..

>> we really worry about

essentially the supersizing of surveillance by the government using private sector infrastructure. essentially, if you build a using drones,odel for all kinds of other purposes may piggyback on it the same way they do, for example, for internet surveillance. not correct you can go in a court case in a divorce where is thed say g.p.s. of the driver? where were they? >> yes. private technology in a car currently being accessed for all sorts of legal purposes. >> and pursuant to a legal protections and legal regime i think that's what we would all to see here. we'd like to see, for example, a warrant used -- whether the f.b.i. is surveilling you or whether they're using private footage, there should be a for that. and if it's in public, it should be reasonable suspicion backed approval.dge's so the same controls that we have either way. >> i definitely believe in three the stool, that the

people who own the data don't accessedcide when it's by law enforcement, that a judicial process has to take place. right.'s >> i'm in agreement with you. this debate tote the focus of this it data and collection? somebody was mentioning the first. ande this is the fourth 14th amendment issues. and having a clear -- i personally would make it like the miranda rights, everybody would know what they are. you have rights to your personal information. if it's violated in some way, would obviously -- i think that's how bright the line has to be. last't think this is the application. this is not the last technology we're going to see, making sure u.s. citizens are protected needs to be a pretty basic right. >> senator, you're preaching to that.irr o-- to the choir on i agree with you. in terms of how we elevate this debate, the protections we need, f.a.a.lad to see the

talk about doing a privacy policy, beginning to consider technologysing this and figuring out how do we control personal information firste there are amendment concerns. >> is that really direct to hurt really -- is that director huert's day job? the'm not saying -- activity on jones is with the f.a.a. other agencies have figured in out. i think they may have to as well. >> i had a chance to both and question the new of patrol thisrd morning. in light of the "the washington post" article, they're using this a lot. >> yes. goodthink there's very applications for the border patrol to use this. also think people need to know there are privacy protections within that framework and that it won't be abused. and it can't just be dropped in by another agency and accessed at will. the broadening of the policy that you're talking about. >> yeah. classic mission creed. if you build a surveillance

infrastructure, it will be people. by lots of the c.b.p., example, is a perfect one of they have drones, everyone elsely wants to use them and those are spying on -- it's not just at the border, of course. know, 100 miles away from the border. so this kind of surveillance is already happening on american citizens. >> and with great concern. >> yeah. chairman, thank you for having the hearing. to me i think because this committee has oversight of i think it's a very important issue for our committee. of privacyd lots legislation in the past. and i think the committee should focus on it. again, i think the application and the technology in and of itself are great things for the u.s. i think making sure that, as we with american expression, it has its privileges, that u.s. privileges.has its and it's the right to privacy. thank you. >> thank you. chairman, thank you.

the chairman and i both serve on intelligence committee. we spent quite a bit of time and only in thisre not committee but in intelligence as committees,r homeland security and so forth. .n cyber security guess, mr. huerta, i want to ask you, regarding f.a.a. process, as to how much -- what responsibilities and how you will take a look at cyber security and protection from hacking. of the we already know that this is taking place. a privacy issue and a safety issue because hacking the system -- and we had hack publicly released system at an air force

2011 -- can result in disclosure of the collection of information that will be it'scted even though protected by privacy laws from release or whatever information is going to be collectedded. system.ng to be in the wayjust as a result of the the system works. also know that there is a safety issue here, a very significant safety issue. the problem with creech. if you can get into the system control and use the unmanned for other purposes than intended. so i wonder if you could just me a little bit of download in terms of what your thinking goon this, how we need to forward on this issue from a federal level. obviously there will have to be a number of agencies involved. >> i'm very concerned about the that issue for the reason you talked about.

we rely on the information technology infrastructure for the control of these aircraft. and that is different, and that new as it relates to how do we ensure their safe operation national airspace system. the f.a.a. is actively engaged with the technical community. working closely with rtca to establish what is an appropriate technological standard to ensure that we have cyber protections in place so that we can ensure the safe these aircraft. i think it's a big issue. and i think it is something that the research that we will be the years ahead needs to be focused on because we have to ensure that these are safely. >> do you have the resources now or -- what additional resources you need, analysis resources, to really put a strong cyber security protection system? >> we don't necessarily have a now with respect

to cyber security. the budget agreement that is congresssidered by the now does significantly increase the research in the area of within the perft view of the federal aviation administration. something that i think is a very good thing. the test site of operators have developed a research program, which they are funding and many states are effort.money into this i think it's a burgeoning area, a growing area. give it the support, as was talked about, that it needs so we can fully flush out these questions. >> well, i hope -- i'm glad to hear that you are well aware of potential problems here i think we would be open, mr. chairman, to address the questions of the resources that regard.t need in this with that i'll yield back my .ime coats.k you, senator

fisher. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i appreciate you holding this hearing today. like to thank all the panelists for being here. testimony, in your you identified several steps that the f.a.a. has already help bring this new technology into our nation's aviation system. testimony also discusses the challenges to broader and u.a.s. integration into our national airspace system, theuding such things as pilot training privacy concerns, many of the things that have discussed.n what do believe is the federal government's biggest challenge and efficient u.a.f. commercial integration into our national airspace? >> i think the significant thing that we have to address is that now today this technology operates by exception in the airspace system.

and congress has directed us, focusedf.a.a. is very on how do we integrate this technology into the airspace system. there's a wide scope of things that we need to consider. sense anded about avoid. but essentially what we need to get to is a regime where aircraft can operate in the same way that manned aircraft operate within the airspace system. and there are considerations that we have with respect to the the aircraft themselves, the certification of the operator, and how they aircraft.ith other and that's the full scope of research activities that we need to look at. earlier that iy believe it's going to be staged. acause we're going to learn lot as this technology continues to grow at the exponential rates that it has been. as we learn more, we have to be evolve and recognize that there will be differing regulatory questions that we're we're going tond

have to address them as they come forward. get to this do we integration from accommodation where we are today? you think you need from congress, if anything, if this? going to facilitate >> i think that congress has provided an important milestone for us and has really challenged us to figure out how we do this do it safely. and i think what we all need to recognize is this is a very complex issue. it has many dimensions to it. of time todaylot talking about one, the issue of privacy. but other issues have been respect to training.ion and there are a whole host of other issues that are out there. askink what i would really for is a recognition that this in terms of how we deal with it in our regulatory context. beenviation has always

about how we can be flexible and and recognize that we may not be able to provide today.ive answers what we really need to have is the flexibility that will enable we gofigure this out as along just as we have accommodated all technological innovations in aviation. >> i'm happy to hear you use the accommodate --d flexible and accommodating. as you know in the state of issue thate have an i'm going to bring up. >> i know where this is going. >> you know where this is going. exactly. >> sure. >> senator and i have sent a letter to you it deals with some of the rule changes that we believe are potentially leading some pilot shortages in rural parts of nebraska. looking at flights being cases k, canceled in many cases, especially in those sparsely populated areas of our state and i know in other states

as well. what do anticipate happening there? are we going to see some changes that 1,500-hour rule, the flight duty rule as well? andyou going to be flexible accommodating with us? >> well, we're certainly working with the carriers in question to figure out how we can accommodate the unique reur789s requirements that we have. but a couple of things that i think are important that do that.e a framework around first of all, the 1,500-hour was actually established in statute by congress in 2010. f.a.a. enactedhe last year actually is relieving of that. what that provides is an opportunity within the framework the authorization for military and educational credit to be applied towards the that 1,500-hour rule. theelieve that has struck appropriate balance of ensuring

that we can be flexible there. flight duty and rest, we announced those rules in 2011 two years torlines prepare for the implementation putmportant rules that were in place to ensure that we don't have pilot fatigue. are working with the carriers in the implementation of these. my understanding that the carrier in question that has impacts in these particular in nebraska, great lakes airline, has -- is considering whether they should reclassify from part 121, large, scheduled service, into part 135, which would bring them under a different regulatory .egime we are very interested in working with the airline to understand what their plan is. we will continue that discussion to work very closely with them and how theys out can continue to provide the important services they provide. >> well, i look forward to you on that. i understand the importance of

safety for our pilots, our passengers. but communities are also in sometimeshis distressed areas of our country when they are so sparsely populated. can work on that to protect those rural communities. thank you. chairman. mr. >> thank you, senator fischer. senator nelson. >> mr. huerta, let me ask you an .nrelated question since i've got to run to catch senators,th fellow i'm going to ask our staff director of the science and space subcommittee to visit with you after the meeting since i can't stay. >> sure. >> and that is, i want your advice on what we need to do to up one air force to ease the cape cay naval air force --

cape canaval air force station commercialaunch rockets from are that location, the actual air force property. >> mm-hmm. >> and that's the question. we want to follow this up in detail with you at a future time. now, mr. calbarese, before i race off, let me get some .larification i, along with the chairman and senator coats, i've had the serving with them on the intelligence committee in .he past we have been very mindful of of privacy with what we've been going through in prying to protect the nation's national security interests. say you are a divorce representingu are a client and you want to follow spouse.

so you can hire a private detective. oft doesn't take any kind court order. the difference of the privacy invasions of employing the services of a drone to follow the suspect spouse? >> that's a great question, senator. i think that that goes to the nature of drones, which is to say that they're cheaper, smaller, and they're easeasier to use. where by the private investigator might cost you hundreds or thousands of dollars this, a drone may be able to do it for tens or hundreds of dollars. talking about much greater privacy invasions, especially if, for example, you drone that sur veils a whole city and literally you just need one drone to do that type of tracking. can see a very different type of invasion. as such, i think it merits congress to figure out the best way to balance, you know, the first amendment rights i discussed but also to

protect people from this kind of tracking.ongoing >> well, i'll continue this with you. it does raise some interesting .uestions such as, is the drone technology more invasive than a private would be? because it's got penetrating or infrared sensors, those of things. ultimately it's going to be a question of the courts, but it somey does raise interesting questions. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator nelson. >> thank you, mr. chairman. administrator, huerta, one statement you made actually struck me, which is that with this technology, with u.a.s.ne technology, the technology that you hope that position. gets in a

where unmanned aircraft is operating under the same rules as the manned aircraft, is what say.rd you what struck me is that the unmanned aircraft, the capacity thet as just described by potential, seems to have many wouldent capacities that interfere with different areas of our lives than manned aircraft. you help me understand that? >> sure. to clarifyl, i want that i would never suggest that they would be operateds exactly the same -- operated exactly the same in the national airspace system. the distinction i was drawing was that right now unmanned aircraft operate in the national exception.stem by and the direction we've received from congress is to integrate a regularat they are part of the operation of the national airspace system. it's not by exception. now, it may be under a different which theynder

operate, but above all else the is mostat the f.a.a. concerned about is that these are to operate on a regular within thebasis national airspace system, that they operate as safely if not safelily than other aircraft. >> and one of the things -- my an attorney was general. as i look at this -- all of you today, perhaps the aclu could give us the most perspective on this. look at this question of what the rules should be in this, it really has to be in a look.government because you've got -- we don't have an official here from d.o.j. don't have from d.h.s. and there are a lot of aspects this, as senator nelson mentioned. a dronehink about using for surveillance in a divorce years ago i had a few divorce cases in private questionand there's no

in my mind that it's way more intrusive because the nature of you could see with a drone versus a private detective and have isss a drone could so much greater to the private someone's life, of what they could see verse what's havevate detective would to be on private land -- excuse me, would have to be on authorized public land and not so i think the challenges immense.n this are it's not just the players that are at this table, but it has to be a much broader consideration about what about people's rights and what type of society do we want in terms of what people are going able to see within ourselves in terms of privacy which is much broader -- appreciate all the testimony here, mr.i think chairman, that this is something that has to cross committees, too. to make sure that we get this right in terms of how we come up

with what the rules would be as drone technology can be used. this is obviously just a this.tary on all of but i would also say -- i wanted to get your opinion on this. now atates are acting state legislators -- are very this issue oft what can drones do or not do in their states. strikes me that you could ave a situation where the patch patchwork is that you have much more protection in new hampshire than you do, for example, in massachusetts which isn't uncommon in terms of privacy and issues that are important to my constituents, coming from the live free or die state. but really thinking about when have issues that may infringe on our constitution involved, views inll of your terms of a national versus a patchwork of where we are now? should come that we up with standards that really the operation of the

unmanned vehicles? end it's on the safety going to be one thing for the f.a.a., but all of these other issues where you see state get in.ors trying to i want to get your opinion on that. mr. calabrese, i'd like to hear your opinion on that. >> i think it clearly demonstrates the enormous interest in this issue. you go from zero states considering to to 43 with 13 laws happening. that's incredibly quickly. aclu is relatively agnostic in terms of state versus federal on the private is i issues. they need to protect the first and fourth amendments. so we are a little concerned rights to of the photography in the first amendment context for some of these state laws. we're chairinge, the warrant requirements, the restrictions on law enforcement use. so there's good and there's bad. certainly i think congress has a some uniformity assuming it's at a high level of privacy protection and first protection.

>> thank you. toit i may, i think paraphrase a comment earlier, i don't think all unmanned s you can say all size fits all. i think you need to look at the the safety, how it's going to be used. i think congress with the f.a.a. modernization reform act clearly provided a path forward to move industry forward. basically what i think congress, the intention, was to move forward the approval of unmanned systems that can service toseful society, that's safe, operates aline of -- operates with a lie of sight. and i think rules can be made to both safety and privacy. and that can be done on a national basis. >> may i respond? >> sure. >> i'd like to echo senator cantwell, even though she's not the room, earlier statements. i think everybody's getting a little too over focused on the drone technology.

in terms of the unmanned system, i think this room will be gathered again in a similar fashion very soon over the car technologies. unmanned cars are going to have cameras inside the car filming the car filming you, all of this will be potentially hackable to anybody external to the car. we talk about unmanned vehicle techs enologies, it's air but grounded technologies as well. so i think a lot of those same apply toe going to both domains. >> i appreciate -- i know my time is up. to me obviously this is an area we need to weigh in on and make sure that we have some clear rules here because of all are at stake,that both within the constitution and also safety issues, etc. it's really challenging. because if we're looking at a crop sprayer, we may have environmental issues. if we're looking at an issue of really surveillance technology,

then we have other issues, maybe perhaps fourth amendment, other issues. will so i think this is where it is going to have to be -- if we ton in this committee is going to have a broader view and make sure we look across thernment on what possibilities are. the so i appreciate all of you being here. >> thank you, senator. that you spoke up, because i thought this was a very good hearing but for the getle fact that you didn't asked enough questions. and so i have two for you. first of all, you brought enormous enthusiasm. you raised a question in my own mind as to whether or not other countries are ahead of us that that's necessarily a bad thing. know, people get ahead in some things and get behind in others. came out of the two wars we've been engaged in time.very long

a very different society. it's a society where people tolerate intrusion more easily, i guess, than in most western .ocieties that would probably be true of a lot of asian countries. hackn any event, can you into a drone easily? >> there are two different layers that you should be thinking of. the internal control system of a drone that actually does its controlling guidance, that would be much more difficult to do as opposed to hacking into its navigation and control system. example, g.p.s. and this is, in fact, probably technologicalgest hurdles of the drone industry but as well as the commercial aviation industry is going to have to get over. is very easy. my students could over the weekend hack into any vehicle g.p.s.by

so that is true of commercial airliners, driver's license cars. driverless cars. this is going to be a big issue in the future. so i think being able to make g.p.s. spoof proof is a major hurdle we need to get over. its country is looking at it there are lots of academic labs, int notably j.p.l. california is trying to develop what they call terrain relative navigation. budgets, i hate to beat that horse, but all of took a recentjust big hit. and unless this country puts more emphasis into terrain navigation or g.p.s. free technologies we're not going to be able to get over hurdle. but, again, i'd like to point out it's not just unmanned vehicle hurdle. aircraftlso commercial hurdle. >> yeah. you raise an important point comment on just now, but we are constraining the future.do in making.ecision

you said that you weren't much on privacy, but i want you to make yourself one for the moment and reflect on what you've heard here today. >> well, i didn't say i wasn't an expert on privacy. be so muche would discussion about it today that i didn't want to jump on that bandwagon too soon. i do think all of these privacy issues are important, but, lose sight of we techrones as a tech knowledge that's causing the privacy concerns as opposed to the technology itself. little bug robots being developed in labs that could be slipped under this door at any time and we wouldn't even were being watched because of the small scale of these technologies. it's not just a drone issue. the driverless car issue, robots issue, your skype camera on your computer that can remotely.on and, again, this speaks to a technological illiteracy problem

that we have in our nation, particularly in the government levels. be meann't mean to towards government employees, but our top people in the universities are not graduating government.to the they're not even going into the defense industry. whotop technology brains understand and who are developing these very cutting going tonologies are google, oracle, apple, they're going across the ocean. the are not staying inside government and helping this government be able to identify and then manage these issues. i think this is going to be a very serious problem in the future that our government does qualified people on staff to address these issues. that, but i think there's a countermovement which is taking place even in places virginia. i think that a lot of young people are not at all happy the being done or is run. ways think there's in many a very broad interest from people who are not yet ready to political career or

government career about the doing.lity of so and i'll be very disappointed if i'm wrong. i hope i'm not. i don't mean to be contrary, but it's one thing to be interested in going into government service. another thing to have the intenintense technological backd to need.re going people in the future are going to need a hard core background control theory, and even human psychology to be ofe to understand a lot these technologies. it basically speaks to the lack motivate goody to stem foundation in terms of the number of students that we have. must hear this all the time, that we need more and more stem funding, but i think this problem is going to particularly acute as we start to move into these more automated and autonomous technologies. >> we've done stem in this committee. we started it. reauthorized it. we're going to have to do so again. we're just up against this , you know, spendin

moneyng -- can't spend regardless. regardless. philosophy, but that's just my opinion. want to say i think this has been very wide-ranging, not but necessarily therefore better hearing a whole variety of issues in relation to different aclu role,oles, the at -- atrole, yours duke? am i right? so i think it's been stimulative respect. this is the first hearing we've had on drones. i think it ought to be that kind opening up of a variety of questions, hearings, and then more be able to focus in closely on special aspects of it. and your problem, dr. cummings, be do we do it fast enough.

having said that, the hearing is joerned -- is adjourned. >> captioning performed by the institut ins.oning copyright national 2014e satellite corp >> this morning, a discussion of spike in violence in iraq and potential iraqi createent plans to provide yinses -- provinces in contested parts of the country. the speaker speaks at the brookings institution, live at 9:00 a.m. eastern on c-span2. and at 11:00 a.m., a panel from the brookings institution recommendations for the administration on foreign ahead.issues in the year live coverage of that event also

on c-span2. >> millions of egyptians came streets in nationwide protests. >> this uprising defies any .efinitions >> about 20 minutes after theing, driving towards square, the military has come down to the streets. so i'm stopped at one of the checkpoints and they search the car. and in finds my previous film watching you" which is not a good title to find by military intelligence as the country is exploding. so they said, you know, come with us. we just want to talk with you for a while. went to a place -- i still don't know where the location was. and i was taken by people in clothes. so at the time you don't know who is interrogating you. certainalized at a point this is this d.v.d. that i have in the car, and i need to get rid of it. i made my way to the car.

at one point excused myself to the bathroom. tried to destroy the d.v.d. by breaking it apart. and i don't know if you've ever tried to break apart a d.v.d., they're quite hard. so i shoved it down the drain, back into the interrogation room feeling confident that i of evidence that could possibly keep me there for lot longer than i wanted to be be, and about five minutes later the guy cleaning the bathroom a piece of the d.v.d. in his hand. noujaim,ith jehane c-span'sght at 8:00 on "q&a." president obama met with his election commission at the white house as the group released its report. the commission was created last year to improve voting delays and make the process more efficient. >> i just want to say thank you publicly to all the wonderful

people here who served on the commission on election administration. i think all of us recall that in in 2012 we hadon reports around the country of long lines, people, when they tried to vote. cases for hours they were stuck. the day of the election i said that we're going to need to do something about it. theink all of us share belief that regardlesss -- affiliation, party that our democracy demands that participate inn a smooth and effective way. on congress to work with us, but i also thought that important for us to have panelisan, independent that could actually dig into the facts and try to determine what can we do to improve the situation?

you know, unlike a lot of auntries, weaver' got pretty -- we've got a pretty complex system. we vote a lot. we have local jurisdiction that elections. and it makes things a little bit more complicated. we i was confident that if put some good minds to work, they could come up with some recommendations. as a consequence, we set up this commission. my top attorney during my election campaign, bob bauer, join with mitt romney's top ginsburg,n 2012, ben to co-chair this commission. i think it's fair to say that they may have voted for different candidates in 2012. [laughter] shared was ay reputation for integrity, for and a commitment to making sure that our democracy works the way it's supposed to. and they have now been working with the rest of this commissi put together a

outstanding series of anommendations with important goal, which is that no american should have to wait more than half an hour to vote. they should know, be confident, that their vote is counted and is secure. a lot of the recommendations made are common sense. bey are ones that can embraced by all of us. importantly, my understanding is a lot of the of the commission recommendations are directed not congress or the federal government but rather to the state and local jurisdictions who are largely our elections. this intend to publicize and to then reach out to stakeholders all across the country to make sure that we can implement this. theart, because one of troubling aspects of the work that they did was a hearing from officials indicating that

we could have even more problems don't acture if we now. the good news is that the recommendations that are contained in this commission report are imminently doable. publicly,want to again, thank both bob and ben largelyng on this thankless job. and i want to thank all of you diligent in urgencying a sense of producing an outstanding report in a relatively short period of time. everybody.ery much, thank you very much, everybody. thank you very much, everybody. president's election commission discusses the recommendations. updatingns include aging voting machines and states expanding early voting. minutes.n hour and 15 oflet me start with a couple

thanks, first, to spencer and society, billaw mcginley, rebecca gordon, for putting this together for us. we very much appreciate. toondly to thank but also tell you who they were, the personallyrs and me our research director. hacks.said, we are the the commission -- the other commissioners were made up of professionals and three members of the private industry.private chris thomas is the elections ofector of the state michigan. the mcguillen, worked for texas secretary of state and ran years.ns in texas for 16 trey grayson was the secretary of state of kentucky for two is now the director of the institute of politics up at harvard.

and tammy patrick is the federal officer in maracopa county. nate personally, who i mentioned, is a professor of law par excellence, did i pronounce the excellence part -- >> you're my co-teacher this year. >> that's true. one of the great honor and fun done. i've at stanford university. thelso had three folks from private sector with us. etchverra was the c.e.o. of deloitte tough north america, coleman mays, cornily the general counsel at the new york city public library, had all state general counsel and a number of other fortune of companies for a number years. and brian britton, who when he started on the commission was -- i'm going to get the title slightly wrong, but he was the theme parks for disney because if you're going to mess around with lines, you from disneye a guy

there. i should say that brian's best line of the whole commission was after we were talking about long polling places, he just kind of shakes his head and goes, "you mean, they don't even concession stand when you're done?" [laughter] so we sort of got to mix both professional expertise and a bit .f humor in this where we came at the commission have a bob and i somewhat checkered history for a beating eachin other about the head and shoulders from opposite sides of political wars. .ot least among them, recounts and recounts were particularly instructed to me. this think to bob in process because when you go through a recount, you see that has someion system real flaws in bee evening in the veneer of what we the

think of elections as. whole agenda of what's known isvoting and voting rights far broader than this commission is charged with doing. this sticking with our charge, i think we've been able to come up with a series of recommendations and best practices that is going to make better forexperience american voters on a bipartisan basis. both republicans and democrats agree that every legally qualified voter should be able cast his and her ballot without undue obstacles. we get into disagreements on some other things. fundamentalcore principle, there's agreement. that's what animated us.

bob mentioned the one size does which we take as a truism. the reality in looking at a thatt like this is elections are administered by 8,000 separate jurisdictions the country. and that's an overwhelming jurisdictions who put on elections with volunteers who by and large have not received a whole lot of training and expect uniformity in elections. built-ins sort of a contradiction in what we do and elections.ur a lot of the report's recommendations and best are aimed at that. so let me go through a few of the top lines and then turn it nate for some others. saw across thewe political spectrum, albeit from different reasons, is that the rightthe left and believe that there should be accurate voter registration lists. from the right-hand point of

view it's important because that only legallyat qualified voters get to vote and go into polling places. the left's point of view, it's important because it helps find out who are potentially who are nototers, registered. if you don't, you have clean lists, lines at polling places occur.s likely to so on both sides that's a goal. so there are a couple of specific recommendations to try and help realize that. one is that we urge the adoption that don't have it now of online registration. providesystem that increased accuracy because the voter is filling out the forms having government clerks somewhere key punching in information. it's a much more efficient system. tammy can tell you how much the has saved byona doing online registration and its efficiencies -- it's

much more accurate overall in lists end up the looking like. so that's a laudable goal and adopt.ndation that we secondly, there are a couple of there inprograms out which some states are participating to help clean up compareter lists and the lists between states. do endorse the interstate program as well as the electronic registration center.rmation both of these groups allow the states to compare their lists so their own initiative morecan prepare better, accurate lists. we do look atmil trie and overseas -- at military and voting, particularly military members serving overseas. there have been improvements in area in the last few years, but certainly more seems to be done. there are a number of

recommendations about what states can do primarily with -- towebsites to make reduce the barriers to voting voters tary and overseas voters, a lot of website improvements and reforms in gathering of best practices. score, there are also some simple fixes with the federal registration forms that things moreke uniform and clearer to the states. another subject in which the tomission felt the need shine a really bright spotlight is the state of voting this country. thereality is virtually all machines in the country were havaased in 2003 with money, as a result of the .lorida recount, i might add and those machines are about to wear out. put, their shelf life is

about to expire. so there's not federal money, there's not $3 billion federal horizon.tion on the and we heard again and again from state and local administrators that their jurisdictions have not started budgeting to fill that gap. a problem going to be every bit as great as what we neverafter florida was going to happen again. it just is sort of an undiscussed subject now. hope that we can get that bit.rsation going a part of the voting technology not meet ahat we did single state or local administrator who said, god, i my voting machines, i only wish we could keep them forever. in fact, we did not run into a administrator who liked his or her voting machines and thought they were good. is there's a huge gap and lack of development in equipment, that

simply has nott kept up with the technology we have come to rely on in our lives.y there are any number of reasons for that. primary among them is that the standards and certifications broken has completely down. they're using standards senate and 2007. that was before there were ipads. so there's a bit of a gap. housed in the e.a.c. prospectnot a bright for the e.a.c. to be resurrected anytime soon. we disagree some about the truism of that statement and the methods for it. but in reality, it has become a political quagmire not likely to be fixed. whatever political solution e.a.c. oro fix the get rid of the e.a.c., something's got to be done about certification process and

e.a.c.ds process in the those machines are going to wear out most likely before there's any solution to the more global question of the e.a.c. with that, i'd like to turn it nate for some other highlights in the report. mentioned, one thing the executive order does is it doesn't just describe the problems but also describes some specific populations that are impediments to vote or dixies in voting. military and overseas voters, voters with disabilities, and limited and english proficiency voters. voters,pect to military we looked at the websites of states, through research that was done by some outside groups the we wouldful state of state websites in if getting

military voters to assist them in voting. there was also a lot on military the act ande way other pieces of legislation have not really been complied with. secondly, with respect to voters with disabilities, and with english proficiency voters, the commission endorses having advisory groups for local to getctions in order them to get these groups in the process early to help them meet those communities. as well as audits of polling to make sure that they're accessible and to really -- the report puts a primer on making sure that each process is voting accessible. i should say, based on the votersny we heard from with disabilities as well as meetings we had, we took the approach in the report of not of singling out, although there are some special recommendations for voters with

disabilities and limited english proficiency, but the recommendations, whether you're about the lines recommendations or the other ones, the technology, we look at the perspective of so the general population but also how it's going to affect specific populations. take something like the recommendation that we have chairs at polling places so that voters if they're waiting online, don't have to stand up. but that also has a particular effect for voters with disabilities. so with regard to the specific populations. aspect, particular to voters with disabilities but has nationwide, ist the disappearance of schools as places. ben mentioned the looming crisis with respect to voting technology. there also is this looming crisis with the decline in the number of schools that are polling places. and that is because of the wake of the sandy hook massacre. kinds of school boards that are closing themselves off from outsiders say, you know,

students or teachers. and that has effects on elections. something that's happening sort outside the electoral sphere, that's having an effect on elections. and schools are the most ubiquitous and accessible polling places out there. and if it you lose schools, you lose a huge number of polling places. and that's something that we try to draw our attention to. schools that are concerned about security issues, we encourage states and localities to adopt days for teachers on those days so that there's not a e legislationty trade off. -- security/election tradeoff. expandedssion endorses opportunities to vote before election day. whether that is no excuse in personoting or early voting. it was unanimous among those who a democrat orher a republican, that channeling one dayhe election into just magnifies the potential for .dministrative disaster so while there are good ways and bad ways to do early voting as as absentee votings, and

there are cautions in the report look -- whatthat administrators have to pay attention to. it was clear regardless of party affiliation that the localities were endorsing early and voting. let me just conclude by saying that there is more than the report. as bob mentioned, there are these online tools that we are .ublicizing some of these are ones that will allow local officials to manage resources and to combat the problem of lines. popularizedh were by rock the vote, are online voter registration tools that and downloadable so that local and state them.als can use there are 26 appendices online supportthevoter.gov. one of them, appendix z, includes a survey of local officials that was performed and given to the 3,000 localf over

election officials so that we could see what their concerns with h were. saying this was more than a report. it's a project. it will have a life beyond this commission. and we look forward to going out advocatingeld and for it. >> i think it might be helpful -- where's spencer? our commissioners -- and this is obviously your forum, so we should do as you wish. have our commissioners have an opportunity to comment on what we just said and then open it up. work for you? >> sounds great. >> tammy, did you have any initial thoughts you'd like to offer? >> i guess just to say that this has been such a privilege and an honor to serve with my colleagues on the commission. what was really critical to me was to make sure that the voice washe local administrator heard. and in the context of how elections are administered, what those administrative decisions

are as an impact on our voting .opulation one of the things that we talked about throughout the course of six months, although it seems much longer and much shorter than six months, was that when you have a useable use abilitytakes into account at all levels, whether it's access or registration, the ability to ballot that you can understand, it really raises the tide and all boats rise with it. so it was really important for weto make sure that include -- when you read this, some of it, if it you're not familiar with election administration, is going to synd like we are so far down in the weeds. and we are. then there are also big-picture ideas in here as well. very hopeful, as i believe has already been mentioned that some of these put inndations can be place. they're already in place in some areas of the country. can bewe know that they

work when applied correctly. >> i would echo what tammy has said. almost everything we have in here has been implemented somewhere. is in a good working order, and does have politicability to jurisdictions around the country -- apoliticability to other jurisdictions around the country. i'm one that believes there is a commonality between jurisdictions. election day, as reports indicate, we're down looking at precinct.place, a and the voting machine, a good solid, accurate list, and withthing that goes along that. and this whole effort has been enhancing the experience of the voter. and really that's where it begins, at that level. behindly there's a lot it. i very strongly endorse the of electionization administration. even thoughession

politicians may be those that we answer to, it is a profession find its way into public administration in a more formal sense. that it's not just learning on the job but that there's beually much that can brought from the academic community. experience. a great i've been around for a number of years. i've been director of elections 1981 in michigan. it's amaze. much when you see what's going on around the country. at every hearing i learn something new. a great field. there's lots there. havingks very much for us today. i don't have too much to add really. would make comment i is that this is really -- this is not intended to be filed as a bill necessarily. legislation, in but it's really intended for voters to read as well. of greatare a lot ideas in here. and we would hope you would ask your election officials and hold accountable to some of the

benchmarks that are in this .eport >> i guess i'll conclude by saying a lot of times we have media reports and hear elected official and politicians, and i used to be i run an institute that still deals with politics. and we fight a lot about how our run.ions should be and to me one of the most important takeaways is we had a people whoof 10 voted -- vote differently, who have different ideological is but have found common ground on a bunch of ideas that i guarantee you will make our a lot better work if they're implemented across the country in local jurisdictions and in state jurisdictions. my biggest takeaway is that this gather dust, that its recommend,s are adopted, that those who read it, those elections,out regular citizens, will ask their officials, ask their election administrators, to adopt these. partisan stop fighting political games.

and let's focus on making elections work better. good manual to help do just that. >> i just want to conclude this saying, because trey ended on the note about partisanship and being able to it.1e7bd the we looked at public administration as our guidance and the expectations of voters spectrum asolitical the light that we had to continue if we keep our eye on it. it's a standard that we needed to continually worry about. but as ben said at the outset, and i i do not think have ever voted the same weight. before as he puts it, he matured.