have agreed to train 5000 to 8000 members of a general- purpose force, with italy and newu.k. to be the core of a libyan army. we are also in the process of beginning to implement a global security contingency fund, a border security program to provide technical expertise, training and equipment to build libya's border security capacity. security is only part of the solution. we also welcome the opportunity with our partners to help the libyan government build its governance capacity. finally, we continue to view tunisia as one of the region's best hopes for a successful transition to democracy. the assassination of an opposition politician in july led to calls for the dissolution of the government. civil society mediators have been facilitating negotiations between the government and the opposition. we are encouraging tunisia leaders across the political

spectrum to continue efforts to finalize a constitution that respects the universal rights of all tunisians and to set an election day. it also remains a top priority to help ulster tunisian security capacity. this region remains vital to protecting our national interest as we look to maintain relationships with key allies and nudge nascent democracies through difficult transitions. with the aim of promoting stability and countering extremist threats. chairman, thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today. i look forward to answering your questions. >> thank you very much. ms. dory. >> chairman, i am pleased to appear before the subcommittee for the first time to provide an update on the security situation in north africa and the department of defense's engagement strategy in the region.

dod is committed to working closely with the state department to enhance u.s. government security assistance to build the capacity of north african security forces. thatpproach recognizes developing strong and responsive defense institutions can support regional stability, halloween partner militaries to operate under civilian authority while respecting the rule of law and international human rights. each of the countries under discussion today faces a differing array of political, economic and governance challenges as a result of the political upheavals that you have cited. north african countries will continue to face security challenges. in addressing the challenges will take time, particularly in the case of libya. our goals are to focus on long- term institution building and regional cooperation. to be supportive of host nation requests and to maintain a limited and affective u.s. military foot and in the region. in morocco, algeria and tunisia,

dod maintains close military to military ties with our respective senior military and civilian counterparts. our shared security goals include countering terrorism and enhancing cross-border security. we engage with counterpart defense institutions in each of the three governments on a bilateral basis to ensure alignment of goals and prioritization of security cooperation activities. in addition to bilateral engagements, the trans-sahara counterterrorism partnership is a multi-year regional program that brings state department, department of defense and usaid together to build capacity and resilience of the government and communities, to address the threat of violent extremist organizations. a few quick remarks on each of the countries. remains a, libya country in a very difficult democratic transition. militia violence and consequent attacks continue within the country.

the government is unable to control its borders, contributing to instability. department of defense is prioritizing assistance to focus anduilding libyan security improving the government's ability to counterterrorism and secure and destroy its chemical weapons stockpiles. on the latter point, our chemical weapons program with libya is on schedule to a limited remaining libyan chemical weapons by the end of 2013 in accordance with international commitments. thanks to congressional support, this fiscal year, the united states will work with libya to develop their capacity to conduct counterterrorism operations and border security, particularly along the southern land border. to requests from the prime minister, we have offered to provide general-purpose force military training as already mentioned. to helpning is intended the government build the

military at the priors to protect government institutions and maintain order. it builds on the g8 summit announcement that focused on the expansion of support for libya's security sector. tunisia's military deserves credit for supporting and protecting the population during tunisia's democratic transition. the government continues to grapple with the threat of extremism. our assistance focuses on counterterrorism support, border security training and a continuation of long-standing programs such as the international military education and training program and foreign military financing. algeria has been a critical security partner. in particular, it is a linchpin in the struggle against al qaeda and its affiliates. the january 2013 terrorist attack against the oil facility highlighted the growing transnational threats in the region.

algerian military continues to conduct successful operations on its southern border against aqim and affiliates. algeria provides training and equipment assistance to its neighbors, and tribute into broader regional efforts. dod engages with algeria across a range of activities to include information sharing and exercises. with morocco, the united states and morocco share a bilateral history of operations. morocco has been a partner in the struggle against terrorism. the visit of the king has been referenced. the secretary of defense and secretary of state had an excellent meeting with him yesterday to discuss shared concerns. our long-standing cooperation with moroccans continues. thank you for the chance to discuss the u.s. military cooperation and foreign policy. i look forward to your questions. >> thank you. ms. romanowski. >> thank you for the opportunity

to appear before you today to ask -- discuss ongoing efforts to support u.s. interest in north africa. north africa is a region of many possibilities and great importance. faces daunting challenges, especially in this transition period. usaide past three years, has supported morocco, tunisia and libya has the right new constitutions, reform institutions, carry out credible and transparent elections, and as citizens and gate -- advocate for increased political participation. our programs target the development challenges that span north africa including high unemployment and a lack of economic road. we work to address factors that push local populations toward violent extremism. the arab awakening has been a regional phenomenon. each country experiences it differently. we have tailored our programs to each country are specific needs. in libya, usaid has supported the transition by developing

governance institutions and building an emerging civil society. as libyans begin to draft a new constitution, usaid is working to ensure that the libyan people are engaged in that process. we are promoting women's empowerment by supporting programs that engage women in the political process like a series of training programs where some women were provided internships with the high national elections commission. these women were in fact permanently hired. usaid is supporting women through economic growth programs that strengthen women entrepreneurs by providing business skills, training and improving access to finance through brokered relationships with financial institutions. thesia remains one of region's best hopes for a successful transition to democracy. usaid strongly supports the tunisian people as they lay the foundation for economic prosperity that empowers a new generation, strengthens civil society and solidifies the institutions of democracy.

to promote economic growth, we launched the tunisian american enterprise fund, a signature u.s. initiative that will invest in growing the tunisian economy. currently capitalized at $40 million, the enterprise fund is designed to develop the much- needed private sector in tunisia , expand access to credit, and create opportunities for tunisian small and medium-sized businesses. in 2012, usaid provided the provisional government $100 million in cash transfer that supported its short-term budget needs. usaid also subsidized the cost of a $485 million loan guarantee to go up -- help guarantee financing needs. encouraging job-training in areas like communications technology. our program recently organized a job there were 4500 young tunisians met with over 200

employers to discuss job opportunities. haswork in the ict sector generated over 2400 new jobs for tunisians. is also actively engaged in helping tunisians build a peaceful and stable democratic political process. during tunisia's historic elections, usaid supported the only nationwide campaign targeting women voters and also, a get out the vote campaign that focused on youth. for tunisia's upcoming elections, usaid will support international and local monitoring activities. for over 50 years, usaid and the government of morocco has had a strong bilateral relationship that continues today. this year, to support the ambitious political and economic reform goals of the moroccan government and respond to the needs of the moroccan citizens, usaid has designed a new five-

year country development strategy. this is a focused plan to work side-by-side with the government of morocco, civil society and the private sector to enhance the employability of morocco's large youth demographic, improve the education system, strengthen the civil society organizations and improve the credibility and transparency of political parties. during this visit of mohammed the sixth, we will launch this new strategy, reaffirming our long history of cooperation and promoting sustainable development in morocco. during this time of transition, it is essential that a id continuous engagement with the region's people and governments to build free democratic prosperous and secure nations. this engagement is vital to countering extremist threats, maintaining relationships with key allies and advancing key u.s. strategic interests. german, thank you very much. i look forward to answering your questions. >> thanked all of you for your

opening testimony. to have the representatives of our defense and diplomacy and development in the region is wonderful. it gives us a full view. it is also particularly fitting because africa probably have the most integration of military and civilian governmental outreach in the african region. it is fitting that you will be here. you have reached organizing the your comments largely on reports in the four countries individually, talking about the united states's bilateral activities. ms. dore, you mentioned efforts to promote regional cooperation. i would like each of you to address what is going on regionally. what do you do regionally that tries to link any or all of these four countries together and possibly begin with discussions of the partnership which encompasses other nations as well.

it does seem like there is a regional opportunities. let's pick up on regional cooperation. what is the current status? what can we do more to promote it? chairman, let me start with a few general comments. as you indicated, i think all of us have underscored the region as a whole is of great importance and has a lot to offer in terms of security and u.s. interest. one of our challenges has been to ensure through our diplomatic and other engagements that we can work with the governments of all four countries in ways that support each other. underscoring and my remarks, i think morocco and algeria present certain strengths which can be helpful to libya and tunisia. one of the issues is to try to use those strengths for security support throughout the region.

likewise, in terms of economic development, unfortunately it is a region in which there is not deficient economic integration. that drags down the economic of the region. efforts, we are seeking to try to break down those barriers and encourage the kind of joint economic effort. the countries of the region do provide a lot of value. morocco comes to mind. morocco is the center of a very moderate islam which is looked to throughout the region as a place to try to help moderate some of the extremist and have that kind of influence broadly beyond its borders. we try to work with them to leverage that. >> other comments on the regional cooperation? , pardon me.rman

one of the very specific things we are doing is also under the g-8 umbrella. it is specifically to have launched the transition fund. this is a multilateral partnership that is intended to provide assistance that alters -- bolsters reform efforts across the middle east and north africa, but also for economic cooperation and coordination and economic growth. the u.s. isfund, helping to marshal this international resource to advance economic reforms. the fund is administered by the world bank and fun proposals crafted by the governments in partnership with the international financial institutions provides technical assistance that support these economic reforms and opportunities for trade. it tries to build institutions and strengthening government policies. -- a verye of

significant fund which is designed to bring the region together. it is limited to countries in the partnership, which is jordan, tunisia, egypt, morocco, yemen and libya. >> could you talk a little bit about the trans-sahara counterterrorism partnership status of efforts and how successful that regional effort has been? >> i would be glad to. i thought it was important to emphasize the regional dynamics that are so critical when you're looking at transnational threats and flows across borders. one of the challenges we face as the u.s. government is in terms of our implementation. we typically implement on a bilateral basis through our embassies. tsctp is important as a regional initiative that has been in place for close to a decade it really seeks to have broader regional effects in the way that resources are aligned whether

they are usaid resources or state department resources. think we have had success on the u.s. government side aligning ourselves to consider regional effect. the other side of the coin is, how do our african partners present themselves? regional institutions are at different stages of development in each part of the continent. even the part that we are focused on today in north africa , the union is the relevant regional entity. it is less institutionally developed than some of the other regional organizations. in west africa, they have a very strong economic component as well as security component. we continually look for opportunities to strengthen existing regional institutions and work in regional ways when we can.

a very concrete example would be when we are working with governments to host military exercises and we seek to involve participants from multiple other countries beyond the actual host nation where the exercise is being conducted. >> thank you. a couple of questions about morocco. you referenced a project that is going to be announced between the u.s. and morocco. can you elaborate on that? >> yes, it is actually a five- year new the revised strategic country development plan that we do and try to do every five years where we actually focus on whether we need to shift our with theng and we work moroccan government. in this strategy that we will be announcing this afternoon, we on continuing to

build strong civil society organizations so that they can participate in the political process. ourre also focusing on continued support for education. improving the education system. at this point, there are significant issues related to early dropout and underachievement. , in line with shifting our focus across the region, focusing on much more job development and job programs. how do we actually help the young people in morocco, but across the region, to have the skills, the job skills, leadership skills to get jobs that are relevant to the private sector that is looking for employment? >> thank you. mr. schmierer, if i could ask you to talk about -- first, a point that was made about morocco that i find compelling

is along with algeria, its capacity to be an example for the other nations. it is so much better to have an example that is near at home rather than point out an example far away. morocco's history of respectful religious minorities, some of the advances in opportunities for women in the commercial and civic sphere are very strong examples that i think we should be highlighting. a couple of questions. challenge hasnued been the status of the western sahara. that is a challenge that is in the u.n. province -- it is a source of tension between morocco and algeria. i am concerned about it because if borders -- one of our challenges in the region is disputed territory. it suggests to me a potential vulnerability. the western sahara situation has been in a diplomatic stasis for some time. can you talk about its current

status and what u.s. policy is with respect to a resolution? >> i would be happy to. you're certainly correct to point out that this is a long- standing source of tension. unfortunately, tension among countries in the region as well. position is that we fully support the u.n. secretary- general's efforts and we are very fortunate to have a very able diplomatic ambassador, chris ross, s his personal envoy to try to continue to resolve this issue. he has been out there numerous times to talk to the various parties. there have been some viable proposals made and we certainly want to give those the opportunity to be looked at. ultimately, we think there should be and could be a peaceful, sustainable and mutually agreed solution. the parties will be the ones that ultimately have to make that resolution. put our support behind the u.n. secretary

general and ambassador, chris ross, to continue to move the issue forward. >> do you have any sense of the timing or what you would for see ? i know it has been an open-ended issue year after year. >> i think it is 35 years -- yes, it is a long-standing issue. it would be hard to speculate but one might hope there is change underway. with ambassador ross's engagement and his diplomatic skills and the support of the international community, one could certainly hope that we will begin to see some new ways forward that might bring this to a resolution. >> what is your assessment of the reform efforts undertaken by king mohammed since the arab awakening began? >> when he first came to office, he began to make some reforms which i think were very well received. we were pleased and supportive of those reforms. that effort has continued as i pointed out under their new

constitution. islamist led government and we have seen a number of changes in that government leadership. situationc government which has been very well received by the people. i think that they are seeking more and more to bring in the kinds of values and principles that we have long since promoted. i think you referenced the fact that women and youth and various minorities now really do enjoy an improved situation and more opportunities. we just want to continue. will give using that opportunity to continue to work with the moroccans as they seek to move further down the path. and the civilian political power of an islamist led government -- it has not disturbed the relationship with the united states? that is generally gone in a continuous way.

>> i think in the moroccan context, one sees it a little bit differently than perhaps some other context. the fact that this resulted from constitutional changes understood to be free and fair elections. the government and the king had continue to work together. that has been a positive example of progressive change. , one last -- ms. dory question about morocco. how is the moroccan military been as a partner? >> we have at a very strong relationship over many years. incorporated in the types of training activities that we do in terms of the exercises that on al qaeda and affiliates is central in the types of conversations and tactics that are underway with the moroccan military.

we have been very encouraged even though morocco is not a neighbor of mali with the events past two years, there are concerns and considerations there in the works they are doing to support the efforts, the force that is in place, the multinational peace force. moroccans have provided a field hospital to that effort and they are in the process of providing training that will be religious training for people who were based in mali to help with countering violent extremism. ,ven well beyond their borders morocco has had a long history of participating in peacekeeping operations. they continue to be quite engaged. the other thing i would like is moroccan leadership in hosting a border security ministerial in

the last couple of weeks that was attended by its neighbors in north africa. again, the demonstration of leadership well beyond its borders. >> let me ask a question, switching to algeria. tell me if i am wrong. outside review, seems to have some challenges. for example in youth unemployment and disaffected youth. it does also seem that they have not been beset with significant civil unrest. is that correct? if so, how do you interpret that? civil unrest is a notable thing in the region. offer our be happy to views. algeria is a country with considerable resources and a certain amount of wealth.

it is the largest country in africa -- it is a country whose resources are well matched with its population. i think the government has tried to provide opportunities there for their large youth cohort. we believe more could be done in terms of free-market development and those kinds of things. i think at this point, the government has been fairly successful in directing its resources in ways that have supported the people and as a reload, they have maintained a certain level of stability. side,the counterterrorism the algerian military has had its own experience -- sadly, but that has enabled them to be very dory, youdened -- ms. describe the relationship in your opening statement. if you would talk a little about the capacities of the algerian military along the lines of, could they offer assistance to other nations?

>> as you referenced, the algerians have had a searing experience internally in dealing and are a -- aqim very fine counterterrorism force at this point. they have been working to focus in thering their borders past year and a half or so with all of the events in mali and i think that is well-known. haveis less known and we encouraged them to speak more about it, is the support they provide to some of their neighbors when it comes to training and equipment assistance. they are in addition to being strong counterterrorism operating force within their own borders, they are sharing their expertise with other partners. in terms of the relationship with the u.s., i would say we have a growing relationship with the algerians, particularly in

recent times where we are having additional dialogs as it pertains to counterterrorism. we are sharing information. they are very interested for example, with improvised explosive devices and some of the tactics, techniques and procedures that the united states has developed in the course of operations in afghanistan and iraq. this is something within the algerian context where aqim activities, the continued evolution on their part, there is a growing ied threat within algeria is forming the basis of some of the collaboration we have at this point both in terms of information sharing as well as looking at equipment that we would be able to share with algerians. romanowski, usaid does not currently have significant programs in algeria, correct? >> correct.

usaid has an extremely limited presence. we have been working to launch a program that is consistent with combating terrorism and extremist programs, but the program we tend to do from morocco where we have a mission and have for a long time. >> is that status of only limited activity in algeria likely to change in terms of usaid landing in the foreseeable future? any thing on the rise in that would allow us to or enable us to change that. when we have opportunities, particularly with respect to regional programs, we will take every opportunity we can. >> let me move to tunisia. this would maybe be a question for all of you to weigh in if you care to. dialoguet the national , the status of the national dialogue currently.

a number of things have gone well in tunisia. the political assassinations this year have led to significant unrest. about how thatlk factors into the ongoing national violence -- but -- dialogue? >> it is the birthplace of the arab awakening. i think everybody is looking to try to help tunisia get through what is turning out to be a .ifficult challenge the assassinations have led to a call for national dialogue and transitional government. the steps that are needed to be taken -- first, the parties need to select independent figures to be the leader of the caretaker government. right now, the parties are regrouping to try to get to that point. one fact has been agreed to. was the legislature approves that, there will be the

legislator seeding a nine-member electoral monitoring board. there will be a electoral law and a date for new elections and then adopting a new constitution. those are the step-wise procedures that would happen through the national dialogue effort. >> one other question. each of these countries have their own peculiarities. one in tunisia that i find fascinating is the powerful nature of the trade union federation. describe as part of the national dialogue, the role that the trade union federation plays. is it likely to continue to play that kind of role going forward? as theat likely alter national dialogue goes forward? >> it is a very strong institution in tunisia and has been for some time. clearly all the parties involved will be ensuring that they work with and coordinate with the trade union congress.

it would be hard to predict. i would anticipate that will continue because it has been an institution of long-standing. there are dynamics at play where potentially you could see other senators in power and merge. they are still kind of getting into that new period following the revolution. i think one would anticipate a continued strong role by the trade union conference. >> currently, missouri, talk about the role -- mystery -- dory, talk about groups in tunisia, if you could. theunisia has focused on political process as it needed to. there was a growing realization -- they took the step after a itiod of time as designating a terrorist organization, recognizing that it was operating outside the boundaries

of the political entity within their political process. the tunisian military has faced recent challenges in terms of andcks against the military their positioning along the algerian border. they are in the process of undertaking a quite kinetic series of engagements against israel -- other extremist organizations in their country. i think that is something that we need to continue to be vigilant vis-à-vis the possibility that additional fighters float into tunisia or through tunisia given the challenges associated with the borders. >> overshadowed by the benghazi attack was the fact that the embassy was also attacked within a few days thereafter. thank you goodness, not in such a serious way.

that is one of the reasons it was overshadowed. have we done what we needed to do, learned lessons from that attack as well and provided additional security as needed to our diplomatic personnel in tunisia? >> i would say very strongly, yes. our top priority is the security of our people, our facilities and of americans abroad. as you suggest, that was very unfortunate but an incident which has caused us to redouble our assessments and efforts in terms of security. i know ambassador wallace has been very active on those -- both physical security and procedural measures to ensure that our embassy in tunisia is secure and has what it needs to ensure its purity. tunisia,espect to there does appear that the united states have a very comprehensive approach to tunisia from security assistance, economic assistance,

threshold programs and potential support for an eventual free trade agreement. are we getting good cooperation from other international partners in trying to devote this comprehensive approach to increasing stability and eventually prosperity in tunisia? >> i would say on the political front, absolutely. we are in very close contact with allies and other countries in the region that also share our goals of stabilizing and helping tunisia move forward. that is true across the region of all these transitioning countries. that is one great success story. of like-commitment minded nations whether they are aberrant nations, european nations or others -- arab nations come a european nations or others. moving to questions about libya before the second panel. you testified about the

destruction of chemical weapons. i don't want that to be lost. for all the significant challenges that remain, the destruction of chemical weapons stockpiles is something that is very important to note and to praise. you indicated a date on which we believe that the libyan stockpile will be completely eliminated? >> the current projection is by the end of the year. >> can you describe the volume of the chemical weapons stockpile that we have been to dog with in trying that destruction? >> we have been working to destroy in the first instance a series of munitions that included artillery shells, hundreds of artillery shells, bombs and other new nations cartridges. a significant stockpile of munitions. there were other materials that will need to be destroyed as well from production of those munitions. >> if we could, let's talk about

the militias. some have called for an forceational peacekeeping to try to begin and engagements around a massive disarmament effort among the militias. is that a realistic proposal. -- proposal? >> that is not the approach that we are supporting. as i mentioned, we ended early and the u.k. are committed to helping standup this general- purpose force. our colleagues will be the essential info matches on that. we think that is an appropriate and ultimately really successful way to address the internal security issues in libya. >> mr. schmierer, you indicated that training of that general- purpose force would be at about the level of 5000 people that

would be trained. >> our commitment coming out of the g-8 was 5000 8000. since that time, the italians and the british have also indicated a commitment of 2000 each. those numbers will then be somewhere between 5000 and 10,000. the libyan government is the sponsor and the funder of the obviously with our cooperation and we would certainly becoming the congress for their input and support for that effort. forcethat general-purpose , the size of it, is that to be a sort of core and it would ultimately be a much larger force, or how would that advance libya toward its ultimate goal of having a significant and appropriately sized purity apparatus? ask i might have to defer to my colleagues. it would be between 5000 and 10,000. very well-trained general- purpose forces for a country of 6 million.

i think ultimately, that would be a good first start and they would institutionalize and go forward, a train the trainer's kind of effort. >> what is the current status of functioning local governments in libya, local elections, is that a positive to the national government or is it seen as a sort of threat or competition? >> it is kind of a combination. at the local level, you do have functioning communities. you have local governments delivering services which are operating in support of the people. at the same time, you also have security militias and other instabilities. that is not preventing local governments from doing the basic work it would be doing, but that is not an effective way for them to continue functioning. one can say that basically, those governments are functioning but it is important to get the security part fixed so that that can continue in a

positive way. >> our involvement with nato in libya -- we have continued to have international partners in the training of the general- purpose force that you have indicated. the united states satisfied with the degree of international participation across the range of the activities that we are currently engaged in in libya that are -- are there enough partners at the table to help us make a difference? >> i can certainly indicate the planning for the general-purpose force, absolutely. as we look at other elements of the capacity building on the government side, we have for a strong commitments from a number of other allies to try to help with what needs to be developed in the country. i think the international community has done a very good job of both standing up and coordinating their support. >> could you talk about the governance initiatives and what

is currently underway? >> there are a number of planning processes where the idea would be to try to help -- what they are lacking now is the ability to actually execute the government. they have resources but they really don't have good budgetary execution capability. resources does not allow them to actually address the kinds of issues that they face. we haven't launched anything at this point, but we are working with the libyans and with allies and friends to try to conceptualize and develop and launch an effort to identify and up ande libyans stand develop the capacity they need to use their resources effectively to address the challenges they face. >> that is a sufficient question for panel one. the senator came in and i offered him the chance to make opening statements. i said, please ask questions. that normally we

are hemmed in by five or six minute? . he said he was going to seat me time to ask as many as i wanted. appreciate the testimony and the efforts to address these concerns. thank you very much for participating. i would like to ask the second panel to come on up. >> i would like to welcome the second panel before us. i will do brief introductions of the panel members and ask them to testify in the order in which i introduce them. dr. william morris is currently a visiting -- lawrence is a visiting professor. to 2013, he was director of the north africa project. he served in a number of positions in the u.s. state department. dr. lawrence spent 12 years in north africa and served with the

late ambassador in the peace corps in morocco. , his researchy has focused on political reform and security issues in the arab gulf states. he flew back from libya just yesterday. thank you for accepting our invite when you're so jet lagged. we look forward to hearing about your most recent experience. joscelyn, our third witness, is a senior fellow at the foundation for defense of democracy. also funder of a publication dealing with counterterrorism and related security issues. his research focuses on how al qaeda operates omar the world. he was the senior counterterrorism adviser to mayor giuliani during his 2008 presidential campaign. if i could begin with dr.

lawrence and have each of you do opening statements, we'll get into questions. we are expecting votes to be called sometime between 3:45 and 4:00. we will engage in vigorous questioning until we have to run over the floor. welcome and please begin. >> thank you, chairman. thank you all that helped organize the panel. i just spent two years in the region witnessing all this from up close. although i will only be able to cover so much in five minutes, i am happy to answer any questions you have about the countries and any act westerns you asked the first panel, i would be happy to address those questions. in the region and beyond, we are still living in what historians call a world historical moment where change happens fast. history accelerates and we often miss most of which is going on and get distracted by things going on over here. apt comparisons have been made

to 1989 in eastern europe and 1945. i think the best comparison is to 1848 in which the authoritarians play themselves, the liberals play themselves, and theet plays itself marxist spoilers are replaced by islamists boilers. even though one country had a regime change in 1848, about 20 countries in europe were affected and it became a process of the decline of monarchies and the growth of democracies in europe. of the 18 crunchy that rose up in the winter, the north african nations played a much larger role than the nations of the east. they incubated this change over quite a long period. they provided much of the political culture, the slogans, the rap lyrics, the ideologies. north africa continues to be the place where most of the changes taking place in the arab spring's aftermath. in a lecture i gave two years thisyou can hear a lot of analysis that i am talking

about. suffice to say, today the roots of rage and the dreams of trespass have not subsided in this region. we can't rely on the media. the media is too underfunded. just take the example of bloody friday (they where we had a massacre of civilians and a civilian uprising against militias and very poor media coverage. this could be a major turning point in the politics of libya. muchivilian uprising was like the civilian uprising after chris stephens in benghazi. yet it gets lost in this environment of big change. that also raises an important quick point about libya, which is that libya is not one big mess. it is a bunch of little messes that are not very related. the string of political assassinations in benghazi is different from the political game involving militias and their allies, which is different from what is going on in the

borders, which is different from the fighting over smuggling and trafficking in the south, different from ethnic conflict in other communities. we tend to conflict is all because no military, no police. we do great disservice to ourselves to not understand all the different dynamics in these different libyan localities. , we the last three years are talking about major changes with a national, regional and global consequences and effects. bydo ourselves disservice focusing on state-level changes and ignoring the subnational and transnational. there are dozens of ways the information coming from the region gets distorted as it flows through various filters coming to washington. one of the big ones is called egypt affect. when egypt is going well, the region is going well. when egypt is doing badly, everyone is suffering from whatever melody egypt has. tunisia is very much on its own trajectory and shouldn't be viewed through that egyptian lands. there are regional dimensions to

all this and what we often miss is what is regional. i would venture to say that egypt isn't the big problem with north africa right now. syria is the big problem. we have fighters streaming to syria. we have hundreds of deaths of north africans in syria. we have blowback effects already starting, like the young fighters coming back from afghanistan, that had a direct impact on the 1990's happening in algeria. we do ourselves a great disservice by not understanding that by putting the syria conflict on hold, it doesn't contain itself. it rocks the north accrington -- north african region and very percent ways. we were mostly concerned in 2011 about the flow of the west and the south. now that is not the concern. it is the flow back into libya. and increasing flows north and east of libya that you mentioned.

it is also not correct to see the change that happened in north africa as nonviolent. it is also incorrect to see stability as needing to be our number one goal in the region. stability for stability's sake as destabilizing effects in the region. democratic transitions are unstable. 300 tunisians died in the revolution. 20,000 libyans died in the revolution. the vast majority of the deaths were pro-revolution libyans fighting. they want change in their countries. the other martyrs often get overlooked. selfirst of 400 immolation's across the region -- the majority in algeria and the majority of these self emulators work in the informal sector. the international community and the national communities have continued the same economic polities which don't work.

on theinue to exclude formal and informal economies and even this month, we have had several new self immolation's because of despair. of of the people in all these countries work in the informal sector. 30% of the economies on average are informal sector. we are not doing a good job in terms of job creation and making the informal sector into an engine of growth rather than a problem that needs to be eradicated. people maden young these revolutions and they continue to be successful in keeping change happening. we also shouldn't see them as those kids over there. was ourways, it investment in vaccinations, our investment in mother child health care, our investment in

education, our investment in any number of areas the created this in the first place. it is created by mortality dropping traits as quickly as fertility is dropping. many of these kids studied in american universities. unfold,s continued to they were wondering why we are not there for them. in many ways, the chicken of the successful development of policy has come home to roost. we haven't sufficiently adjusted our assistance policies to take into account these new realities where big investments in health and education and women and youth on the old models create as many problems as i mentioned earlier as they solve. the real action right now is the 10 million jobs that need to be created for this youth bulge that large assets and goodwill created in the first place. i have interviewed over 5000 young people in the region over many years. these are very pragmatic young

people who have rejected the old ideologies. socialist, feminist ideologies, islamist ideologies -- the vast majority are seeking reconciled political spaces where everyone has a seat at the metaphorical dinnertable. i remember when youth activists were crushed when their group left the movement because they wanted to build a morocco where everyone had a seat at that table, where everyone worked together. we have populations with higher expectations because of the arab spring and states which are managers of violence. to whatever degree the states are to blame for that violence or are simply victims of that violence, varies from state to state. there is no question that all four states need help quelling the increase of violence and

some of it in the name of democratization, some in the moreof jobs, some in the nefarious forces that we have been talking about. let's not get on the wrong side of democratic change as we did in some of the cases in the arab spring. in our assistance and partnerships, how does this policy affect young people that are trying to emulate our system with their efforts to make political change? we don't often think that way. security, it was a good idea that hasn't been fully up limited. -- implemented. we need to do a lot more to human rights. we also need to do a lot more in economics and political reform. >> if i could ask you to start to summarize. >> yeah, i am ready.

we need to increase cooperation with all of these countries. i'm concerned about our light footprint in india -- libya. algeria wereand diplomats are very hunkered down, they do get down -- out but they are very few in number. we need to get more out to the embassies in my opinion. i am optimistic for the long term even though my prognosis for the medium term is more mixed. it needs our help, our hard and soft power and our smart power. >> thank you, dr. lawrence. >> good afternoon, chairman. thank you for the opportunity to speak about libya's worsening security crisis and the next steps in building libya's army. i join you today having flown back last night from a trip to wideazi where i met with a range of libyans including militia leaders, military officers, tribal chiefs about options to approve security. these forces were nearly unanimous in identifying the

unifying threat of much of libya's instability. the power and autonomy of the countries 300 militias. many of which the libyan government has tried to bring under control by putting them on its payroll. by all accounts, this has been a disastrous bargain that has actually given predatory militias even greater freedom. this past weekend, i witnessed a remarkable turn of events in tripoli that suggested publications has reached a tipping point. peaceful protesters marched on a compound belonging to a powerful militia, demanding that they leave. 46 of these protesters died at the hands of militiamen wielding heavy caliber weapons. .he outrage was immediate civil strikes shut down the city and protests erupted. the message was uniform and clear. we want the militias dismantled.

we want the legitimate army and police to take their place. echoing these popular demand, the united states as we have heard along with italy and britain, is considering a plan to train and equip a new libyan national army denied it as a general-purpose force. in theory, the concept is sound. bolster the army to protect elected officials and institutions and compel the militias to disarm. the plan also carries several risks. unanswered questions about the force's mission, oversight and inclusiveness could further polarize an already fractured country. to prevent this from happening, the following five issues and questions regarding the general- purpose force need to be resolved. first, its exact role and mission needs to be clarified. based on my last visit, it is not clear that the libyans have the capacity to determine this at this point. as its name implies, it is meant to be a conventional infantry force that is focused on guarding installations and

officials. what little he -- libya really needs is a more specialized armory to tackle border security , trafficking in narcotics and weapons and low-level insurgency. effective civilian oversight of this force must be in place. libya does not need to follow an all too common model in the arab world where armies self entitlement and insularity have been fatal for democracy. the libyan revolution was not to replace one kernel with another. the general-purpose force must act and be perceived as nonpartisan and professional. to prevent it from becoming the private militia of a particular tribe or region or the guard for a political faction, its recruits must draw from a broad spectrum of society and be integrated into mixed units. the u.s. and libyan authorities for properly vet recruits aptitude, human rights violations and criminal history. recent failures bear this out. an effort last year to train libyan police officers in jordan

collapsed when poorly screened recruits new need against what they perceived as poor conditions. training effort must be accompanied by a parallel to demobilize and reintegrate the young men in the militias back into society. these young men must be given economic and social incentives to leave and enter the work or, pursue schooling or join the regular police and army. doing so would provide militia bosses -- the pride militia bosses of the manpower to obstruct libya's democratic transition. in light of the stunning the u.s. andisplay, the libya's friends have the window of opportunity to help improve libya's security. the u.s. needs to proceed cautiously and deliberately. true, establishing an army is an important first step in restoring security. the militia problem cannot be

solved solely by the states' monopoly should -- monopolization of force. the militias draw from a wellspring of deep political and economic grievances. better training and equipment alone will not confer legitimacy on a new army or compel militias to surrender their arms.