in a way that could be used in different forms. it has an additional benefit associated with it. i am in favor of it. i do not think it is remotely plausible within the narrow political discussion we're having today. >> maybe that will be an opportunity to increase the federal gasoline tax even if we go -- don't go to a full carbon tax, it will produce a lot of revenue with 50 cents per gallon federal tax. >> the only problem from a climate perspective, it is a small share of the problem. the problem is really in the energy sector a without a carbon tax you are not directly getting back.t

>> >> i think you can design one such way that does not cause too much harm for american industries that compete with folks abroad. consumption tax is difficult if you try to do a value added tax. there are things you can do to tweak the income-tax to make it look like a value added tax. >> at the end of the day, what you think the tax code will look like when these conversations between the president and speaker john boehner are done? what will look like when they are done? >> i think we will have slightly higher marginal tax rates on some -- at least one high income tax bracket and i think there will be a variety of tax and exclusions and deductions that are scaled back modestly and that's about it. >> it scaled-back means capt.

someone, i agree completely. ." >> i think we will see some of those things rolled back. i think the top rate will be in between 39 and 45%. >> we have some common ground among our economists where we will end up. thank you for joining us and thank you all. i appreciate the pedersen foundation to participate. >> as i have contemplated how the burlington -- the meeting to close, i remember a nobel prize winner at the university of chicago where it was presumably educated used to say if you have no alternative, you have no problem. i thought about the alternative of delivering what i'm sure you would love to hear -- a 30- minute lecture or simply saying

thank you very much. deeply appreciate the quality of panel we have invited but also the quality of the audience. so, thank you and goodbye. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> in a few moments, defense secretary leon panetta speaks of the center for new american security. "washington journal" is live at 7:00 eastern. the average new facebook is in india or indonesia right now.

they are using a mobile phone primarily. in a lot of cases, there is not an infrastructure that you have in the u.s. many americans will say facebook is good for gossip and seeing what my friends are getting for lunch but if he were to talk to somebody in the middle east, maybe, you would hear a different story which is that facebook was providing access to news to people that had unique access to information they were not able to get otherwise and you get a much more meaty store about what facebook means to them. >> more from this facebook engineer with an insider's view of the company thanksgiving day on cspan after 12:30 p.m. eastern. at 2:00, chief justice john roberts. later, space pioneers and nasa

officials pay a much to the first man to walk among, nell armstrong just before 11:00. >> defense secretary leon panetta looks at how potential budget cuts could affect the pentagon. he spoke tuesday evening at the center for new american security about the so-called fiscal cliff and defense priorities. [applause] good evening and thank you for coming. >> it is an honor to be introducing my old boss.

>> defense secretary leon panetta looks at how budget cuts could affect the pentagon. we spoke tuesday evening at the center for new american security about the fiscal cliff and fed priorities. >> thank you for coming. it is an honor to be back and an honor to be introducing my old boss. as you know, secretary of the net debt is one of the most respected and experienced hands in washington. his resume is legendary. chairman of the budget committee back in the day when they actually passed a budget, director of the office of management and budget, and chief of staff to president clinton when the white house, director of the central intelligence agency, and now secretary of defense, so the question is what in the world are you going to do next. this extraordinary resume does not do justice to the man. leon panetta is a wonderful human being and in some ways a man of contrasts. i am going to give you examples. he is known among his counterparts around the world for his warm italian bear hugs. he is also known for the laser light focus he displayed on hunting down osama bin laden. he often holds meetings in his pentagon office with his dog curled up around his feet as he is pressing a commander on how a war plan is going to advance or how they are going to make more progress.

when traveling, who he is known to hang out in the back of the plan with staff and journalists and waxing eloquent about what it is like growing up as an italian american first generation american on a walnut farm outside monterey. hours earlier he had been to all businesses delivering tough talking points on behalf of the president. he is known for his colorful language when talking and often for getting the press corps hangs on every four-letter word. [laughter] he is also known for the passion with which he pursues the stewardship of his job, whether it is seeking to end sexual assault in the military or

ensuring our officers are trained to hold the highest standards. he cares deeply and genuinely about men and women in uniform, and their families, their sacrifice, about wounded war years, our veterans. he has an easy laugh, but as he would say, he is serious as shit about protecting the united states of america. [laughter] he is a true patriot. it is my honor present to you leon panetta. [applause] >> thank you for that kind introduction. i am always reminded of my

father, who was an immigrant from italy with my mother, and my earliest recollections were washing in the back of the restaurant. my parents believed that child labor was a requirement. then he bought a farm in carmel valley after the war. he planted walnut trees and i remember working in the walnut orchard. my father would go around -- when the trees got older we would go around and shake the branches, and my brother and i would be collecting walnuts. when i got elected to congress, my father said, you have been

well trained to go to washington, because you have been dodging nuts your whole life, and i have been successfully dodging them my whole life. i listen to the positions, and i will tell you a story. when events occurred at the cia last week, my wife immediately gave me a call. [laughter] she said, i hope there is no way the president is going to ask you to take that job again. [laughter] i said no, he's been there, done that.

it is an honor to have the chance to share some thoughts with you on so many issues we confront at the defense department, and if i might take this opportunity, since we are close to thanksgiving to wish you and your families and have-- a happy thanksgiving. michelle is a great friend, and i am sorry to see her leave the department of defense, but having been in those kinds of jobs most of my life, i anderson the reason she felt she really -- i understood the reasons she felt she really wanted to spend some time -- i she really wanted to spend timei should tell you i continue to feel her positive impact community. it is not only because of her time as secretary of defense is

-- as undersecretary of defense for policy which is an important position, but also because she is a co-founder of the center for new american security, and you cannot walk for long as the pentagon and not organization. i would like to single out somebody else who came from there, miller, whose successor for michelle and in a position -- who is the successor for michelle and in a position of policy undersecretary, and he, too, is somebody i depend upon every day to try to deal with everything from a tremendous number of crises we confront to the long-term strategic challenges we also have to discuss, so i am particularly

pleased with his leadership, which follows in the footsteps of michelle and his acumen and wisdom and all the qualities i appreciate. i spent a lot of time in washington, and you need a lot of people, but it is the people who have a conscience and work hard at their jobs who are the most respected people you can work with. as we enter a second term for president obama, jim and so many other alumni will continue to play a critical role in helping guide the of ministration cost defense and foreign policy. with the election behind us, washington is turning its attention to the unfinished business, particularly the

unfinished business of the current congress, including how to avoid falling off the fiscal cliff, how to prevent it from happening, and the impact not as on the fence of the discretionary budget as well, and for our purposes, hopefully they will also take the time to pass a defense authorization in order to be able to set some important policy guidance we year. the hope is these issues can be resolved before congress adjourns, and we are all hopeful the leadership will be able to come together to find a way to resolve these issues. these are tough decisions. i know how tough they are, but they can do it.

it will take some risks, but that is part of the game. right thing, and i hope they do that. the worst thing that can happen from my perspective is they just kick the can down their road. all that would wind up doing is continuing to present a shadow as to what ultimately will happen, and that is the last thing i need. the fact is when it comes to national security, which challenges and opportunities we face in the future go beyond the political gridlock of the moment. they are significant as we look to not just today but tomorrow. in many ways i say this to the

troops, to the groups i speak to, but i believe this is an era of historic change. we are at a turning point after 10 years of war. we ended the war in iraq. nieto conducted a successful campaign to bring down gaddafi in libya. we are now embarked in what i think he is a good campaign plan to allow us to draw down in afghanistan, and we have a continuing effort against al qaeda, and as we achieve some of those important goals, the

united states is moving towards the end of the longest sustained armed conflict in the nation's history, and i would also like to take a moment to express my pride in the men and women in uniform who have fought throughout that period, putting their lives on line to protect this country. were it not for their sacrifices, were in not for their willingness to do that, we would not be able to accomplish what we have. thank god they are there. [applause] one thing i found out when i came from the cia to the defense

department, i have a lot of great joy is. -- i have a hell of a lot of great choice. i have got great weapons, a -- i have a hell of a lot of great great ships, great plains, great toys. \ technologies, but none of that would be worth anything without the good men and women in uniform that serve this country and did it take their lives to protecting this country. that is the real strength of the united states of america. as we transition into this new era, we will have to look at important priorities that will take on a greater urgency, particularly as we looked at the second term of this administration and look at what are the challenges we are going to be confronting. this is not like the past where

we come out of the war and the rest might have diminished -- threats might have diminished. then everyone winds of cutting the defense budget. this is a period where even as we come out of the 10 years of war, we are confronting major issues, major threats in the world. on terrorism. we are still at war in afghanistan and as we try to draw down in that war. we are in the process of trying to implement the department's defense strategy at the same time we are trying to meet fiscal responsibilities.

we are in a period where the budget situation in this country, a huge deficit we are facing, the debt confronting this country are limited resources and will continue to limit the resources. i did not believe we worked on budgets and the defense department. i do not believe we have to choose between national security and fiscal security. we are at the pentagon is implementing a strategy that we put together in order to deal with the fiscal challenge we are presented. congress handed us $487 billion to reduce the deficit -- the defense budgets over 10 years. my approach was to say, wait a

minute. we are not just going to cut across the board. we are not just going to hollow out the force as we have done in the past. every time we have come out of the war, whether it was korea, vietnam, the cold war, we cut the budget across the board, and we hollowed out the force. we are not going to repeat that mistake, so for that reason, i said to my service chiefs, chairman of the joint chiefs, we have got to sit down and develop a strategy for the future that will provide the defense force for the 21st century, not just now but in the future, and then we will build our budget around that strategy,

so one, we know we are going to be smaller. that is the reality of having at of these wars, but we have to be agile. we have to be flexible, and we have to be on the cutting edge of technology. we are going to have to have force projection in the areas with the biggest problems in the pacific and the middle east. we have to have a presence elsewhere in the world, and to the credit of our military, to design of presence that will allow us to go into countries to be there to help train, to have a presence to work with those countries to develop their capabilities, and it is something i have discussed going into latin america. it is something i have discussed going into the pacific, the

asia-pacific region, and the fact is we are doing that in no way countries respond -- in a way countries respond. they'd like that we are there helping provide capabilities for their own security. in addition, we have to make sure we are capable of defeating more than one enemy at a time and have the capability to do that. lastly, this cannot just be about cutting. it has got to be about investing, investing in space, investing in unman systems, investing in the kind of capability to mobilize quickly. those are important investments for the future and most importantly, maintaining our defense industrial base in this country so we are not in a position where i am forced to

contract out the most important defense capabilities i need. i cannot do that. i cannot just contract to another country. i have got to have that capability when the united states, so those are elements of the strategy. we built a budget that looked at every area of the defense budget to analyze what do we do with structure, what do we do with procurement? what do we do with regards to compensation? what do we do in trying to develop the kind of efficiencies we need to develop at the defense department? budget. congress. that. we have the problem of counter proliferation, of dealing with threat in iran. those remain unstable and

uncertain, regimes we have to deal with. we are dealing with cyber security, and this is an area that represents the battlefield of the future. we are going to have to be ready to deal with it. we are going to have to be ready to deal with the private sector and other government agencies to make sure we are ready to deal with that. now the challenge of energy security, and that is particularly true for the defense department. the ability of trying to improve our efficiency in moving from one area to another, you have got to be energy of fission, not -- energy efficient not to mention energy security with regards to larger security issues. we have got to implement this rebalance to the pacific, something i talked about on the trip i just took to the pacific. this is my fourth trip to the

pacific to make clear we are going to continue to have a strong force projection in the pacific. it is important to our economic security and our national security to be able to do that in the future. in an edition, at the same time -- in addition, at the same time, i have got a force deployed in trying to rebalance the pacific, i have got a significant presence in the middle east to deal with the threats in the middle east. i have a significant presence to deal with any potential threat we have to deal with in that region as well, and at the same time, with all of those challenges, we have to be able to take care of our service members and our veterans and military families. the sacrifices they've made,

they deserve that we stand by the commitments we have made to them. and particularly in light of the force structure reductions, which are going to take place, we've got to make sure that we provide them the support system so they can return to their communities and to their families and be able to re- establish their lives. all of that is out there and all of that are issues that we have to think about and we have to be prepared in order to protect the national security of this country. we have to be prepared to deal with. but tonight, i wanted to focus on the goal that still remains at the top of the priority list, as it must. goal that the president made very clear, that we have a responsibility to disrupt, degrade, dismantle and

ultimately defeat those who attacked america on 9/11. al qaeda. since september 11, 2001, our country has worked relentlessly to bring those responsible for the worst terrorist attacks in our history to justice. we have made very clear that we are at war with al qaeda. goingalso made clear in after osama bin laden and dozens of others that nobody attacks the united states and gets away with it. and we have made clear that we will do everything possible to ensure that such an attack never, never happens again.

that means counterterrorism will continue as a key mission to our military and intelligence professionals. as long as violent extremists pose a direct threat to the united states, our allies and global interests, we have a responsibility to counter that threat. during my tenure as director of the c.i.a. and secretary of defense, i have truly been privileged to meet and work with thousands of professionals who have made this fight their fight, who have put their lives on the line for their country and who have built the most effective global counterterrorism network the world has ever seen. their work, i believe, has made

the american people safer. the united states more secure. and has put al qaeda on the defensive. let me describe some of the progress that has been achieved in this fight against al qaeda. first of all, with respect to core al qaeda in afghanistan and pakistan, and that's where the leadership of al qaeda after 9/11 found refuge. our military forces, our intelligence professionals, our diplomats, our development experts have taken the fight to al qaeda's leadership. first through dramatically expanded counterterrorism operations on the afghanistan- pakistan border. and second, through a renewed, revitalized and properly resourced effort to help build an afghanistan that can secure and govern itself. and that's the fundamental

mission in afghanistan is to ensure that that country can govern and secure itself so it will never again become a safe haven for al qaeda. over the last few years, al qaeda's leadership, their ranks, have been decimated and includes the loss of four of al qaeda's five top leaders in the last 2 1/2 years alone. osama bin laden, sheik al masri and others in what has been the precise campaign in the history of warfare and numerous operational priorities and commanders in this region have been killed or captured.

this pressure has significantly demoralized and weakened al qaeda in terms of their core capability and seriously disrupted their active plotting against our homeland. the broader military campaign in afghanistan has also been central to our efforts to disrupt and dismantle and defeat al qaeda. that is why roughly 68,000 american troops remain in afghanistan today supporting the asap mission and our afghan partners. together they are battling the violent insures that seeks to a violent insurgency that seeks to topple the afghan government and have not given up on that

effort and they seek to be able to return to afghanistan in order to provide sanctuary for extremists. if we are to defeat al qaeda, that cannot happen. and make no mistake, we remain determined to prevent al qaeda from ever again launching a terrorist attack on america from safe havens inside afghanistan. over the past two years since the 33,000 surge troops were ordered by president obama and arrived in afghanistan, we have continued to put pressure on the taliban-led insurgency and made real progress and i believe building an afghanistan that can secure and defend itself against that threat. earlier this month, there was an in-depth assessment of the insurgency following the conclusion of the surg.

by nearly every indication the insurgency has been weakened. the violence decreased in 2011 and 2012. the insurgency has been pushed out of population centers and strategic areas. security dramatically improved this year in most of afghanistan's largest municipalities with a drop in kabul and 62% in kandahar. casualties have been reduced, declining by 30% this year. these signs of progress are real. and so are the challenges that remain. this is an insurgency that is resilient and they will do

everything they can to project strength to afghan community. the taliban claims responsibility with the inside terrorist attacks and have launched high-profile attacks and assassinations and will continue to do that. but in the face of these tactics, we have been able to maintain strong international unity and a strong commitment to finish the job. as the insurgency has been rolled back, we have vastly improved the capabilities of the afghan national security forces to maintain these gains after most of the international forces will have departed. every day, every week, every month, afghan forces are shouldering more and more of the burden.

2011, i mentioned this time and time again, i believe, marked an important turning point in the war effort, because we were able to see afghan forces become operational and take charge of security. in 2012, that process of transition took firm hold across the country. the transition is now well under way. we have transitioned an area that involves 75% of the afghan population. and that population is increasingly secure. as a result, we are on track for two key milestones. one is that the afghans will be in the lead throughout the country for security in mid- 2013. and afghans will ultimately take full responsibility for security by the end of 2014.

after 2014, the united states has made clear through a strategic partnership agreement that we will maintain an enduring presence and a long- term commitment to afghans' security. and nato made a similar commitment to a post-2014 afghanistan at the chicago summit last may. all of this sends a very simple and a very powerful message to al qaeda, to the taliban and to the violent extremist groups who want to regain a safe haven in afghanistan. we are not going anywhere. our commitment to afghanistan is long-term, and you cannot wait us out. this is important. because al qaeda, the taliban and other associated forces under pressure in pakistan,

continue to view the rugged terrain of northeastern afghanistan especially kunar province as a viable safe haven. a relentless and effective counterterrorism effort conducted by our special operation forces this year made clear we will not allow them to regain that sanctuary. as a result of prolonged military operations, al qaeda has been significantly weakened in afghanistan and pakistan. its most effective leaders are gone. its command and control have been degraded and its safe haven is shrinking. al qaeda's ability to carry out a large-scale attack on the united states has been seriously impacted. and as a result, america is safer from a 9/11-type attack.

these gains are real. but it is important to point out that even with these gains, the threat from al qaeda has not been eliminated. we have slowed the primary cancer, but we know that the cancer is also spreading to other parts of the global body. two examples of that spreading al qaeda presence, yemen and somalia. for years, our eyes have been wide open to the growing capabilities of yemen-based al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, which has also targeted our homeland for attack. so violence and chaos in yemen itself. we have struck back in

an effort to dismantle this group through a very close partnership with the government of yemen, by training local security forces. we are building and training a counterterrorism force poising to be the most effective over the long-term and that force is the people of yemen themselves. by participating, we have put pressure and giving the people of yemen to free themselves from the grip of these terrorists. aqap leaders who have targeted the united states have met their demise. plots have been disrupted and innocent lives have been saved. but this fight has not been easy. as yemen's government became destabilized last year, aqap

took control of several key cities in the south of yemen. in the months since, their advances have been largely reversed through a renewed and even more effective partnership with yemen's new government. our work in yemen is far from done. dismantling them, eliminating it as a threat to the united states will ultimately require sustained pressure, more u.s. training and assistance, close partnership with the government and people of yemen and political support for transition. another country we have made good progress is somalia. for years -- when i became director of the c.i.a., it was obvious that somalia was a failed state.

the failed state where the militant group controlled large pieces of territory. declared allegiance to al qaeda and brought about a humanitarian crisis and planned attacks in the region. but there, too, we have seen significant progress. in large part because of an effective partnership between the united states and the african union mission in somalia. the result of these efforts is an al shabaab that has lost 50% of the territory it held in 2010 and since losing control of mogadishu, hundreds of fighters have vend surrendered. these forces took the strong hold and a number of other strategic towns and as a result

today, al shabaab is diminished as a threat and we continue to work every day to consolidate these gains against these terrorists. but still, our challenge is far from over. yes, we have decimated core al qaeda. and yes, we have made notable progress against its associated forces in yemen and somalia. and yes, we have reduced the chance of a large-scale terrorist attack against the united states. but al qaeda, the al qaeda cancer has also adapted to this pressure by becoming even more widely distributed, loosely- knit and gee graphically disbursed. fight against al qaeda has taken a new direction, one that

demands that we be especially adaptable and resilient as we continue the fight. president obama has made clear, we will fight not just through military means, but by harnessing every element of american power, military, intelligence, diplomatic, law enforcement, financial, economic and above all, the power of our values as americans. al qaeda has long sought to operate in areas beyond the reach of effective security and governance. after being left on the sidelines of the momentous changes that swept through -- al the arab world last year, al- qaeda qaeda affiliated groups

are taking control of territories in the north and pose an emerging threat. we are concerned about libya, where violent extremists and affiliates of al qaeda attacked and killed innocent americans in benghazi. with respect to that attack, let me be clear, we will work with the libyan government to bring to justice those who perpetrated those attacks.

to protect americans at home and overseas, we need to continue to pursue al qaeda wherever they go, whatever form they take, wherever they seek to hide. we must be constantly vigilant. we must be constantly determined to pursue this enemy. but what will it take to achieve the end of al qaeda or at least the beginning of the end? first, it will be essential to finish the job that we started and that we must complete in afghanistan and we are on track to do that. as we and our nato partners agreed, afghans need to be responsible for their own security by the end of 2014. this transition is our goal and it's the afghans' goal as well, but will require continued commitment by the international

community and the united states in order to help the afghan forces achieve that goal. we have come too far, we have invested too much blood and treasure not to finish the job. there are no shortcuts, nor can we afford to turn away from this effort when we are so close to achieving success and preventing al qaeda from ever returning to this historic epicenter for violent extremism. second, we will need to maintain pressure on al qaeda in pakistan, aqap in yemen and forces in somalia. that means dismantling their capabilities, remaining vigilant to make sure the threat does not reconstitute including pakistan.

despite challenges in the bilateral relationship between the united states and pakistan, one area in which our national interests continue to align, continue to align, is defeating the terrorists on pakistan soil that threaten both of us. we remain committed to pursuing defense cooperation based on these shared interests. thirdly, we must prevent the emergens of new safe havens for al qaeda elsewhere in the world that could be used to attack the united states or our interests. the last decade of war has shown that coordinated efforts to share intelligence, to conduct operations with partners are critical to making sure that al qaeda has no place to hide. we will expand these efforts,

including through support and partnership with governments in transition in the middle east and north africa. this campaign against al qaeda will largely take place outside declared combat zones using a small footprint approach that includes precision operations, partnered activities with foreign, special forces operations and capacity- building so that partner countries can be more effective in combating terrorism on their own. wherever possible, we will work through and with local partners supporting them with the intelligence and resources they need in order to deter these common threats. for example, in mali, we are working with our partners, in western africa, who are committed to encountering the regional threat through regional statistic built.

fourth, in support of these kinds of efforts, we have to invest in the future. in new military and intelligence capabilities and security partnerships. our new defense strategy makes clear that the military must retain and even build new counterterrorism capabilities for the future. as we reduce the size of the military, we are going to continue to ramp up special operations forces, which have doubled in size from 37,000 on 9/11 to 64,000 today. special operations forces will grow to 72,000 by 2017. we are expanding our fleet of predatory and reaper u.a.v.'s over what we have today. these enhanced capabilities

will enable us to be more flexible and agile against a threat that has grown more diffuse. we are continuing to invest in building partner capacity, including through section 1206 authority to train and equip foreign military forces. our new global security contingency fund has been very helpful in placing new emphasis on cultivating regional expertise in the ranks, which brings me to the final point, that too often takes a back seat to our operations against al qaeda. what do we do, what do we do to prevent extremist ideologies from attracting new recruits in the future? over the past decade, we have successfully directed our

military and intelligence capabilities at fighting terrorism. and yet, we are still struggling to develop an effective approach to address the factors that attract young men and women to extreme ideology. and to ensure that governments and societies have the capacity and the will to counter and reject extreme violent extremism. to truly end the threat from al qaeda, military force aimed at killing our enemy alone will never be enough. the united states must stay involved and invested through diplomacy, through development, through education, through trade in those regions of the

world where violent extremism has flourished. that means continued engagement, continued engagement in pakistan and following through on the commitments we have made in afghanistan to their long-term stability. secretary clinton has also outlined a comprehensive strategy in north and west africa, combining security assistance, economic development, strengthening democratic institutions, advancing political reform. these regions are undergoing a historic transition that offers many in the region hope for a better future. but these changes, unless influenced by the international community could result in greater turmoil.

the american people were outraged by the loss of ambassador chris stevens and three others in benghazi. they were supporters of peace and friends of libya and the libyan people have turned against the violent extremists that have killed them. of course we will be vigilant and we will posture our military and intelligence forces to prevent and, if necessary, respond to threats of violence against our interests throughout the middle east and north africa, including threats against our embassies and consulates and our diplomats themselves. but to truly protect america, we must sustain and in some areas deepen our engagement in the world. our military, intelligence, diplomatic and development efforts are key to doing that.

after all, we are confronting a number of challenges in the middle east and north africa. at some point, we must find ways to peacefully resolve the war in syria, the conflict between israel and the palestinians and to the destabilizing threat from iran. and every time and overtime, we also must address religious, economic and cultural differences that create tension and that are exploited by extremists. still, as our country emerges from a decade of large-scale conflict and confronts new fiscal constraints here at home, i frankly worry that our political system will prevent us from making the investments in diplomacy and development that we need to ensure we

protect america's interests in these volatile regions of the world. these investments, unfortunately, lack a constituency in the congress at a time of great fiscal pressure. indeed, we face the prospect of budget sequestration. it would be devastating to national security not just because of what it does to our national defense, but also for what it does to these programs that support diplomacy and enhance our quality of life. our men and women in uniform know too well what sacrifice is all about for the sake of our nation. for more than a decade after we were attacked on september 11, they have fought and they have bled on distant battlefields and have made our country safer.

if we turn away from these critical regions of the world, we risk undoing the significant gains they have fought for. that would make all of us less safe in the long-term. this is not a time for retrenchment. this is not a time for isolation. it is a time for renewed engagement and partnership in the world. after iraq and afghanistan, we are entering, as i said, a new and different era with a multitude of different threats and challenges. the united states military must prepare for these challenges and we will. but america must continue to lead this fight against al qaeda. our partners demand it. the threat demands it.

and our fellow citizens demand it. on september 11, 2001, the united states was thrust into a war that we did not ask for, nor did we seek. over 11 years later, we have fought back with a vengeance to make clear we will do whatever we must to make sure 9/11 never happens again. we have made america safer. but we must not rest until we have made america safe. today and tomorrow. thank you very much. \[applause] c-span3 [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012]

>> in a few moments, "washington journal." the schedule begins tonight with an analysis of the election. with democratic and republican strategists. at 9:35, one of their talks about "why women still can't have it all." and cbs news chairman on the future of network tv news at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. in about 45 minutes, we will preview of some of the cases coming up in the supreme court. at 8:30 eastern,