg up. at this point the leg up the people needed, that like is being kicked out from under the chair. the chair is collapsing on this generation. we have all been conned into

believing this issue is about race. the real injustice when it comes to admission and graduate schools is really about class. rick santorum and the national review have agreed with what i have to say. he has cosigned the studies that have proven that america has officially been designated one of the least upper the mobile first world countries on the planet. what does that mean in english terms that it means that according to five different studies which conservatives have agreed with comment that countries like england, where they have a queen and a queen, it is easier to move up class lives than it is in america. that is what i am hearing from

everyone in this room is smart enough to see this. that is why we're seeing an activist movements. we have the dean of the school of education. question for both of you all, it is this generation of young people different? the same? how? what is an important piece of counsel and vice you get your students for trying to achieve success? >> one of the things that concerns me is that they have not had access to african- american teachers. we are not teaching our own as

the where one or two generations ago. previous panelist spoke about their parents that spoke at segregated schools. the value was that you had models with intellectual authority. if you have black teachers teaching black students, relating cultural truths, and credentialed people speaking in a variety of circumstances. today in 2011, 73% of the inner city teachers are white. if the go outside of the inner cities, at 91% of teachers are white. 69% of principals are white. we know the majority of students are african-american, hispanic, and latino. this is a travesty. we know that there are academic

and social benefits that apply to african-american and hispanic children. they're less likely to be referred to special education, gifted education, suspended and expelled, and more likely to graduate high school in four years. this country need to diversify its teaching force. [applause] is thisu asked how doe generation different, it it has not been cultivated by black educational leadership. >> thank you appeare. >> we were talking backstage.

i think that this generation is different in the same respect that every generation is different from previous generations. to the impact of technology on this generation is probably less different than it was on previous generations. it is probably close to the same. this generation is challenged with image literacy. what it does is it creates a situation where learning has to reflect that new literacy. the teachers we have at howard medical school are embraced with different technologies. they have a different learning curve. it is the only literacy they know. the second question you asked was interesting. what advice can i give students

that the united states -- give student? of the united states has ceased to exist as the organizational core of how people move. the fundamental question of a black citizenship, it does not seem to be a black citizenship. the question of class but surely the question of race. my advice to students is very similar to the vice houston gave his students. you have to understand where you are. his thing was social class has to be linked to a right to a

job, the right to a living standard. that challenges the fundamental principles. this is the type of education that takes place at acu behind got the back. once you take the united states of america as organizational principle, the conversation gets diluted before it can get concentrated. we have to take this very seriously. i know we do that at howard university. what we will come back to after i pose a question to in nolan rollins. nolan is one of 97 distinguished, well educated, a

smart and passionate men and women who lead urban affiliate's across the nation. areaffiliate's leaders economic first responders. they are in the community responding to the economic crisis. nolan, in your work as president of the urban league of greater new orleans, this recession has no doubt impacted people. it is there anything that you have seen with respect to the recession as a pride issue? >> it is interesting. what is happening is we're isginning to do thi destabilize norms that were there. we think about prosperity, there is always this underserved group of people that existed. they're all these programs that

were developed, ways to help them move from one economic ladder to the next. what is interesting is that as our economy starts to contract and we start to destabilize these things, we're having a bit of an economic darwinism that is existing. it is existing in an unfair way. you're competing with someone who started. you are just learning where the field was. you are having to compete with someone that started on third base. we're going to quickly see what we're seeing now. we're going to see this gap in the haves and the haves not. if the nation were interested in being able to compete globally, it would not allow its communities to be destabilized. what we have to do as urban leaders, it is we have to figure out what smart policies exist to

take this market-based approach that someone preaching that everyone is so loving and make it a public good. -- is we have to figure out what smart policies exist to take this market-based approach that everyone is so loving and make it a public good. we keep industry going. how do we keep community going tax while industry is going, how do we keep community going? if we are really smart about how we utilize them and actually use what they are supposed to do, i think we're going to help the economy. yet to be smarter. >> but get him a hand. -- you have to be smarter. >> let's give him a hand. >> we are such an amazing people. we have had every moment that

you can think about except the and our communities. we think of it in two ways, big money are no money at all. i used to think about money like that until i realized something. i grew up in the projects of chicago. i drew up with the kids in the store. where my friend took over for his father, i called him one day. i said how much do you make a year? he told me $12 million. i said you make $12 million a year in the projects of chicago? then i really started to think about it. there are 30,000 families that live within the project. it just 10,000 families spent $100 a month in the store, that is a million dollars a month. imagine if they knew what they were putting into the store that

was leaving the community every day. we do this every day. we say we do not have money to support the urban league. then get on facebook [unintelligible] you bought gucci shoes, but you don't have $20 for the urban league. we are holding up of the dam. we will not put our money together to make a movement happen. but americans aren't broke. we are not broke. we have plenty of money in the hood. we are just foolish with our money. that is the problem. we have had every economic movement. i have to piggyback on the good brother about not being a citizen in this country. i am going to tell you as an attorney, you are free -- look, look. he can be free because of the

emancipation proclamation unless you have been locked up. >> in the 14th amendment, your right to vote is there. >> they take that away from me. >> come on, brother. come on. i am going to get back on top of the intel the tree. it is all about economics. -- i am going to get back on top of it and tell the truth. it is all about economics. if you are laughing at me. i tell the truth. one thing that is going to happen to everybody is that we're all going to die. if you die, you can leave something for it children in family. the second thing is the urban elite.

we have got to support people who support us. if we sit here and i do not have money, you are disgracing your ethnicity. you are going out in your spending $20 on a hair cut. you're buying gucci purses. when i write a check for gucci shoes, i write a check for the urban league at the same time. >> before you go there, i want warren to follow up. there is a great deal of excitement but there is more than you are doing a run the whole issue of black banking. from eight delusions' standpoint, -- from an illusion standpoint, what are some things you're asking your viewers to do? >> i am asking them to open up accounts for the black man. we have churches that do

$300,000 a weekend. these are the things that we need to be talking about as far as economic development in our communities. the government is not going to save us. this country is not going to save us. the only people who are going to save us is us. if we do not realize that we need to come together and work together, my thing is this. we talk about we need to do this for a education. there to things i have learned. politicians only know one thing, numbers and money. if you have numbers on the wall coming they will listen. if you have money to back it up, and they will listen. right now we're putting our money with everybody else. i am not talking about tearing black america away. this is the same thing the jewish community does, the arabic community does.

we just need to have that same thought process. if everybody in this world signed on together, instead of having $5 i would have $5,000. that is the way we need to think. i'm asking people to open up black banks. i just cut a big deal with nationwide. i want to put something back in the community. this is important to me. we need to do the model are jewish and latino brothers are doing. we can change what is going on in our community and be able to fund housing programs, and national urban league programs, those are getting locked up illegally. there is so much going on. there too many things to deal with. the one thing that has the

community, we can have what we need to change. >> great. great. kevin and then jeff. >> i was glad to say something different but i was struck by the conversation. history is important. history is the people's memory. i want to change some of the way we describe our situation. i happen to disagree that we should criticize our people and let racism off the hook. we have to do both. never let racism off the hook. we are reacting. we have internalized the racism. i did not know any of this black history we talked about. we have this level of compassion for our people. we have to put into context why the behavior exist in the first place. it is one thing to say we do not spend money. if you look at the last 50 years of our history, there was a

classified. what dr. king was talking about , he had an essay called a black power redefined." what happened, they have to move and completely abandon the masses of our people. >> i can vouch for this. i'm clear about this. i felt like sometimes what we do is we bring into the 21st century the fate conversations. it is not enough to say this.

their leadership -- let's talk about this. crack cocaine in the 1980's. people didn't even think there viable. i am not finished. i hear this everywhere. it is that even call to me to say let's look at what other communities are doing. let's look at the example of our history of economic empowerment. i do not want to go outside any more. >> the problem with that is back. the reason we're in this shape is because no one taught the history.

>> it is our job to teach the history. if the go back in history and talk about black wall street and the reconstruction area, it had to do with the economic movements. he did this. people are willing to spend money. >> let me interject for a moment. >> but this important mission that this is not a heated discussion. >> this is a discussion that is taking place about where we are what we need to be doing.

i am encouraged by it. i think it needs to go beyond the rhetoric to what the strategic moments that we make to honor what i think both of you are saying. i have a question. let me say this. from facebook, its of how to make get young people so that we engaged? i wanted it that a step further and began to talk about it. talkingof what we're about has to deal with digital space. especially if we're following what he talked about. it is where young people are. if we are not utilizing corporate relationships to be able to not just gain access to broader broadband been able to utilize technology to educate

people, it is a by way of black wall street. it should be accessible to a generation of than people that are not going to open a book. it is easier for young people to talk about where they are partying rather where they're educated. it is not just talking about civic engagement but education, employment, and empowerment. >> the problem makes us all look illiterate when it comes to dealing with that. the i do not want us to move from the important content mastery. it is really not unique. we need to be able to stream its. the question of how you deal with leadership, how the deal

with that? me to talk about the school. people who work at the highest levels of google and apple, they send their children up to high school. one thing is not allowed in the early grades, computers. we have to be very clear about the importance of mastering reading. we cannot have a move from oral literacy to print based literacy. when you move from morality to literacy, and the people who deal with morality get shut out of what happened next pit we run the risk of losing our content mastery. everything is not on the internet.

you cannot do this with touch. they spent minutes trying to figure out how to turn it on. they had already been a hard wired to that. this is a mind that is no longer going to be thinking about the deeper implications. this is something to the independent on. you have to help me with the. in the classroom i know when we engage you almost have to shape your teaching styles to the students and then build a breach -- build a bridge to bring it back to this book. and everybody, just settle down. but you've got to help me. we struggle with this every day. young people can help us with that. >> i would say that part of the thing that we mentioned before was the difference between our

generation and previous generations because of the influence of technology and easy access of twitter and facebook. we're also very much a generation of instant gratification. we want change to happen instantly. if we are going to try to enact social change using social media network and everything, we need to make sure that we can have tangible goals quickly that people can see everyone on twitter can make a training have it. that is something where we see an issue going global and people are really getting involved either through retweeting it or using social media. when we are doing that, we have to make sure that as a generation cannot change takes time -- we have to make sure that we understand that as a generation happens, change takes

time [unintelligible] used social media in a positive way. >> the technology provides us accent's -- access to information. information, you can pull that up on the computer screen in a second. knowledge is a process, and some -- and an understanding that you gain from an educative process. social media are consumer uses, but the larger issue of thinking and gaining understanding and knowledge are educative process is that we need not abandon for the corporate profit margin. we need to be mindful of that as a community. >> the syria, egypt, those all get on the covers as models for

the changing the story. but the first story that did that was actually the jenna sex. the reason that story broke, and i want every person who does not know this to know this, because it should be on the same wikipedia page with syria and egypt and iran and all of the other places social media gets credit for the story breaking. the only reason anybody knows about it is because a bunch of john black bloggers conducted a oung black blotters conducted a blog-in that drew attention to it on the same day.

the point that i was making before was something that i was very uncomfortable with. that is, the american community as well as our nation at large discussing the issue of class. sasha and melia, will have advantages that some of us only dream about. the reason we call that a distraction is because people are willing to go to court. that is what i mean by race being a distraction. people want to talk about race because it is something that they can seat. the fact that there was an

entrance and i could not have because i could not afford to work, there is an advantage. all of these things are set up an entire system were those of us who are not born into privilege, not only are we trying to find the seal, but we do not even know what the sport is. [applause] >> we have to understand that, whether it be the populist movement of the 1890's, whether it be the refusal of poor whites to move with blacks in the union movement in the 1920's and 1930's, whether it be the class ism that emerged out of civil rights, the question of race has always been used to defy the glasses. people are against legacy in court because they'd think that

combined with privilege, they will set up -- they will one day have access. [unintelligible] >> let's give our panelists a big round of applause. [applause] >> my name is randy richards. i am the president of the league professionals. representing 5000 members nationwide. we are a training ground for leaders. once you leave college, 21-40, and you are starting in your profession, we provide leadership training and wraparound skills to help you become more proficient at your profession. we see people come to us who maybe -- may be a truck driver

or in various professions. we want to help them with that -- those wraparound skills. what advice do you have for people that may not have gone to college, may not have had that opportunity? what advice would you give them and what is available for them? >> first, i want to commend the yp's. [applause] and this is kind of piggybacking on what joe just said. -- jeff just said. we can approach our people in the spirit of charity. the power of our movement only comes when we have our family members in our movement.

but in regards to what we can do in connecting -- culture is a very important piece to that so that we can connect with people where they are. but it is have occupiey kind of hard not to pay homage to the occupied movement. they use technology and twitter. it is so profound and that process.

there is an effort to move forward, to connect, to unify our people. mad love to you in boston. i had a good time with you in boston. i would recommend two things. at first, i think you should have for people that you like at all times. and i do not care if you are talking about as a professional or what you are doing. have the elder you can talk to can give you a bit of advice in the field you want to participate in then you have

that cat that is your same age. it may not have the same backfield, but you are going through life together. then i have my cousin who, i got five babyhe's mas and everything. i can't quit because i don't want to be like him. then i have the kids that i mentor. i go around the country and i do things with that. and secondly, i think we need to have a conversation honestly about the realities of the workplace it is a white privilege. racism is real. white privilege is real. rush limbaugh called president obama in monkey and talked about michelle obama. [applause] in corporate america it you have to go in there knowing --

hopefully it will not always the like this, but you have to work twice as hard as somebody who does not look like you to adjust how to be real about it. >> one of the things i heard randy say, though, and correct me if i'm wrong, is the training component. those young leaders that came before. reverend talked about it being a lunch counter movement. but nobody could march without being trained. it was not enough to be passionate, but you have to go through a training run apparatus. one of the things i'm interested in that randy asked was, where

are some of the organizations and institutions and provisions that are providing the training. >> part of this is an eight- point plan. if you read the plan, there are specifics about job training for disadvantaged youths. what do we mean? people who did not finish high school on time. people who want to get their life together. and we have to recognize that when a high school system is in graduating 3% to 4% of african- american youngsters, they are often locked out and left out. they cannot go to even a community college. one of the things we do well as

an urban league. what one of -- what i think the affiliate's do better than anything else is training people for civic activism. to train people for his third activism is important, but -- civic activism is important, but for young people that maybe have an arrest or did not finish high school on time, we say in our report is that if this nation can spend a trillion dollars on a war in iraq, we can spend a couple billion dollars helping disconnected youths find work and priorities. [applause] >> part of the conversation that was happening right here is the classic conversation. it is the voice -- dubois, b30

booker t. part of what comes with those problems is the creation of the solution. what i would say from the training standpoint is having this conversation is extremely important, but what do we do with it. how do we define the problem and stay here is the solution to the problem? how do we make sure that the person who may not fit in this room with us, how do we make sure that person has access to opportunity? it will take us to define the problem, to define the solution and create a pathway for communities to be stronger. it is our lunch counter moment.

it is systematic approaches to solving very difficult problems. and we should not be afraid to be smart about it. let's be intelligent about how we get it done. >> as i have a facebook question. olli two states have xtra to write the laws that have passed. what changed, and what do we need to do to address it? we literally0's got on buses. i went to school at howard university and we literally went to the south and reorganize people to challenge those unfair laws.

you all have got to find some that you are going to organize, not just at howard university and campuses around the country, but also in the communities of washington d.c. you have to engage the work on a regular basis. [applause] the other thing i want to say really quickly is that i respectfully disagree that we cannot learn from social networks. i have written 11 books in my life. one thing i am clear about what i am on facebook and twitter every day, this is a very different time not just for young people. is want to stop marginalizing and saying it is just young people. i think we all have a responsibility. that is why i have been trading for the last three days nonstop -- tweeting for the last three days of nonstop. my hope is that they will take the stuff and run with it and say, how can i go deeper within -- with this thing.

in brooklyn, new york, there is an organization called families united for racial and economic equality. their work with people in the housing projects of brooklyn, n.y., and they literally help the people to stand. you are a leader. it does not matter if you are on welfare or have -- do not have a ged. you can transform your housing situation. i love the urban league professionals. i said in st. louis a couple of weeks ago, that we have a responsibility as folks with skill sets and resources and educational backgrounds to go into these communities and show people how to be self empowered. [applause] i believe the role of a leader is to make yourself as capable as possible. a leader should do one of three things. one, the leader should change

the direction of the conversation. number two, if you are a leader, create an institution, an organization, or a business that supports -- or an organization that supports the committee. you have to know the people and love the people and understand the history of the people. it is our responsibility in 2012 to make it as a digestible as possible. meet the people where you are in -- where they are. that is why the urban league is important [applause] >> to answer your question, though, what changed is that president obama 1. -- won. there were 5 million new voters in 2008 and most of them voted for president obama.

>> being that we are from -- remove from a generation that is not see the issues [unintelligible] how do we educate others on these issues because they are

not being broadcast right now. >> how do we reach those folks that are not in contact with folks on a regular basis? we seem to be coming down to some basic point. it is a question of love, compassion for your people, and culture. next week, howard students are leading the alternative spring break initiative here. [applause] there are going to be students -- and this is important -- you start young. this question is education. new model it. if a young person is not at an hbcu or isn't with the urban league, if they are not at a

black church, if they are not at one of those places, you can go out as a representative of those places. just like over spring break, they are going to be in chicago, detroit, atlanta, haiti. as individuals, you can intervene in the life of a 6 or 7-year-old. and she models u. and that sparked can lead to an infectious moment. an educational moment is infectious. that child will never be the same. the answer to that question is that each one of oz kendeigh rep to go out and affect -- each one of us can be a representative to go out and affect those places. >> what did you say your name is? >> ms. morgan. >> you are 19? when i was your age, i came home for christmas break. i got into a car because i did

not want to drink and drive by pulled over the car. the police pull us over and ran our names. i was the on the one who had not been arrested. i did not want to drink and drive. these two white cops said all four guns belong to me. i sat in jail for six months. i lost my scholarship, everything. i could not afford no attorney. by the time an attorney took my case, she said, did you pray to god? that night i prayed and monday, my mother came to see me. she was in there quietly. i said, what is wrong? she said, i found an attorney that will take the case for $500. it was a 15,000. when we went to court, the judge apologized to me because the cops live. at the end of the case, the

attorney look at me and said, what do you think? i said, i got to repay you. and he said, if you want to do something, do something with your life. at that moment, i decided i wanted to be a lawyer. [applause] true story. i went to law school. while i was an undergrad they started to come to visit me and they started seeing me, how much i was having as an undergrad. so they went and got their ged so they could come to undergrad with me. these same three boys after i graduated from undergrad and went to law school started seeing me in moscow and seeing my experience. next thing i know, these same three books -- these the same three boys came after me in a master's program. one is a law school. i start working in my field and

the next thing i know i'm going to a graduation for those same three boys for master's degrees at law school. never in my mind that i think inviting them to college would change their lives. and as i grew and became older and older, that is when i realized i'm not here to just affecting me. i'm affecting everybody i come into contact with. how do you change and reach out to these other people who are not here? you change by showing them the example that you are. [applause] >> let's give jeff johnson a big round of applause. [applause] please join me in thanking does array, the winner of the howard

lake award. and we want to thank her for her important work in helping desiree along the way. it's one more time for desiree. [applause] [cheers] let's thank dr. gregory for her insightful -- her inside. and reverend schear of the pop caucus. warren valentine, who you can hear on the radio every day. dossers -- dr. leslie fenwfg, dean of the school of education right here. our colleague, no one rollins -- nolan rollins, president of the school in new orleans. and writer and active as, calvin polland. and blogger and commentator, kelly goff. [applause]

i would also like you to know the state of black america, if you want to read it online, is available for free. if you would rather get a hard copy, you can get a hard copy for a small cost. you can get it hardbound or online. so many important articles. i also want you to join me in a very special thanks to politics 365. jeff is with politics 365, for all that they've done [applause] i want to thank the urban league staff and the staff of the urban league policy institute. let's give them a big round of applause. [applause] dr. and doctor, dr. and mrs.

sidney rabon and his wife. stand up one more time. [applause] we want to thank again at&t for being our sponsor this year. let's give them a big, big hand. [applause] also, to all of theyp's, you came out in large numbers, you set a record. and i want to thank the entire audience and encourage you to look at tonight as just the beginning of this conversation about occupying the vote. the important conversation of what we have to do in 2012. i hope you leave tonight informed, educated, inspired, and empowered, empowered to go back to your local communities.

take this message of during the challenging work and helping people in sustainable economic communities. i hope you will go back and spread the good word of the urban league movement, the urban league movement, the civil rights organization of the 21st century. i've got an ipad. this thing is nice. and we had a promotion and the winner of the texting promotion ipad winner -- can i get a drumroll? leah casselberry. [applause] give it up for lea casselberry. [applause]

again, ladies and gentlemen, i want to encourage you. the webcast of the state of black america will be available at iamempowered.com. we want to thank c-span for being involved. we have the meeting in the morning, the mark and a monument and a special briefing that i know a lot of you are all going to attend. -- the meeting in the morning at the martin luther king monument and the special briefing that i know all of you are going to attend.

[applause] ladies and gentlemen, thanks for being with us. good night. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> coming up next, a symposium on the evolution of global terrorist organizations like al qaeda. then former speaker of the house, newt gingrich, withdraws from the presidential campaign.

and the justice department holds a news conference on the estimated $450 million in medicare fraud. the heritage foundation focuses on veterans tomorrow, hosting a panel to discuss the future of the young men and women who serve the country. join us live tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m. eastern here on c- span. chinese dissident appealed to washington to help leave china safely during -- with his family. he said he feared with his life during a phone interview. we will get an update on his situation tomorrow, and hear from chinese human rights activists. live coverage at 2:00 p.m. eastern on c-span2. >> the sunday on q&a --

>> i do not regard this as just the biography of lyndon johnson. i want each book to examine a kind of political power in america. i am saying this is a kind of political power, seeing what the president can do during a time of great crisis, how he got us over that, what he does to get legislation moving. that is a way of examining power in a time of crisis. i said i wanted to do this in full. i said, let's examine this. >> robert caro on the passage of power, his multivolume biography of the president. and look for our second conversation with him on sunday, may 20. >> one year after the u.s. raid killing osama bin laden, the

state department counterterrorism coordinator daniel benjamin said al qaeda is on a path of decline that will be difficult to reverse. he spoke about the u.s. fight against al qaeda and efforts of countering violent extremism. after his remarks, a panel to examine global terrorism, focusing on the taliban and the united nations people movement. this is about an hour and a half. >> will be introducing our keynote speaker this afternoon, the president of the marine corps university, general murray. he will be leaving us this summer and take over education command and be in charge of all of marine corps education.

i can see why. i want to thank him publicly for having been a commander who believes in michigan type orders, who gives guidance, but allows so ordnance to carry it out and giving them trust and support. that is very important and i'm sure he will take that to his next command as well. general murray. [applause] >> i kind of thought you were just trying to get rid of me quickly there at the beginning when you started out. thanks to everyone as we start out the afternoon session, for coming here today and taking part in this discussion. i encourage you to continue to do so this afternoon because you have a lot of experience and expertise. that is why we have asked you to come here with us today. please, focus our participation this afternoon and again.

thank you very much. you to thank the support for this conference this afternoon. our keynote speaker for today, ambassador daniel benjamin. he is currently ambassador at large and is with the state department as the coordinator of counter-terrorism. a very unique background, a combination that we do not often see. i think it would be beneficial to us this afternoon. in government and private-sector media and as well in academia, and aside from his current position in government, he has also served with the clinton administration as the director of counter-terrorism and in the office of multinational threats.

he has also served as a speechwriter on foreign policy and a special adviser to president clinton. in the media realm, he has been a correspondent for "time" magazine as well as "wall street journal." and has served as a senior fellow at the brookings institution in academia, and also has degrees from harvard and oxford where he serves as a marshall scholar. a great background and very honored to have you with us this afternoon. please welcome the ambassador. [applause] >> thank you very much, general. and thank you for reminding me of the difficulty i have had in holding a job. [laughter] i have to say that if you are really going to be education command, i envy you that title greatly. that sounds terrific. it is a real pleasure to be back at quantico, and particularly to be here today on this

anniversary day. i cannot think of a better place to be that at one of the nation's centers of innovation, thinking, and training about dealing with the threats that we face, a place that has played such an important role in the advances that have brought us so far in the struggle against terrorism. i would like to thank minerva for inviting me to this conference. as far as addressing the question of how terrorist and radical groups and, it is certainly timely and provocative one. anniversaries provide us a good time to take stock and assess where we are. we find ourselves as we get the one-year mark of the death of osama bin laden. that mission's success, of course, was the result of extraordinary courage and intelligence. and i mean intelligence not only

in the sense of the information we had about what was going on, but intelligence about how to conduct, such an operation. it was moreover, a real testament to the american resolve, and it built on the work and determination of countless intelligence analyst, collectors, military specialists and operators as well as a host of counter-terrorism professionals across the government and across many years. over the last week or so, we have seen a variety of opinions expressed in the media and various public fora to take stock in the -- to take stock of where we are in the world before -- concerning al qaeda. many of the questions that you are going to examine in this conference about how terrorist groups and are, i'm happy to say, is a bit beyond my purview.

but i do want to start the discussion with looking at where we are regarding al qaeda, what the environment is in which that network operates, and then to offer some thoughts on what more we need to do to achieve the common goal of reducing the danger from this group. let me begin by giving you an assessment of the threat of landscape. i will start with the court and work my way out word. -- the core and work my way out work. as all of you know, the death of bin laden was a landmark. he was the sole commander and founder for 22 years, and iconic leader and some of his personal story had a profound attraction for violent extremists. and we should also not forget that he predicated the group's focus on america as the qassam

terrorist target. -- as the group's terrorist target. we know that he had to manage all contact with -- when he was not organizing contact, he was directly involved in organizing a strategy more so than we had thought. and as many of you are undoubtedly aware, he was not the only top al qaeda corr leader who departed in 2011. also one of the most dangerous and cable vault operatives in south asia -- capable operatives in south asia left. and the senior operational commander, both of those were killed. in pakistan and in our tiny and -- in mayra taneytown, -- in pakistan. and in mauritania another was

arrested last year. u.s. stronghold in much of the tribal areas have -- has degraded the ability of the group. al qaeda is losing badly, and bin laden knew it. in documents he talked of disaster after disaster. he even urged tribal leaders to go to places away from air photography and bombardment. and in addition to the significant leadership ough-- lp losses, they also found themselves having difficulty with getting money, training of recruits and attacks in the region. i think we ought to acknowledge the al qaeda core remains a threat and we recognize that at any given time it could carry out strikes at u.s. interests at home and abroad. but al qaeda is on a path of

decline that will be difficult to reverse. of course, its core is not the only story. despite the blows in pakistan that i have described, as well as elsewhere, the global network of al qaeda remains an enduring and serious threat to the u.s. much of al qaeda's activity has devolved into its affiliates, and many individuals remain receptive to its ideology. clearly, much more work needs to be done. al qaeda in the arabian peninsula represents a particularly serious threat. the 2006 christmas day, tent, the attempted bombing in the fall of 2010 have directly illustrated the threat it poses to the united states, its friends and its allies. it has benefited from lustres political crisis in yemen and

policies that accompanied it. -- the paralysis that accompanied it. it has maintained control of territory in yemen for its recruits. the yemeni people after election are taking steps towards probability and security. -- stability and security. if the yemeni transition progresses, we will continue to provide security and counterterrorism earned -- counter-terrorism support to combat violent extremism as with a liver humanitarian -- as we deliver humanitarian and economic aid. elsewhere in the gulf in iraq, we have seen the persistence of another aq affiliate, al qaeda in iraq. iraqi forces continue to toaqi and they have shown -- to confront aqi and have shown

substantial ability they have been unable to mobilize the senate committee, which deterred -- which turned decisively against it. -- they have been unable to mobilize the seung-hui community, which turned decisively against it. aqi is believed to be extending its reach into syria. as we have seen in yemen and elsewhere, civil strife creates the kind of environment that terrorists are drawn to. some attempt to manipulate and exploit the situation. the extent that extremists are working with opposition elements remains unclear. the opposition groups in many cases may not be aware that they are, and many of them have disavowed any desire to cooperate with aqi.

in east africa, al-shabab remains the primary driver of instability. in february, ivan al-zawahiri and the al-shabab leader announced a formal alliance. its four soldiers are very much focused on events within somalia. -- its foot soldiers are very much focused on events within somalia. but they are still willing to conduct attacks elsewhere in the region, as we saw on the 2010 bombing in uganda and it continued threat in kenya and burundi and elsewhere. with the assistance of alassane and some of somalia's neighbors, somalia has made significant gains in degrading al-shabab's capability and degrading it administration over

the last year. this is a very important good news story, and probably a better news story than many of us have probably expected after years of frustration in somalia. the death of key leaders and organizations and popularity is a result of its failure to address a basic need during the humanitarian crisis. it continues still to pose a threat to civilians, humanitarian workers and government structures there. alassane has been the historic weakest affiliate. m.o. has been a kidnapping for ransom, or kfr. they have garnered millions of dollars through kfr.

these new crown resources, together with the advantage of taking -- with the ability to take advantage of the instability in the region have strengthen them. while there are recent efforts uaregs torrid -- torega distance themselves. is not an official affiliate, but it leaves the organized group of militants and extremists. they are focused on internal nigerian issues and exporting --

exploiting the grievances in the northern part of the country. they launched attacks across northern nigeria, including one in august against the u.n. headquarters in abuja that signaled its capability to attack non-nigerian targets. despite having suffered shattering setbacks on a number of occasions, most recently in 2009, a lack of progress in resolving an emmy and grievances, combined with the heavy-handed tactics and has led to the group's resurgence. despite their weak organization, its brand of violent extremism is gaining ground and cannot be overlooked. we remain concerned by a report of communications trainings and weapons links to our shebaa and al qaeda in the arabian -- al- shabab and al qaeda in the brianne peninsula.

-- arabian peninsula. finally, remain concerned about threats to the homeland. in the last several years cannot individuals who have been trained by aq and its affiliates have operated within the u.s. borders. and while they are so-called loan will terrace, they also pose a threat -- lone wolf terrorists, they pose a threat. as a result of its weakened status, al qaeda and especially its affiliate, is pursuing people to conduct individual acts of violence. that has become one of the main thrust of the group at the moment. the last case in toulouse and nabhan represent -- and thealban represents challenges we face.

at this point, i would like to turn to turn to the larger historical circumstances shaping the battle. over the last year in the middle east, a number of events have greatly discredited the extremist argument that only violence can bring about change. that is physically an aq argument. al qaeda's single-minded focus on terrorism as an instrument of change can be severely de- legitimize it. basic human freedoms is something all of us should support because it is profound in its own right. but from a person -- security perspective we also have a great deal to gain. democracy can give people a stake in their governance, and thereby weaken those who call

for violence. we have no illusions that this process will be painless or quick. revolutionary transformation undoubtedly, paired with the many bonds in the road. we are not blind to the perils. terrorists can cause significant disruptions for states undergoing challenging democratic transitions, and those states are often themselves distracted, weakened, or otherwise by the lack the capacity in their ability to deal with terrorist groups. for example, the philippine revolution profoundly affected some of the poorest families on earth. exiled fighters returning has significantly changed the situation in somalia and nigeria and chad and mauritania.

it has created a vacuum and the north of the country that has provided aqim with greater freedom of movement. while history appears broadly to be going in the right direction, we obviously cannot count on it going in the right place everywhere all the time, as we see -- i should also add, in nigeria. it what more do we need to do to defeat or reduce the terrorist challenge? what the same terrorist groups are financing is below of new recruits. to put al qaeda and like-minded extremists on a permanent path to defeat, these groups will have to lose their ability to recruit new members. how do we stop that inflow of

new recruits and prevent those that do take up arms up from achieving their goals? our counter-terrorism successes in the last few years are attributable in large part to the extraordinary amount of international cooperation we've seen over the last 10 years. and although we have not been able to prevent all attacks, we have disrupted dangerous conspiracies and taken bad actors off the streets and disruptive highly cable networks. there is much to be a product as a global network. we have become exceptionally adept at effectively counter terror -- countering terrorism. we have to undercut the ideological and rhetorical underpinnings that maybe extremist world view attractive to some individuals and groups pa also addressing local grievances and other drivers. we also have an opportunity to build with our global partners

to deliver a strategic blow to al qaeda and it's dangerous ideology and put this organization on at half to oblivion. to be truly successful, we have to focus our efforts on its affiliates and also working to make inroads against terrorist recruitment. therefore, working with our colleagues, our focus is on two major lines of effort. first, building are neighbors capacity. second, countering the ideology and blunting the drivers of extremism. we know that when there is a recognition of the need on the part of other states and the political will to address that need, we can help with programs to build the capacity of our partners. and we can develop the stability of partners with their law enforcement institutions to do a better job of tracking and

incarcerating terrorists. you in the military are fully engaged in this effort, particularly through the many training programs that you undertake in countries are on the world. the flagship capacity building effort remains the anti- terrorist assistance program. one of our goals is to build a pleasure trip partner countries, and with law enforcement in particular, and the atf is able to effectively provide advanced training. this formula -- formulate program has been successful in turkey, indonesia, some countries in northern africa, and jordan. it is important to note that we are also working to put the capacity building effort atop the international agenda.

particularly the international global terrorism form. it is a new counterterrorism body with 39 countries and was launched by secretary clinton on september 22 last year in new york with her counterparts from most of the founding members. partinitiative is a major of the obama administration's broader effort to deal with 20% 3 threats. its primary focus is on capacity building and relevant areas. it will increase the number of countries dealing with terrorism within their border regions. this will help north african countries undergoing transitions to engage with the u.s. and other western countries on politically sensitive issues. this can be how the western partners can best support the transition away from oppressive regimes to roulade law

foundation based on counter- terrorism. -- rule of law foundation's based on counter-terrorism. these meetings offer a wide -- an ideal platform for its efforts. at the september launch, we saw two major accomplishments that demonstrated the reaction- oriented nature of the gctf. its members mobilized some $100 million to support the training of prosecutors, judges, police and officials to help move away from oppressive tactics of terrorism. this is one of the most hopeful signs that we can blunt one of the key drivers of radicalization.

these programs will assist countries in their transition as they draft a new counter- terrorism legislation and train the key officials necessary to apply laws in keeping with universal human rights. on the counter in violent extremism side, there is a group working to do precisely that. the united arab emirates is going to step up and host the first conference ever on fighting violent extremism. its target audiences will include government policy makers, police, educators, media, online communicators, and other religious and community leaders from around the world. indeed, countering a violent extremism, this second prong of what we call the strategic counter-terrorism agenda, is at the core of our policy and about interrupting the flow of

new recruits. we are working to address the drivers of radicalization that lead people to accept al qaeda's ideology. we are working to ameliorate the conditions that make it attractive. we know that it thrives where there is alienation or perceived or real threat of deprivation. we need to address the underlying conditions and we need to do more to improve the ability of moderates to strengthen their views in opposition to violence. to counter the violent extremist propaganda, we will push back against aq's online and media activities. the center is housed at the state department, but its mission will be to use public communication to reduce radicalization by al qaeda and

its affiliates in the interest of national security of the u.s. it also leads the on-line efforts through the digital outreach team, which challenges the extremists by engaging on line in arabic or somali through text video and other forms of communication. >> we are working with the agency to provide programs. such as encouraging social media to generate constructive that local initiatives. we're working to support skill building and mentoring efforts and the like. we're looking at the domestic power approaches that have a track record of the effectiveness to see if those can be adapted to the current challenging circumstances. lastly, we must have the capacity to counter

radicalization itself. this rehabilitation and reintegration led by the united nations into regional crime researcher at the justice institute. this initiative provides reform where policy-makers, practitioners, independent experts and organizations can share best practices. it is an incubator of terrorists today. terrorist threats require innovative strategies, and we have seen the nature of our enemies. we need creative diplomacy and ever-stronger partnerships.

it is and engaging partners of both bilaterally and multilaterally how to confront this evolving terrorist threat. i hope you agree after this review we have made a lot of progress. quite obviously, there remains a great deal to be done. the historical context is promising. we have real success. now is not the time to let up. it is time to redouble our efforts. [applause] >> the marine corps university hosted a discussion on the future of terrorist organizations. they focused on the taliban and

the united national people's movement in nepal. it is part of a day-long conference looking at the evolution of terrorist organizations and is about one hour. >> this is a panel for ongoing cases, we will have such an interesting and distinguished dynamic such ach a dynami speaker, we will have to step up our game. our guest is here with the marine corps university and he is truly an expert on

afghanistan, pakistan. he has written several books and numerous articles on the subject. and dr. tom marks has been doing a lot of work on special operations as well as written a ander of pieces on vietnam nepal. you wrote it in 2003, i think. for army war college. which i just read last night. without further ado, i would like to ask the director to go first. >> good afternoon. welcome to my home, my office is right above here. i will make one comment before i say anything, i am speaking on my own behalf using my .edu

account and not my .mil account. i wish i had one of those extinguished insurgencies, because i met part of this session because the taliban issued two statements as the conference is going on. it is very much on going. first, they have never designated themselves as a terrorist organization. all individuals within those organizations have been indicated as terrorists even though the taliban has not been indicated as such. playing host to al qaeda, the

taliban became part of the global war against terror. in a decade and a half, they have emerged as a stronger and more, if not effective, important military organization today. it is that adversary or a partner, it remains unclear as we speak. it is becoming an english word.

the arabic word talib means speaker or student. taliban or the arabic equivalent really means students. since 1994, the taliban islamic movement have become internationally known as part of this group that emerged seemingly from nowhere in about october of 1994. the translation of holy warriors, these are people fighting against the soviets in afghanistan since basically 1979-1992. the taliban came from politics

in kandohar. with a direct military and political support of neighboring pakistan, it is the financial aid. the leaders of the taliban claim to be members of former students and members of the group's, although they have come from different groups led by a man that is now dead. or the islamic movement. most of them were students, they came from different variations. one of pakistan's main islamic groups [unintelligible] the taliban became the de facto government of afghanistan in

december of 1996 when it seized control of the capital kabul and ousted the regime headed by the president. he was the one that was assassinated several months ago. ironically, he was chosen as the head of the peace council to deal with the taliban. at that time, he -- it has become part of the english language, the least in america. those of you have studied islamic governments, it has a significance. it means commander of the faithful. he changed the name of afghanistan to the islamic emirates of afghanistan. most of afghanistan was more a

previous enterprise and a democratic regime with power consolidated under one figure. he adapted secrecy as a means of control, and a traded that still continues today. in the united states of america, it deals with the adjective with which we speak but whose leader who have not seen or heard of in the last 10 years. no one has seen him alive. the taliban method of governance is a centralized and democratic system that established itself

in 1996. he came not through the taliban, he was there before the taliban came in. it was eastern shora, to make people part of the government. again, the reason i am emphasizing that is that it was not something that they were seeking in initially. in august of 1998, osama bin laden and the taliban refused to surrender him prompted the united states to launch cruise missile attacks and the spear headed an international effort.

they were put together at that moment, i would say. i would say that the ideology of the taliban and osama bin laden was not the same then, but there are some that do see such ideology. they struggle as an international -- i would argue at least to the southern taliban were more nationalist. there were concerns about affairs of afghanistan and not people outside of afghanistan. this still continues.

there are people in the movement that are trying anymore nationalist figures that tried have of leadership beyond, and the fact that they are hair and refusing the elements to come to surface is a struggle that we see that ongoing. the removal of the government from power, at the leadership of the organization's fled across the border into pakistan. the last major conventional war was the operation that ended in april of 2002. you have of both of these people out. we know that he was busy making babies. beginning in 2002, and surgeons

began operation and propaganda campaigns. by the way, the taliban will not refer themselves to the -- refer to themselves as the taliban. only ins ong. -- in song. and they are invoking back to the days of the 1990's, the anti-soviet groups. they refer to themselves as the islamic americans of afghanistan they became increasingly active in the eastern and southern parts of afghanistan. the lack of cognition by for an objective and efforts in afghanistan process from uncontrolled narcotics raids and

the financial support. it is the main criteria of their message. they were not so powerful, and i agree with that. by 2005, the taliban became a nuisance and morphing into a full-fledged insurgency. and using more and more terror tactics.

more leadership is either [unintelligible] but they are mostly in the northern province. these are mostly remnants of the old taliban regime from 1996- 2001. the second group, these are part of another group. there are partially in that side. and there is the loose alliance of the i don't -- [unintelligible] initially, he was not a support er of the taliban. he was ousted and took refuge in iran. he has chunks of territory or at

least influence in the northern province. also, it was not to create a nomenclature in washington, what we deal with today are not the old taliban that was destroyed in 2001. the loose affiliation of these groups included criminals. afghan and non-afghan, they cross the boundaries. those that feel they're losing their power of being the dominant ethnic croats in afghanistan. all of these groups hotly term

as a whole, they are called enemies of peace and security. since 2009, a majority of those countries have decided that reconciliation is one of the lives to the brain of the insurgencies -- bring the insurgencies into the fold of the government. officially, we are engaged in and it began in 2001 anin kandohar. there were negotiations going on, but the u.s. was not officially in an. one is basically trying to bring in the foot soldiers of the taliban, integration. my friend is sitting right

there. the second is reconciliation to bring leadership into a political agreement. what the united states wants from the taliban is to denounce violence, cut ties from al qaeda, except the constitutional republic of afghanistan and include the rights of women. this is what we have on the table, and to facilitate this, earlier this year, there was an office open in the persian gulf to facilitate that. negotiations halted because the taliban was not happy about one of the promises, which was to give them a five of their leaders or more.

at least the official talks are halted. we can discuss this more in question and answer. through this democratic process, the united states in the allies usher there, it is a genuine democratic movement. there are forces there, and people that are not affiliated taliban with affiliated -- affiliated with the taliban. u a , iran, russia, zbekistan, in that order.

when we discuss with the taliban, it is not just accepting the rules of the constitution, if it is a dominant force or a force within, we will alleviate some of the concerns of the government and beyond that. as important as it may be, it unfortunately does not have security concerns. what i will leave you with is the concern that we just last night -- president obama signed an agreement between afghanistan and the united states. it would allow us to stay and support beyond the 2014 withdrawal date. there is a problem in that and what he taliban -- the taliban want.

it is not the imposition, it is the withdrawal of forces from the country. as we move forward, what we should want is that the taliban issued another statement, they are using a new operation. handlers know what language to use. the first statement came at the second is in english. p.r. pretty well. announcing a winter operation. you heard a bomb attack in green village, that is where the foreigners hang around.

they want to show the president obama, beside the agreement -- they signed the agreement. how it will end depends on many issues, not just u.s.- afghanistan issues, and whether we like it or not, the taliban has gone beyond that cycle. whether they assimilate or not is the question. thank you. [applause] >> afternoon. it is a pleasure to be here.

what you saw this morning, both of the speakers that led off talking about the ira and fmln highlighted two groups that could have been said to have bargained in good faith. i would like to use the -- what was once called the communist party of nepal. it is an example of a group that chooses, as a strategic approach, to bargain faster- paced. the literature that deals with the ends of conflicts of focuses on groups that seek to act as spoilers as you can see in my title. and those that benefit from

conflict and a desire to keep it going. much less cover, groups of the r numbers of examples today. they see peace as a way to achieve the strategic ends. hamas, hezbollah, in colombia and the maoists. these are not simply spoilers and they are not interested in the peace process per se, but they are interested in the change of strategic context that can be achieved and exploited by participating in a peace process. if we ask ourselves as we did

this morning why there is an insurgency in nepal, the answer is here. the land area of florida with more than twice the population and a country covered with the himalayas and foothills is that you have one of the poorest countries in the world. socially, wealth is skewed by the caste system which function s in what once was the world's only hindu kingdom. you have the normal inefficiency and corruption that goes with the democracy. historic plea, it has never been a colony -- historically, it has

never been a colony. foreign aid consistently provides amounts of that total between 50% and 150% of the official budget. and it comes with strings. nepal is a mandate of the international order. the result is millions of people, if we look at the background of what we are negotiating, the political opportunity structure has failed them, they want a better deal. in any society, politicians are the ones that articulate structure of the better deal. leaders are not follow words in any organizational set up.

in the case of nepal, on the extreme left, it was the radical actors of the communist party of nepal maoist that said only by completely overthrowing what is can we deliver a new deal for those that as iron. the state, in other words, has lost legitimacy. the goal to be achieved is to get a new revolutionary order. theence is used in becausbecaue existing order is not going to turn over the keys to the kingdom, so to speak. to have the social

stratification turned upside down. this will be critical for what we are going to discuss in a few moments. violence is necessary because the system will not give you its own demise. if it will, there is no point in continuing violence. if we use the war college formula and, always, means, we know the goal of a new revolutionary order. the waves, the strategic approach realized in the art of this movement was your typical maoist people's war. i will not go into the specifics of it, but what is important for us to remember is that our political action designed at the restructuring of the state

functions in exactly the opposite manner that regular politics or regular warfare functions. in the regular warfare, shaping and preparing the battle space overwhelmingly involved in non- violent means, such as information warfare. the once you shape the battle space, you come in with your violence. irregular warfare is exactly the opposite. violence prepares the human aboutfor the -- battle space for the political effort. that human battle space, then, is both the field of contest and, of course, the means of

this armed political movement. it must mobilize a counter state in what ever formed to challenge the state. what this movement is doing is what any political effort does. it is mobilizing the people you see here. the few, the proud, the maoist. be an army of one, be a man among men, be a woman among men in a society where gender relations are horribly unbalanced. it disciplines, trains, deploys, rewards, and gives you permission to marry. what happens to those that do

not want to join this new movement? if you look at the audience here, i dare say an easy majority have experienced what we are showing here either in iraq, afghanistan, columbia, the southern philippines, the horn of africa. that is a new political force that interject itself into local space. local actors such as teachers shown here who attempt to resist must be neutralized. once they are removed from the local political battlefield, the new political force can reshape

the political opportunity structure. declaring the people's war on february of 1996, you have the time line in your package. during the first five or six years of the war, they lead with terror. the systematic removal of local actors who oppose this new answer to building a better nepal. terror included not only attacking individuals, but trying to remove every element of the existing state. a district headquarters. but everything was attacked in nepal. much like shining path did. even small dams that generated

hydroelectricity were destroyed because they had been billed by the government. they were the standard ones we have seen all over the world. hundreds of thousands if not millions of rice cookers available in this asian society absolutelyo ied's, devastating on soft targets like police stations and the police as the armed local representatives of the state in any society are the next target. districts,epal's 75 you also had local government armed capacity stripped away. the typical district shown here

began 1996 securing the 210,000 people. you only have the police stations with the blue circles around them remaining. you have the remaining 200,000 people. this matter will also prove crucial to what we get to in the second. the typical action to one many have experienced year. research, the town could be reached only by road, the police attacked in the dead of night. 15 killed in the fighting, three critically injured, one was able

to hide. the next day, one of the country's four helicopters, mi- 17 came in. all they could do is abandon the post, there was no way to re-man it. what i did there, of course, it was completely controlled by this new movement. the maoists. in 2003, mroe than -- more than half of all police stations had een, as they clalealled it, consolidated. which is to say it was abandoned. the only part of this country is the military, which is why we place so much emphasis in leave the -- leaving the ana in functioning capacity when we

leave afghanistan. the people's army was attacked by the insurgents first, not the other way around. one of the defining characteristics of the war in iraq and afghanistan is that it has remained overwhelmingly small units. platoons, for example. if you are familiar with the film "we were soldiers," vietnam is what happens when you put out a battalion -- or when you can't put out a battalion and have it survived. this begins to unfold. a typical attack in november of 2002, reinforced company of 150

found itself attacked by four main force battalions, a ratio of 3000 to 150. basically the battle of the alamo. it was able to hold because the commander of the unit had won their equivalent of the medal of honor. what this battle highlighted, we know from the documents, if you can't overrun district capitals, you, as an insurgency, are stuck. at this point in time, the group we are discussing controls 70% of the population. it cannot get the remaining 30% of the population.

the movement was faced with a conundrum. how does it go through the red zone and score? the system gave if its opening. even as you have the military becoming more efficient, the same issues that have surfaced time and time again, that is, the incapacity of the political system -- the only extra systemic figure in the country, in effect, declared martial law. he appointed the prime ministers. this alienated the political powers, of which there were seven.

you have an extraordinary meeting occurring in which the subjects of this day's meetings, in effect, are subject to scrutiny. we have led with violence, using the three lines of the first. yet we find ourselves blocked now by the royal nepal army. the district to capitals, we can't get the national capital region.

in particular, what the king has done is given us the classic opportunity to emphasize a united front activity. the common cause with -- there are other ways of doing things and, in effect, the state capacity. and we can bring down the government. this strategy proves successful. you have united front action putting millions of people in the streets, the government

collapsed in 2006 as the maoists moved into areas they do not control. the agreement signed in november of 2006 between the maoists and the legal political parties have been disestablished. on the surface, it appears that it worked out much like the philippines did after the ouster of marcos in 2006. in reality, what occurred is that at the original meeting, the maoist says peace provides the perfect environment to continue the war by other means. the key component of the peace

agreement was, of course, the military return to the barracks and to the people's liberation army and parliamentary mechanisms would be reestablished. there were only 700,000 combatants in the people's liberation army, but you can see what showed up at the un sponsored and funded cantonments. most of these individuals were new recruits and at least 7000 were children. simultaneously, almost to the day, that all of these people fled the c theanton -- flooded the cantonments, no less than 1/3 moved laterally under orders and became the cadre of a new

political action group, the young communist league. what they did is function to prepare the human battle space for the upcoming parliamentary election. they brutalized, killed, kidnapped anyone that was opposed to voting for the maoists. they shaped the human terrain and even figures of the press that tried to cover this found themselves murdered or in effect, run out of town. the result, of course, when the elections were held, the maoists like daniel day lewis's candidates in gangs of new york, swept the elections.

how can this continue? apologies for the stray graphic. the problem, of course, is that the international community so invested in the peace process that by the time elections were held in 2008 and they emerge victorious because the opposition parties that had once dominated had been decimated, with responsibility will come adjustment to democratic routine. like the fmln or ira, they will, in good faith, participate in the peace process. in reality, they did nothing of

the sort. we have a situation where the number two in the maoist movement is the sitting prime minister that makes the decisions without consulting the party. had we have a situation that is even more extraordinary. it pits the two figures on the left of this trio against the figure on the right. the two figures on the left and the head of the government tell the main radical, why do you keep claiming that we have to complete the revolution by over- violence? we control the state.

we control origins of the state and anyone that has opposed us has been eliminated. leave well enough alone and give a short time. we will right into the new constitution all of our revolutionary goals. your falling for the oldest track there is, power only grows through the barrel of the gun. we must flood the streets with our urban combatants. we must sweep all before us and dictate the terms of the peace agreement. this is quite a different kettle of fish that what we see a from organizations that do, in fact, show evidence of willingness to compromise and the willingness to actually end armed conflict.

thank you. [applause] >> thank you. two very good presentations. i think we are going to start doing question and answer, but we will do if in a slightly different way. whoever gets the microphone first gets to speak. all right, so -- >> i'd like to take this moment to thank you for this timely symposium, and thank you for a great panel. you mentioned briefly about the strategic partnership agreements being signed by

president obama and president karzai. and the taliban's reaction that he was an illegitimate president, per se. the importance of this partnership agreement, there are two scenarios or camps that are idolizing the importance of this partnership agreement to taliban to push the t -- taliban. going back to 2009 in afghanistan, there was a timeline that the americans will leave by 2014. but now the partnership agreement has been signed, and we will remain for another 10 years. pakistanis that are in a way

controlling the taliban, will it push them to come back to the table and reach some sort of an agreement? and if that agreement is made, will it be acceptable by afghans? >> i wish i knew the answer to that, what the pakistanis are doing and the taliban. i can tell you from my perspective that looking at the situation, the partnership agreement doesn't have any specific -- it has the united states regard afghanistan as a major non-nato ally. that is a big word. i believe pakistan has the same status. that will change how specifically this will look. when anything like that happens,

the parties will deal with that and there will be a couple of provisions. it will not be used against others, and so on. yes, the idea is that you are correct. it prompted the taliban to say we're going to wait it out. what kind of afghanistan? you have a president where the nato agreement horror the country's have the government of afghanistan selected because there will be an election. that controls certain areas of the country and of the national army that is controlling specific areas.

the taliban emerging into areas of the south. pakistan's policy seems to state that a thing but the influence. there might be a give-and-take there. n betweenew -- like between new delhi and islamabad. the taliban officially refused to speak to karzai. they call him a puppet. this is the same with the government of [inaudible] it allows the foundation three engage them on a scenario where

you can come and beat us, but what other aspects are there? what individual countries -- what do the other afghan elements do? if they feel that the taliban are gaining more power through the balance or through a deal, it might not just sit still. the fact that we are more clear, hopefully in chicago, and in tokyo you have more clarity on specifics. one thing that will break the taliban's resolve is the long- term, specific, clear, achievable goals. thank you.

>> you mentioned that he has been designated the commander of the faithful. can you elaborate a little bit of what that means in terms of what the taliban will except in the future role? is it possible for him to abdicate that title? or if the people that designate it as such say that that was that at this is now. does that mean the expectation is that he or someone with that title will be in the leadership role of the muslim of the faithful in afghanistan? >> the reason we have not seen him -- as you have seen in the past few years, both v

have been able to eliminate their effectiveness. what that was, the idea is that the post controls a lot of the movement. there are elements of the taliban that are looking for leadership beyond him. i don't think it is essential and the sense that somebody who is really not bear could be there or could not be there. and the other side, nobody has seen him. if there is a deal made, it could be a religious title for him where he becomes the guardian of the religious aspect of the country. you use that in the military, it

stands for the government of the islamic republic of afghanistan. there could be something there that gives him a title that allows him to oversee the religion, and there are a lot of issues on whether he will accept the shias or not. for the first time, they loved shia -- they look at the shia minority. the taliban seem to be much softer on the shia. so perhaps that will be an umbrella in which to work, were people died. they can just die. naturally or unnaturally. [laughter] >> thank you, sir.

just a question to you, playing off both of the presentations, what can we look for from the taliban to see if they are negotiating in good faith? are there lessons from the paul? at what point are they no longer our enemy? thank you. >> let me get this straight, what you're asking for is signposts they are cooperating, right? >> i think that plays right into

one of the key areas of research. your normal metrics are no longer useful, for example. violence is, in fact, way down. asylum numbers are way up. people have fled. when you look at signposts, you have your traditional metrics such as participation in the system. a far more important are things such as being willing to get rid of your militia, the ycl, to be willing to allow student organizations to function as something other than armed pressure groups. this is very similar, when you think about it, to the situation in lebanon, gaza, or other

areas. you are not engaging in normal politics and cannot use normal metrics if you are allowing political forces to field their own armed elements. that is the biggest one. the willingness to participate in the political process as well as the economic and social processes without fielding armed forces. a second one would be a willingness to enable the state of which the maoists are the to carry out a system that funds the party, extortion, criminality are at an all-time high. these are executed through party organs. you have several nepals

functioning. one has to decide what one is going to be part of. >> i think we have come to the end, thank you all very much. [applause] >> if you could all be back here by 1500, please. it is 3:00, and we will continue then.

>> the justice department holds a news conference on medicare fraud. later, the national urban league releases this year's report on the state of black america. former treasury secretaries join other fiscal scholars, including alice rivlin, thursday morning at the brookings institution. this discussion is on u.s. tax policy, the expiration of the bush era tax cuts, the national deficit, and raising the debt limit. you can see that live at 9:30 eastern on c-span2. >> an update on the investigation in britain of scandal.rdoch's

then university of maryland economics professor discusses the benefits and costs of a college education. later, the effectiveness of the obama administration counterterrorism strategy. join the conversation on "washington journal," each morning at 7:00 a.m. on c-span. newt gingrich said he was returning to the role of an active citizen. he did not formally endorse former governor mitt romney for president. this is about 25 minutes. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] [applause]

>> well, thank you all for coming. on may 11, we formally announced our candidacy. i want to thank everyone who helped through the last year. it has been an increasing year far the entire family -- been an amazing year for the entire family. i want to thank jimmy and jackie, who brought with them i think, the two best debate coaches. [applause]

whenever i did well in the debates, i ascribe it to maggie and margaret, who were diligent in briefing me on the debates. i want to thank calista's mother who faithfully watched this campaign online, filled with questions and wondering what exactly was going on. she put up with almost as much as we did. i also want to single out the over 179,000 donors who helped us at newt.org. i should single out my brother and his wife, who are here. randy has been all over the country, campaigning for me and i am very grateful. bob walker was our chairman. we go all the way back to the

days in the house. i think we helped coinvent c- span. we did a number of things to help create a house republican majority. i also want to thank the team that stuck with us throughout the whole process, which was a truly wild ride. i could never have predicted neither the high points nor the low points. there were all amazing and astonishing. there are some key election officials i want to thank. i spoke to linda upmyer who stayed with us when we were supposedly dead and when we rebounded. linda was just spectacular, solidly campaigning all across

the state of iowa. i also want to thank speaker paulsen of iowa and speaker bill o'brien of new hampshire, who worked very hard and, by the way, is a model of balancing the budget the right way. in new hampshire, they first get the revenue number and then appropriate up to the revenue numbers. they do not start with a spending number and try to figure out how to find the taxes. they start with what is coming in and figure out what to spend. it is a remarkable project remarkably successful program. i want to thank the georgia house members. i think one of the high moments of the campaign was carrying georgia by 156 counties to 3. it gave us a good feeling that back home we had a very solid base.

my daughter's in carroll county, we had 60% of the vote. we had a a strong base of support from the people who knew us best. i could not be here and not thank governor rick perry. he stuck with us all the way through. towards the end when things got the call, i called and he said i am with you until the cows come home. he said, "i am pretty comfortable as a farmer in texas understanding that." , i also want to thank herman cain for campaigning for us and michael reagan who campaigned for us and communicated pretty clearly the relationship we had with his dad. todd palin, who also worked very hard. although there were not associated with the campaign, it would be impossible for me to be here and thank everybody without thinking sheldon who single-handedly came pretty close to matching mitt romney's

super pac. we share a combined concern about the middle east, american security, and the survival of israel. we are very good friends. i have to thank the voters of south carolina and apologize. we have a broken their tradition of always picking the nominee. this will always be me fell slightly guilty every time we go through south carolina, but they were tremendous. they were welcoming, enthusiastic. the size of the victory were the story. i expect our whole family will always remember south carolina because it was a tremendous, tremendous experience. today, i am suspending the campaign, but suspending the campaign does not mean suspending citizenship calsita and i -- calista and i are committed to being an active citizen. i have been an active citizen

since august 1958 when my dad was serving in the army in europe. this will be 54 years of work on three things -- what does america need to do to be free, safe, and prosperous? two -- how would you explain that to the american people said they gave you permission to do what is needed? 3 -- how would you implement the changes at the american people gave you permission? starting in 1960 when my father was assigned to fort benning, i was a volunteer in the nixon campaign. in 1964, i dropped out of college to run a congressional race. we lost twice for congress -- once in the middle of watergate, and once with jimmy carter. from 1978-1984, a 16-year journey to build a majority.

helping reagan in the eight years as president, with bob walker and others developing a generation of solutions and training, building a contract with america, which led to the largest one-party increase in american history. 9 million additional votes. it was a positive campaign that attracted people and mattered to them. in the process, which won control of the house for the first time in 40 years and past welfare reform working in a bipartisan manner with a democrat in the white house. in 1996, we were the first reelected republican majority since 1928. we did it not by flinching, not by compromising, but by standing firm for balanced budgets, more taxes, smaller government, and reform.

in that period, we were able to work with president clinton on four consecutive balanced budgets. we did it in a bipartisan manner because we represented the will of the american people, not the will of washington, d.c. from 2001-2006, i worked as a volunteer on national security and health issues in the breast administration. -- bush administration. in 2008, we develop the american solutions -- drill here, drill now, pay less. we raised the central importance of an american independence energy plan so that no future president would ever again about to a saudi king and so we would not be dependent on the strait of hormuz and dealing with the iranians. i have tried to move the national debate, including 22 books, starting with "window of

opportunity." i have released seven documentaries. calista is trying to lead and educate with "sweet land of liberty," which educates four- year olds about american liberty. we are now going to put down the role of candid and candidate- spouse and take back up the role of active citizen. i thought to date -- i happen to get an e-mail from polymers -- from congressman tom cole of oklahoma. he captured the moment when he said the following -- "newt is liberated to do what he does best -- adapt conservative views to the challenges of the 21st century. in some ways, his best days may be ahead of him." we want to focus on a series of key issues and find a way to educate and move the country

and policy in washington, d.c. central to all of this is our deep commitment on american exception alyssum and american history and our sense that we cannot truly be americans if we have amnesia about who we are, where we came from, and what principles have made us great. we will spend a great deal of time on religious liberty. my newsletter today specifically -- is specifically on the whole issue of religious liberty. i appreciate the working relationship we have with human events in developing issues like this. i want to continue to work on american energy independence. this is central to job creation, our balance of payments, the strength of the american dollar, dealing with radical islam. if we do it right, we will not only create energy independence and with millions of new jobs, but we will create trillions of dollars in royalties, which if

we impose discipline in washington, could be put into a fund to repay the national debt and leave maggie and robert's generation debt free. balancing the budget and using american energy to pay off the national debt. in a real sense, we could be free of both radical islam, saudi kings, and chinese bondholders all with the same strategy. in addition, we will go to college campuses and talk about personal social security savings accounts are matthew and -- maggie and robert's generation. the big zero texas counties have used that model so that people of their generation can have larger retirement accounts while growing the national economy, independent of political influence and a system much fairer than the current system. we are going to also reemphasized the work ethic, something i know was

controversial in one of our debates. one proposal will be to modernize unemployment compensation to attached to it a training component so that if you sign up to get the money, you have to sign up to learn because by definition if you are currently unemployed, you need better job skills. in north dakota, 3.5% of people are unemployed. they cannot fill the oil fields because people who are unemployed do not have the skills. there is no reason to give people money nine weeks are doing nothing. this is an important national debate about a country that was formed in 16 07 by john smith saying to aristocrats in st. paul, if you do not work, you do not eat. you'll see us come back and talk about that. beyond that, i want to come back on one of the projects i feel sad about not saying very

well. if we really horney's the food and drug administration, we can have a remarkable short time absolute revolutions of better health, or independent living, longer living, and at lower costs. part of the great challenge of washington is how you take an idea like that and move it from the scientific world where everyone says it is right into the political world where no one has a clue what it means? this is an enormous challenge to us. we also want to focus on what a post-obamacare health care system should look like and take back something i worked on my entire career. just before i ran for president, i was the longest serving teacher for one and two-star teachers -- generals. i will focus again on national

security and free zones. radical islamist who still do not have a strategy. it is nice that the president broadcast from afghanistan, but the center of islam is yemen. i think we have to recognize we do not have a grand strategy in this zone. we have to deal with the rise of china, which is not automatically a threat, but is a reality. we have to deal with new technologies that do threaten us, whether it is cyber warfare or electromagnetic pulse. finally, on the topic of new technology, i will cheerfully take back up the issue of space. my wife has pointed out to me approximately 219 times that moon-colony was not my most clever, met in this campaign. -- clever comment in this campaign.

if we want to be the leading country in the world, we have to be the leading country in space. what i call for is beginning to happen. the founders of google are talking about a private-sector effort to mine and afterward. there is less red tape to mine an asteroid than the epa of the united states. the space-adventure program hopes to have a private-sector opportunity to circle the moon by 2015. as many of you know, there is a low earth orbit project under way. next week, nasa is building on something george w. bush started and obama expanded on. they will launch a private sector rocket in an effort to broaden our capacity.

this is not frivolous. it is the fundamental question about whether we are a country that dreams and has the courage to say to young people, yes there is a wonderful pitched -- future doing really important things. i happen to think there is a better future than methamphetamine and cocaine. i will argue for an american future of doing things that matter. we also need to have new models of an effective, affordable life-it project lifetime learning. we have to replace the 130-year- old civil service model with modern management systems. this is a big issue that is fundamental to the united states. we have been obsolete system that is impossible to make work effectively. the forces that support it will fight every inch of the way. this may be too big a challenge, but we do need to have a national discussion about how to get congress to be effective.

congress has decayed dramatically in the last 20 years. the senate has become a dysfunctional institution. under our constitution, if congress does not understand things and cannot legislate things, you cannot fix it. it is really important that we have a much bigger national debate. because we will pursue solutions, we want those solutions to be real. we will campaign for a republican president, a republican house, a republican senate, republican governors, state legislators. america is a complex, mosaic government. the presidency matters. but so do all the other offices of self-government. if you are going to have change in america, it has to occur in many places simultaneously.

as to the presidency, i am asked sometimes, it is mitt romney conservative enough? my answer is simple. compared to barack obama? this is not a choice between mitt romney and ronald reagan. this is a choice between mitt romney and the most radical, leftist president in american history. if you simply take judges and ask yourself, who are the kind of people governor romney would be inclined to a point? who are the kind of people barack obama of points? if you look at his pledge to cut spending, something we will help him with, to balance the budget, to work with paul ryan and others on the entitlement crisis, to focus on economic

growth by creating private- sector jobs, something i would suggest governor romney knows about 60,000 times more than president obama. think about appointing common sense regulators. as compared to the obama epa regulator his said, it is nice to crucify industry because it teaches them a lesson. you cannot get a much bigger gap. a republican sweep this fall would revitalize america just as the reagan sweep of 1980 revitalize america. we have done before, and we can do it again. i always tell people, economic recovery will begin late on election night. when people realize that obama is gone. by the next morning, people will make new decisions about investing, hiring. but beyond this election, the

election is just an interim step, and then you have the next struggle. we had to work for eight months to pass the reagan tax cuts. look at what scott walker is going through in wisconsin. the election just starts the dance, it does not end it. every \conservative should be prepared to work every single day to bring to bear the best ideas and to develop the best future. i think in the reagan tradition, there is a shining future ahead. i think maggie and robert's generation will live in a safer and more prosperous generation. i am certain -- it is almost inevitable. i think they will live in a

generation that has resolved the challenge of optimism. of alzheimer's, of parkinson's. that has mastered mental-health. i think their generation will look back in the olden days when people did not have holograms at home and had to do so many things manually. they will live in a very different world. i am confident about this feature for maggie and robert because i have written three novels on at george washington, and i know what he went through. i have written four novels on the civil war. i know what we went through as a people to preserve this country. the germans and japanese, underestimated us and thought we could never mobilize and we did not know how to fight. the soviets said that they would bury us.

the japanese in the 1980's were going to be the next superpower until their system collapsed in 1989. currently, the chinese are the latest example of somebody else who is magically going to appear, who will take on 305 million people and somehow be more innovative, more effective, more clever. i do not believe that. with every great challenge, americans have reinvented themselves and their country. building within the framework of the declaration of independence, the constitution, and the federalist papers, we are liberated to use common sense and courage to create a better future. we pledge to work with you and with every american who wants to create that better future. to once again challenge the institutions that do not work,

challenge the premise is that do not work, to create new solutions, new opportunities, so that the 21st century will be the third century of freedom in american exceptionalism. thank you very much. [applause] >> that was a former house speaker newt gingrich, ending his presidential campaign. mitt romney was in virginia today. more on that in a moment.

>> republican presidential candidate mitt romney spoke in washington d.c. today. he met with republican national committee chairman reince priebus. tomorrow he is in portsmouth virginia visiting in governor bob mcdonnell. you can see that live at 1:15 p.m. eastern. continue our "road to the white house coverage, the libertarian party will submit their nominee at the national convention in las vegas. the party celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. our live coverage begins friday with the two-hour debate between the libertarian presidential candidates. join us live friday at 9:00 p.m. and saturday at noon eastern here on c-span.

in the weekend in oklahoma city with book tv and american history tv. saturday at noon eastern, check- in on literary life with book tv on c-span2, including a must read political books. also, rare books from galileo, copernicus, and others. sunday at 5:00 p.m. eastern, oklahoma history on american history tv on c-span3. tour the oklahoma city bombing more a. plus a look at african-american life in 1920's oklahoma. from the special collections at the oklahoma history center. our local content videos, this weekend from oklahoma city on c- span2 and 3. >> the justice department charged more than 100 doctors,

nurses, and health care providers with medicare fraud. the charges spend seven states and amount to more than $450 million. attorney-general eric holder made the announcement. he was joined by health and human services secretary sibelius and other government officials. this is about a half-hour. >> deputy director, sean joyce, gary cantrell, and peter budetti. we are announcing the latest achievement in the long going fight against medicare fraud. as part of a coordinated, nationwide sit down, the medicare fraud strike force, joined by the department of justice and h. h. s, comprised of federal, state, and law- enforcement officials from across the country -- we chart

170 defendants in seven different cities for their alleged participation in fraud schemes involving approximately $452 million in false billing. this is the highest amount of false medicare billing involved in a single takedown in the strike force's five-year history. the chart -- the defendants include doctors, nurses, social workers, and others accused of a range of serious offenses, including health care fraud, conspiracy to commit health care fraud, money laundering, and all violations of the anti- kickback statutes. roughly 500 agents and investigators a nationwide, from the fbi, state and local offices, the office of the inspector general, and the medicare fraud control unit. working in close cooperation,

we lost and advanced numerous extensive investigations, executed approximately 20 search warrants, and have taken into custody 91 of the charged defendants. i am proud of each one of them. the justice department will move aggressively those who would defraud the medicare program for their personal gain. we are at the heart of this administration's commitment of protecting the american people from all forms of health care fraud. we have seen too many communities with high health care cost. it threatens the integrity of our entire health care system. three years ago, this commitment inspire the department of justice and health and human services to launch a health care fraud prevention the team to take the fight against health care fraud to a new level. the key to our success has been

the charging of 1430 defendants with more than $4 trillion in faults charges. over the last three fiscal years, every dollar we have spent fighting against health care fraud we have returned on average $7 to the u.s. treasury, the medicare trust fund, and others. despite these results, much more remains to be done. fortunately, our determination to build on the progress we have made has strengthened partnerships we have established through all levels of government.

as of today's announcement crews, our approach is never been more effective. thank you once again for your ongoing contributions. it is now my privilege to turn things over to my friend, secretary kathleen sebelius. >> thank you, general. i want to start by recognizing wonderful leadership of attorney-general eric holder and our entire collaborative team at the justice department in this effort. with me on stage is -- as the general has already said, are partners from the fbi, the justice department, as well as our inspector general's office, and our office of integrity. we are here as representatives of literally thousands of people throughout this country who are now focused and determined to stamp out fraud in our medicare program.

today's historic takedown is the latest milestone the obama administration's coordinated campaign to stamp out fraud in our health care system. when president obama took office, he asked the attorney general and me to make fraud prevention a cabinet-level priority. since then, we have more than quadrupled the task force teams operating around the country, charging hundreds of individuals with seeking to defraud medicare and medicaid of billions of taxpayer dollars. those efforts got another boost when two-years ago the president signed the affordable care act, one of the strongest, anti-health care fraud in american history. at the law provided new resources to help law enforcement catch criminals and establish tougher sentences for those who got caught. it established new a party to prevent fraud in the first place by finding phony claims before they were able to do major damage.

today's takedown opens a window into this new approach. in the past, the government was often too-three steps behind perpetrators, -- 2-3 steps behind perpetrators, paying out false claims, and trying to track down the bad guys after we got a tip. we were often showing up after the criminals had skipped down, taking their fraudulent billings with them. now we are analyzing patterns and trends in claims data instead of going claim by claim. in one of the schemes are brought down today, investigators spotted a high volume of claims from a mental health service provider that did not make medical sense. they referred the matter to special agents around our office of the inspector general who drilled deeper into the data and ultimately found evidence of a fraud. it was the data analysis that launched the case.

it was also data analysis that accelerated the investigation, allowing for targeted interviews. we are taking this a successful model and repeating it across the country. this coordinated approach is also -- medicare will stop paying claims until they have been investigated fully. we have this authority thanks to the affordable care act. it will ensure no one who is part of an illegal scheme can keep catching -- keep cashing in. we have been talking about strengthening medicare and for the future. last week, are trustees report showed the affordable care at, including these anti-fraud provisions, have extended the life of the medicare trust fund by eight years until 2024.

we want to continue building on these efforts to ensure every taxpayer dollar is spent wisely and to prevent -- protect medicare and medicaid for generations to come. i would now like to turn the podium over to assistant attorney general, lanny breuer. >> today we are announcing charges against 107 defendants in seven cities across the country, from los angeles to chicago to miami, these defendants allegedly submitted over $450 million in fraudulent claims to the medicare program. this represents the largest medicare fraud pay down in department history. -- history as measured by the amount of fraudulent billings. these fraud schemes were committed by people up and down

the chain of health care providers. from doctors, nurses, and licensed clinical social workers, to office managers and patient recruiters. court papers detail the links to which these defendants allegedly went to defraud the medicare program that reached, for example -- seven defendants are charged with running two community health centers that submitted $225 million in fraudulent claims to medicare, the largest ever alleged. these defendants allegedly recruited elderly, drug addicted, and mentally ill patients from nursing homes and homeless shelters in order to submit false claims on their behalf. they also allegedly falsified patient's notes and attendance records and forced signatures

of medical professionals all to make it appear as those these patients were receiving medical services when they were not. in fact, they never received these services. the defendant did not stop there. according to court papers, multiple defendants went so far as to steer incriminating documents to the u.s. attorney's office in baton rouge where one said if he had a bonfire of fabricated patient notes -- we have charged owners and operators of four private ambulance companies with billing medicare for millions of dollars worth of phony or unnecessary ambulance rides. in miami, detroit, and other cities, we have charged dozens of other defendants with equally fraudulent schemes. today's operation marked the fourth in a series of historic

medicare-fraud take down over the past two years. these indictments remind us that medicare is an attractive target for criminals, but it should also remind those criminals that they risked prosecution and prison time every time they submit a false claim. if you do not believe in it, asked the former owner of a mental health center company in miami who was sentenced last year to 50 years in prison, or his two co owners, each of which was sentenced to 35 years. the medicare fraud strike force is in nine cities across the country. our record shows we are achieving great results. i am honored to lead the criminal division as it partners with the u.s. attorney's offices, hhs, and our other state and local law enforcement colleagues to fight

medicare fraud. thank you. i would now like to turn it over to my friend and colleague, sean joyce. >> as attorney general and secretary sebelius have noted, medicare fraud drives up the cost of health care. it makes it more challenging for our seniors and those who are seriously ill to obtain the care they need. those who commit health care fraud operate in big cities and small towns alike. their schemes vary in size, scope, and sophistication, but they all share the belief that medicare funds are free for the taking. health care fraud is a lucrative business. that is why more and more criminal enterprises are getting into the act. the syndicate strategy is to shield money and destroyed detection.

they shift from one jurisdiction to the neck, to find new patients and new victims. they are savvy to health care rules and regulations and they know how to exploit the system. this makes health care fraud difficult to identify and spot. its shares -- shows the importance of working with our partners so we can obtain the type of result you see here today. the fbi is currently a bit to getting more than 2600 cases of health care fraud. more than 500 analysts are using intelligence to identify emerging schemes and techniques. as part of the health care fraud prevention and enforcement action team, the fbi is committed to preventing and prosecuting health care fraud. today's arrest shows the ongoing success of the medicare fraud task force. in 2011, with our health care fraud law enforcement partners,

we obtain more than 300 disruptions and dismantlement of criminal enterprises. we charred more than 16 of the people and did -- and obtained more than 1700 convictions. our combined efforts return over $4 billion to the u.s. treasury. today's takedown is the result of a strong partnership. our work is not done. the health care system is a critical piece of our infrastructure. we must do everything to protect the integrity of the medicare system and our broad health care system. now, i would like to turn things over to deputy inspector general gary cantrell of hhs. >> good afternoon. we are all familiar with the threat medicare fraud poses to the american taxpayer. it also exposes some of our most vulnerable citizens to identity

fact and it even patient harm. today, the opposite -- office of inspector general deployed more than 200 special agents across the country to execute arrest and search warrants. we work closely with the fbi and other federal and local partners. today's strike force indictment and arrest all accountable more than 100 individuals who have allegedly defrauded the health care program and taxpayers of more than $450 million. it also sends a message to would-be criminals that there is a price to pay. the strike force model has made us faster and more effective. we use claims data to analyze suspected fraud. it is a team-based approach. it is carried out quickly in coordination with prosecutors. forensics enables us to analyze

medical, financial, and other records to ferret out fraud and criminal conspiracies. instead of working from the bottom up, we target the fraud at its source. we also refer providers for payment suspension or other administrative actions, stopping a national dollars from going out the door. oid is committed to using these tools to minimize the loss of program dollars. the indictments announced today demonstrate that we are fighting back, leveraging data, technology, and expertise to achieve record-setting results in fraud enforcement. we recovered more than $7 for every dollar spent fighting health care fraud. we are breaking previous records today. because of this partnership, i know it will not be the last time. thank you.

i would now like to introduce dr. peter budetti, hhs. >> thank you, deputy inspector, one of my partners in fighting health care fraud. today we have imposed payment suspensions and other appropriate minister of actions against 52 providers to ensure that further program dollars do not go out the door. these providers of various types, including home help agencies, pain management clinics, and ambulance services will stop receiving payment until the investigations are resolved and appropriate determinations have been made. these actions are being taken under one of the powerful anti- fraud provisions in the affordable care act, authorizing suspension of payments pending investigation of fraud. they also represent an unprecedented degree of cooperation, which is made it

possible to tie our civil administrative actions together with the criminal ones. today's historic takedown is just the beginning. in the near future, we will see results will demonstrate we are able to prevent fraud from escalating to the and level we have brought down today. now, a desolate place to turn things back over to the secretary and the attorney general. reggie i am -- now, i am pleased to turn things back over to the secretary and the attorney general. >> we allege that in connection with the civil related action here that some of the defendants from baton rouge were at the attorney's office during civil discovery and destroyed documents. >> and were they in washington at the time? >> i am cannot go any further than that.

>> do you have an indication how much you will be able to recover? >> how much will we be able to recover? we do not know that. we will be calculating that as we proceed with the analysis of the administrative actions we've taken. the funds that were mentioned, so far that have gone out the door, we will stop payments -- claims that are already in place and ending new ones coming in. the supervisors are the ones who bill us. >> when we speak about $450 million, that is the money sought by the defendants.

you should not assume $450 million was actually paid out. that was the total amount they were requesting. >> how much was paid out? >> what are the emerging scam areas? >> as the secretary mentioned, a couple of the new things was the ambulance and fraud. obviously, we are continuing to look into identifying new techniques. one of the critical things we do uniquely with our partners is through data analysis, where we end up targeting specific cities. it is a focused, intelligence- driven approach, identifying

these critical cities where it is really a problem. >> let me clarify one thing -- back to the earlier question -- the 52 providers are the billing operators. their payment has been suspended. some of these individuals who are part of the 106 who were actually arrested today are in the umbrella organizations of those providers. we stopped payment on the providers. we will be conducting full investigations. i just want to clarify -- they are part of the same collaborators. >> can i ask you about the trial of former major-league baseball player, roger clemens -- the prosecution said today his testimony may only be 50/50. the judge is considering the vast testimony in deliberations.

what would you say to people who say this is not the best use of prosecutorial resources? >> i have not heard of the references that you made there. one has to view these cases in their totality. i do not know what that witness said where the context of the statement. the charges are serious. it is about testifying falsely before congress. on that basis, i think it was a justified use of our resources to bring the case. >> it has been two years since the gulf oil spill. when do you expect more criminal charges? would you expect a trial to go forward before you step down as attorney general? >> when will that be? [laughter] i want to say that, as we have

indicated fairly consistently, it is the -- it is our attention -- intentions to hold all oil parties responsible for the spill and make sure the american taxpayers do not spend a dime for restoration of the region. that manner is ongoing as indicated in a part -- remarks i made when we announced the initial indictments. we expect there will be others. we are working on the civil side as well as the criminal side. i do not want to put a timeframe on will charges will be brought. the manner is ongoing. >> the targeted killing program -- what is the status of that? do you expect to release more information? >> the judge was very

understanding when we indicated we did need additional time because there were high-level consultations under way. this is an administration the want to be as transparent as we can with regard to how we employ force in these matters. at the same time, we have to balance that with the need to protect the methods we use to protect the american people. we will strike that proper balance and share information as we can. >> [unintelligible] >> one of the things we are discussing -- there are a whole variety of things we want to make available. again, we have to make sure that in making things available, we need to explain in a

documentary away what it is the government goes through in making these determinations. we have to protect the ability we have to keep the american people safe. we will be going to the process of the next couple of weeks or so >> secretary sebelius -- weeks or so. >> secretaries of delays, the finance -- secretary sebelius, the finance committee is looking for feedback. one staffer said there has been a lot of concern about contractors -- integrity contractors having been overly aggressive. is your office aware of any of those complaints? >> i am not sure it is directly related to fraud. we have been made aware of a couple of instances where the bill collection area at there have been some aggressive contractors working on behalf of all hospitals who have

allegedly engaged in the tactics of confronting patients in the hospital setting and making it clear they were actually bill collectors and not part of the hospital system. we are in the process of looking into those allegations. i think that is what you may -- the line >> at various types of integrity contractors -- >> of various types of integrity contractors. >> we are always looking to make sure that all of our enforcement entities, including our contractors, are doing things appropriately. i do not know what specific allegations you are referring to, but if there are specific concerns, we want to know about them and we will certainly look

into them. we are aware that when ever we want to hold someone accountable, either for possible fraud or having retained overpayments, that is something that involves a degree of interaction that sometimes it raises questions like that. i do not know exactly what you are talking about. >> the ninth circuit today declined to hold [unintelligible] >> is there a check? >> should legal advice go unchecked? >> i will have to look at the opinion and what the basis of for the core's determination was. they are very good people who

work very hard, look at the law, and come up with determinations based on the fax and to the extent that opinions are issued that are inconsistent with the facts, the law, our traditions -- we will repudiate them. that is what we have done with regard to some of the opinions in connection with the matter is the ninth circuit is dealing with. >> thank you very much. >> coming up next, the national urban league on the state of black america and the challenge is moving forward. in a symposium on the evolution of global terrorist organizations and the u.s. counter-terrorism response. later, discussion on u.s. and european union cybersecurity strategies. the heritage foundation focuses on veterans tomorrow. they are hosting a panel to discuss the future of men and

women who serve the country. veterans will speak with veteran rebounders and organizers about how americans can help service members and their families. join us live tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m. eastern, here on c- span. >> sunday, on "q&a" -- >> i do not regard this as just a biography of lyndon johnson. i am saying this is a kind of political power. see what a president can do in a moment of great crisis, he gathers, what he does to get the community moving. that is a way of examining power in a time of crisis. it takes 300 pages. examine this.et's >> robert caro in his

multivolume biography of the 36 president, this sunday at 8:00 on c-span's "q&a". but for our second hour on sunday, may 20 could get the national urban league released its report on the state of black america earlier this spring. focused on new voting laws in 34 states and african american voter participation. they also discussed barriers to education, equality, and employment in the african- american community. speakers include the urban league president and the naacp president. this is about an hour and half. >> before we began our panel, a lot me offer some remarks for this year's state of black america. i want to thank the howard university community, the staff, at the faculty, and students and alumni. let me mention the howard let me mention the howard university alumni club who