more than 85% of fighting forces are now afghan. last year, they carried out 95% of all the operations. they either let them or carry them out themselves. this is an important point that is both sobering and tragic. took 4000 700 fatalities. the afghan army and police. 2013, twiceies in the number we suffered through the war. i know we deeply regret the sacrifice of our own men and women. it is worth noting the afghans suffered 4700 fatalities last .ear it is those lives that have been lost. it shows that the taliban is still strong. five years ago, i would have

predicted it would not have been this strong. i hoped and thought we would have been in a better place in terms of having weakened the taliban. the good news is they are still fighting. they have taken those casualties and held together. they have continued to be able to recruit and take the fight to the enemy. last point, they have been able to continue to recruit . you had not imagined five years ago that the taliban would be strong, none of us could imagine could be this strong and able to conduct core level operations. this is a reason that the afghan people are so proud of the army. , you know all the candidates. i was honored to meet with several of them with you a couple weeks ago. could you please help us understand the choice that is now before the afghan better on voter on-- the afghan

saturday. and what the choice might signify in terms of who the afghans would like to see replace president karzai after his 12 years in leadership. >> thank you. that is quite a big task. i suppose one can drown people in detail without necessarily raising their understanding too much. that important to say there are no huge ideological big dramaticr differences. ais is not analogous to liberal and conservative campaign. what you have are personalities. you have a little more detail from saun then from others. but no necessarily assurance that the detail indicates where

they would go. dr. abdullah -- the other thing to say, you have got three that look like they have a chance at being in the top two. you have got a couple behind them who are going to be important in making deals. you are going to have a lot of politics in this election after the first round of the election as people pick sides. particularly some of the second string candidates like sayyaf. as some of those people coalesce around one candidate or another, that is also going to tip the balance. and then to make life really complicated, comparatively few vote on anns will individual preference basis. they will tend to vote on the basis of community leaders,

tribal affiliations. there was scholarly work done a year or two ago. comparatively few people would agree with the idea that if they disagreed with their tribal leaders they should vote for their own preference. that was not a majority view. then you had powerbrokers who deliver votes and not voters. you have the complexity. of the big three, dr. abdullah is seen largely as the northern-western tajik candidate. that is not completely true, he has support in the east and the south. he has negatives as well because of being seen as the non-p ashtun. there is a strong belief in pashtuns, they are at least the

plurality of afghanistan. they believe they are the majority, but if i excepted all the figures i have been told the country would be at least as twice as large as it is. s think they ought to roll. dr. abdullah's father is a pashtun but he is seen as a tajik candidate. ashraf ghani is very popular in the rwest. his selection of general dostum as vice president of canada has touched raw nerves in people who -- his selection of general rashid dostum as vice presidential candidate has touched raw nerves. ghani is known to have a fiery

temper. dostum. people worry about putting the two worst tempers in afghanistan -- some people consider ashraf ghani a communist. this is a big issue in a country that was dominated by a communist government. charge may or may not be fair, it exists. has big positives, he has touched off a lot of popular enthusiasm among younger people. he also has some big negatives. he is seen as a pashtun nationalist. for tajiks will not vote him for that reason. dr. rassoul is a member of the former ruling family of the king's generation. he is a pashtun, although he hardly speaks pashtun.

he was a supporter of the cane. in many ways, he is the candidate of continuity -- most clearly seen as the candidate of continuity. that is both continuity for powerbrokers, drug lords, and criminals. it is also reassuring to afghans who are really tired of being buffeted by massive social change. constant themey through the last 100 plus years of afghan history -- resistance to too rapid change. it cause the overthrow of two monarchs and was largely responsible for the early blowback against the domestic afghan communists. it was not about them being communists, it was about them changing too much. the sentiment of not wanting a lot of change is not just about criminality. rassoul is looked at by most as

karzai's covert candidate. partially because one of out ofs brothers backed the race and now backs dr. rassoul. he is also seen as a weak personality. not quite tough enough to take on the problems of the country. every one of the three has some negatives. i guess the person i would put , a formeris sayyaf islamic leader who has performed quite responsibly in the last 15 or 20 years in parliament. hands that might not be completely lily white. it will be interesting to see how these people shift. there will be a lot of dealmaking going on. there's already a lot of negotiating. there will be more, particularly after the first round.

that is probably more than enough with which to saturate people for the moment. >> let me ask one quick follow-up. three, if i'm all hearing you right, are people we should keep an open mind about being able to work well with. the u.s. has no declared candidate or preferred canada. i assume you recommend that we not officially or publicly support anyone and stay hopeful about being able to work with any of the three. >> absolutely, there is no reason for us to be against any of the three. they are all reasonable people. they are all people with whom, relations will be much better than they are with president karzai. we should not pick a candidate ticause he has a hubris notion of which we know, but we are clumsy about when we do those things. we should stay out. and will turn to najib

general allen on the same question. whatever they want to say about candidates and elections. to you ande subsequent discussion about the issue of things like the bilateral security accord. planning for u.s. forces. keep the focus now on the elections, the choices before afghans at the polls. najib, anything you want to add to what ron said? thing i wasone really struck by. the fact that was reflected in the survey by the biggest election monitoring organization in afghanistan. 80% of thethat public have declared that they will vote independently.

consultations with their tribal leaders or elders or family. it was a bit striking. ethnic, tribal, and family have a big role to play in who to vote for for individuals. other than that, i pretty much agree with what ambassador nuemann said. -- we haveere is these three candidates. dr. zalmai rassoul , and dr. ashraf ghani. has a potential to create a problem in the first and second rounds is the big margins between dr. zalmai rassoul and the two front runners. thetwo front-runners,

margin of difference between them is almost by 1/3. is way lower than the two front running. the difference between dr. israf ghani and dr. abdullah one percent. >> 20 presenting, 19% -- >> 27% versus 8%. this is a fear a lot of people in afghanistan have. if zalmai rassoul is somehow hehed to the second round or becomes the candidate that gets the second highest number of that in the first round, will raise a lot of questions. the polls have constantly shown his low level of support.

and it is highly likely the elections will go to a second round. considering the composition of the teams that we have. , there are some accusations among pashtuns because he sided with dostum, considered to have war crimes -- to have committed a war crime atrocities. on his team, he managed to vastly increase his constituency. in the 2009 presidential elections, ashraf ghani managed of votes.around 3% this time, it is mainly because of dostum he has risen up. mainly because of dostum. nd dr. abdullah, as ambassador

nuemann said, he has a lot of support among tajiks in the northern and western part of afghanistan. but because he was very -- a the latee confidant of massoud, he is seen as a radical by a lot of pashtuns. though yesterday you had a campaign rally in kandahar. from all the candidates, he had the biggest turnout. which means that he has the biggest rally in kandahar. which is a bit surprising for everybody.

to zalmai rassoul, he is considered a very weak person, not only him but the vice president he has. his second vice president used to be a governor. it will help him to secure some votes of women. as entire team is seen as, we say in afghanistan, a just saying team. whatever karzai says. >> i just want to follow up on something general allen set. this is an excellent analysis.

i went to tee up one issue. president karzai is still 70% popular in afghanistan. he is not 70% popular in washington, but he is 70% popular in afghanistan. i'm trying to think through this question ron and i were focusing on. what are rassoul's real prospects? there is a certain undercurrent that if rassoul wins, it must mean something was fraudulent. i want to push back a little and ask you the following. isn't it possible that because afghans doi's guy, not mind that. he is a candidate of continuity and will not rock the boat too much. d, some might prefer stability. because he does not have the negatives of the other two, either dostum or a strong tajik association of dr. abdullah.

ir all these reasons, and have seen some polls lately that put him closer to the front runners then you mentioned. he may actually be a viable candidate, even though much of the narrative suggests he could not be. disagree with the question, but i want to put it to a point. what ise elections, equally important to the actual process is the perception of the public. people currently see him as a candidate, a team on the low margins. them being elevated to the level of dr. abdullah and ashraf ghani or even above them will raise serious questions. >> i would pause. that is very true of the educated elite and of kabul. is equally true

across the south and east. it could be, i am not saying it is not. i think there will be questions. i would also point out that dr. abdullah and ashraf ghani are making an effort to say that if dr. rassoul gets into the second round, it is automatically evidence of fraud. i think we as americans should not accept that which is a campaign ploy in advance. of note that not everyone is of this view. i was having breakfast with a a pretty liberal and educated audience. the were quite angry that election foundation had made a

could notthat rassoul get in. there are divisions in views and then there are political agendas. >> i was going to come to that, actually. there are some justifications if he gets to that position. ve a significant number of undecided voters. itany stage you could say was the undecided voters who finally decided to vote for zalmai rassoul. that is one issue. the other issue, to be honest, even now it is a huge frustration on the part of the afghan people. of certainty lack -- what is going to happen in their elections. we have expectations that there should not be fraud in the

process should produce legitimate government. it will not be a serious question or concern among afghans. for the record, despite the fact that we desire transparency and clean processes. elections have had a significant impact in the lack ife of average afghans. the business people have stopped investing in afghanistan because of these issues. they are not sure what is going to happen in the future. the uncertainty has caused a lot theoung people to flee country. saying afghanistan is not going to work. but we have a vibrant and huge community of young adults and

civil society workers who are helping theged in process and ensuring that the process is clean and transparent. for example, one of the colleagues my started last week was to prepare a resolution and get the signature of every single candidate. the mostution says -- common article is that if the independent international and national election monitoring organizations endorses the , i knowledge i will not challenge or dispute the outcome of the elections. politicaln's stability is very fragile. if any candidate disputes the result of the elections, it will obviously create problems.

further instability. in general, what i would like to is, people in afghanistan under there is huge instability. it is a country that lacks strong political institutions. the analogy i usually make is the country is a plane is being flown while it is being constructed. have strong political institutions. we do not have enough experience with regards to holding elections. the geography is extremely tough. security is extremely tough. the taliban and other insurgent toups will spare no efforts disrupt the elections. if we have a successful election that could reduce legitimacy it

would be a huge blow to the taliban. they will show that a people of afghanistan said no to don and itse to go and vote -- would show that the people of afghanistan said no to them and chose to go vote. that is why they will do everything from attacking to cards tog fake voting undermine the legitimacy of the elections. >> turning to general allen for impressions about the candidates. nothave worked with most if all of them. also, your sense of security thenthe saturday vote and the new fighting season as the snows melt in afghanistan and the taliban return. >> the taliban, as we just heard, have a great stake in ge ofg to portray the ima insecurity right now and to shake the confidence of the

population in terms of the future of afghanistan. first, with regard to the candidates, i have worked mostly rassoul.af ghani and well, i alsodullah know sayyaf well. for me, the security is not just about the election on the fifth. security is important with respect to the transition from the karzai administration to the next administration. ensuring we have a secure for thatto provide political transition. the first time there will have been a peaceful transition from one elected leader in afghanistan to another. theeful is in the eyes of beholder. in the context of a constitutional process that is recognizable, this is important. months withng

respect to a runoff and with respect to the time necessary to the the government after runoff, we have some big political events >> right now, i think very clearly and correctly there is enormous uncertainty about the future of afghanistan. one of the reasons for that uncertainty has been that we have been unable to announce a specific commitment in terms of the pursed .14. ost 2014 period.

the idea is creating an upward spiral of professional capability. it is been essential. that would take the form of both in terms of the resources necessary for that commitment, people of course and the equipment and funding, but also the time. that ensures that the post tony 14 mission is resourced in terms the amount of time necessary to truly give the afghan security forces what they need. again, the key point is if we are going to have an election or the afghans are in the lead for security, we will surprise -- provide support and special

operations to destabilize the taliban's ability to disrupt this. there will be disruption. there will be areas where the taliban seeks to create the illusion of an unstable environment. forcesch of the security are well advised and tactically mobile and they will have a reach we have not seen before in an election. it will not be perfect area there will be substantial disruption of. as we have heard, there is great enthusiasm to get out and vote. instead been heartened of being compromised. we will have the election. we will have a potential runoff. we will have the formation of the government. the will occur between accomplishment of the mission

and the establishment of the post tony 14 -- 2014 mission. this will be put into place ultimately for an advisory. with those major political transitions, it is essential in the first year after the election is to provide as much support as we can to the afghans. in the resource base and not just in the longevity of the mission, but a clear western enunciation of support to the afghan government and the a in sf. f.ans in the absence of that clarity, we have seen a digging in strategy. people will not support investment.

people are unwilling to commit to a peace process. it is not just a hedging strategy in the countryside, it is in the cities and regionally. clarity, this kind of obvious and open enunciated commitment is really important right now to give the afghan citizenry and elite and the region the sense that the west is going to be there for some. of time. we learned three lessons from the end of the soviet era. produced a military that was pretty since effective. -- effective. the intent had been that the soviets would remain for some. of time heading the mushu dean.

the first thing to go were the advisers. even when they went, the afghan forces still acquitted themselves relatively well until the soviet union completely collapsed. that is when the resources and funded that were necessary when away. the is when we saw first collapse. we and so the civil war emerge. the chaos that emerged was the general departure of the west and the instability that we created. those were lessons from which we studied significantly and made recommendations to influence the outcome of the end of this year and the post 2014. that is the taliban and narrative, that they will be

abandoned. we will provide for the development of the security forces. we will accomplish that mission. right now, in the final throes will fly inion, it the face of the taliban and .arrative which is abandonment as long as we are able to maintain the equilibrium of those five areas, i think we can provide the amount of time necessary and the stability necessary for that first peaceful transition from the selection and let it get up on its feet. we will permit that to be complete. >> klees wait for a microphone. we will take to questions at a

time. questionke your specific and who you would like to begin the answer and we will start here in the front row. >> thank you very much. and iarrett mitchell write the mitchell report. i want to question about the telegram. you have told us that it is clear that they will hope to be as disruptive as possible in the election process itself. the question i have goes beyond that. thatey make the assumption no matter how disruptive they therebe at some point, will be a new president and a new government? oh do they think they can model it enough that that does not

happen? what would be the most likely post government formation strategy that the taliban could engage in that would help them achieve their destabilization and reinjuring the government in afghanistan? >> let's go to the second question. >> thank you. said in your op-ed last we risk if we try to hold afghanistan to a swiss level standard in elections. you made an interesting argument effectivelyarzai

tied the country together. affect how going to the election plays out? those are good questions. government is going to have a tough operation. president, he is going to have to put together a government with a lot of very hungry supporters. none of the three leading candidates have such a strong base that they can push people aside and take other people. us af the three said to couple of weeks ago that they will have to reach out beyond their own coalition of supporters and put together a broader government in order for

stability to take place. corruption, that doesn't tell you that you're going to have rapid change the matter who is elected and what they say now. to be putting in place a network of supporters over whom they have loose control. they have to do a lot of balancing. it is not likely you will see a lot of balancing and keeping that balance by whacking people for direction at the same time. if the leader is more skillful, he might ask people over time. i don't think we should expect rapid change in government. all three know they have to have a better governance. with what tension they have to do. we don't know how that is going

to work. in policy terms, it will be important that we are close to have that -- who that person is. we need to help them manage that difficult tension so that proves governance rather than standing miracles of american we think should be immediately enacted. know't think any of us what to tell a man is thinking. their main issue is to discredit the new government. their approach has been hamid karzai is a foreign puppet. he has no legitimacy. we are legitimate. their goal is to maintain that situation. an election which has few

adherents and a few people who vote and is badly contested by fraud. the more the next government is legitimated by the election and by how accept it, the more the taliban is in a position of having a difficult discussion. i have no idea how they will come out on that discussion. there is long history of our growing out of a gun in afghanistan. it does not mean people will be instantly saying that is the rule people. >> i don't know what any particular taliban is thinking. they need to be disruptive. they don't believe they can stop the selection from being

undertaken. they can't stop the government from being formed. in terms of the outcome of the election, an early endorsement and theandidate formation of the government and a long-term commitment to afghanistan is essential. they been able to stay in the field and recruit based on the sense that the west was going to depart. they would ultimately be successful after our departure and the collapse of the corrupt government in kabul. the candidateho will be that is elected. signs the bsa,

that would be a blow to the taliban. that president is intent on maintaining the relationship necessary not just for the ansf but to create a stable platform for the long term that is necessary. it is important that that candidate right now be thinking about the first actions they will take to repair the damage that has been done with the rhetoric from the palace over the last several months. important things that could happen would be to sign the security agreement. that would be reciprocated by the unambiguous declaration of support by the west for that president and that government and afghanistan over the long term. doubled with the taliban narrative in trouble. we will see where that goes.

agree with what the ambassador has said. i want to keep it simple. government after will weaken the position of the taliban. it will damage their entire existence. it will prove that people want this system and want to vote their own leaders into office. create a huge trouble for the taliban. that, as long as the alabama remains hopeful for victory, they will not make peace. why would they make peace?

a need for the treaty to be signed. there needs to be a strong and clear and consistent commitment from the international community. reduce the hope of the taliban for any potential victory. the future government has to be a broad-based coalition government. again, what we need to do is we need to get peace and negotiations. from a position to make as, we have lot of concessions. considering the amount of , weifice that we have made

can't afford to make concessions. i pray for a smooth transition. that, i ame achieved confident that afghanistan will be on a path to long-term stability. two, allo to round endorsejor candidates this bilateral security agreement. american forces to remain in afghanistan after the mission is formally ended at the end of this year. that may seem like a technicality, it was the failure to get a similar arrangement with iraq that led to the departure of forces there in

2011. abdullah abdullah may have the most specific agenda for political reform. he would also like to see reform in the senate. these are ideas if you listen to the agendas. it is hard to say how much those will translate into governance agendas. right there. one of the things we are

concerned about is the lack of air force. they be able to compensate for the lack of their own air force? what kind of consequences will that have for their ability to fight? that is my main question. which of the two leading candidates is best suited to power in afghanistan? >> was there another question? we will go over to the side. i am colonel joss urges. -- burgess. i served under general allen.

>> that is why you are exhausted. >> i have had time to recover just a little bit. my question for ambassador what isregards happening inside afghanistan. a is well-known that there is greek game environment that is being played out among regional powers. i am wondering how these relationships and what they are doing inside the country might impact the transitions that will take place and what we might be able to do to minimize those impacts? >> that is a great question about the air force. the build is not going to be complete until about 2016. we will continue to provide support up until the end of the mission.

we will continue to provide advisory support to the emerging air force in the. of time.iod your medevac question is a good one. we spent a great deal of time working hard to work with the ministry of public health and work with the ministry of defense and interior to optimize all the resources across the country. theexample, instead of helicopter medevac that we became there used to, we built the process. a large number of armored vehicles had been procured for the forces so someone who is medevac on the ground will find

that his buddy is well-trained. theye point of wanting, have capacity for some care right on the spot. the medevac process begins by moving a casualty to an armored vehicle which will move it to a casually collection point. we take advantage of the local clinics that will be improved or a field hospital that was purchased for the national army to be deployed when operations occur in the field at the core level. the point is, we are not pulling out our helicopters. we went to a great deal of trouble working with surgeons and the deputy minister of public health to optimize all of the resources necessary to take advantage of every capability we can short of the helicopter

medevac. there will be fewer helicopters then you are used to seeing. we have more work to do on the air force. i think you are aware that we have a ground attack aircraft that is coming in through a series of contractual issues. that aircraft is delayed. the intent was to use some of helicopters to up thatthose to be a gunship can take the place of that turboprop aircraft until it ultimately enters the air force. it is worth noting that right now the production of pilots in there aren't, enough pilots to fly every airplane. the process is to continue unabated. there are a lot of afghan pilots who are drying pay -- drawing

pay. in the conversations i have had , holdingident karzai of the younger officers who are quite exceptionally well-qualified pilots to get them into uniform and get them into training and the cockpit, that process is going to take a while. we have a gap. we will do whatever we can at this point to advise as best we can. >> i am glad to hear the information from general allen. not having the air force in places of the biggest complaints of the people in afghanistan, particularly the generals in the army and our president.

i'm glad those activities are going on. centralization, none of the candidates are advocating for federalization. the only difference that we have is in the agenda and platform of dr. abdulla. towants to change the system a parliamentary system. is the only big change in the platforms that we have. to get to your question, i think the equation and the region are changing. there is some acceptance that is

coming into existence finally, after 13 years. i feel it is shaping up. in afghanistan is good for their countries. pakistan is coming to the i using violence policy hurtseign themselves very likely. offer ifn has a lot to there is economic cooperation and economic integration. we have central asia with huge national resources. we have huge human resources. in between, we have afghanistan. what has happened with russia

willhe ukraine, that affect their policy in the larger picture. that further increases the need for the united states to have a presence in afghanistan. since the people of afghanistan have been badly hurt through out theyry by its neighbors, have proved that the entire region in a region where sentiment is being propagated by the government, afghanistan is the only country which proves to be an ally to

the united states. don't want to talk about what the president is saying. it is not a good idea to give him much importance. the more important to give to his rhetoric, the more his objectives will be realized. he is leaving. we should stay cool about it. afghanistan -- one other point i would like to make that i wanted to make earlier isut the future government even if you have disputes in the elections, everybody understands will try to disrupt,

there will not be instability. any deadlock will benefit. that will benefit will be the taliban. all other groups -- it is a lose lose situation. the only group that will take advantage of that is the taliban. that is why they will make attempts to create a coalition government. we put the real enemies of afghanistan on alert. many of you have been in enough sessions to greet with great suspicion anybody who opens by saying i don't have in to say on this but... view of the time i will try to make it brief. what you have right now is .verybody saying -- playing

i hope we are correct. i hear more discussion in pakistan but not much change in the actual policy. that is destabilizing to afghanistan in the long term. in the long run, it is destabilizing to pakistan. afghanistan needs a kind of regional neutrality where it is not partisan between pakistan and iran and india. when there iscome a government in afghanistan that a strong enough to maintain basic internal order. without that you have a contest for power which draws in foreign support. it is a long term vision but not a short-term practicality. i don't think there is a candidate who is looking to

federalism. there is a lot of discussion of that. everybody understands that you have a system which is centralized on paper and in capable of carrying out the centralization with which it is vested. the problem is that decentralization would be to decentralize to the warlords and powerbrokers who are the problem of the government already. there is no political mass ready to take up regional governance nor does tribalism have the same strength that it had 30 years ago before all the trouble. you see that in this election. there is an enormous split among groups. there is a discussion about the parliamentary system.

it is very vague. and nobody explains what they have in mind. a parliamentary system without formed parties and discipline would mean even less stability than you have now. a prime minister dependent on that parliament would have to renegotiate his mandate. he would have to repurchase his mandate on a virtually weekly basis. that is a recipe for disaster. might mean something akin to an appointed prime minister who could be dismissed by the president rather than by parliament. that is not really a parliamentary system. you have a kind of chief executive authority who is responsible for running the government who can become the lightning rod that you dispose of when he has encouraged too much displeasure. then you can start with somebody

else. that is possible. it is a long way down the pike. thank you. wish the afghan people a successful election on saturday and please join me in thanking the panelists. [applause] quacks on the next "washington journal" the president of autism speaks will talk about the rise in autism rates among children in the u.s.. in a census bureau report shows people leaving rural areas in record numbers for urban areas. the executive director of compete america on advocating for tech companies in the visa process for highly skilled workers.

that's "washington journal" life with your comments on twitter and facebook every morning at 7:00 eastern on c-span. quacks the issue is no longer whether to trade, it's how to trade, it's what are the rules of engagement? the old issue between protectionism and free trade is over. it is history. the argument over the rules of fair trade and how to get our workers and businesses on a level playing field is the debate of the present in the future. our goal must be over time to achieve compatibility, compatibility between all countries that are trading, just as we have compatibility between all the states of the united states. this debate started before the cold war ended and before the wall fell in berlin. in most of the cold war. , our time was -- our standard

of living was rising and we were locked in a battle of communism. we did not care too much about trade treaties. we never had a debate on this floor i can number about a trade treaty like this because we just assumed economic growth and we always put trade treaties to be foreignfield to our policy it just was not that important. a decent this nafta tonight is now the last of the old world trade treaties. our most important national goal must be our rising standard of living. proponents of this nafta represent the past, represent quo, and fear from real change. america's created by

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i am 16 years and ready to start driving. i am very scared. focusing on are their cell phones rather than on the red. distracted driving is incredibly dangerous. some things need to be done about this. >> we have announced the winners of this year's studentcam competition. watch the top 21 winning videos starting tuesday and every week day throughout the month at 6:58 a.m. on c-span. spoke abouteds mental health today at the national risk love. son attacked him before committing suicide. investigators say the day before

his son had a psychiatric evaluation, but was denied treatment because there was no dead available. -- no bed available. >> our guest today is here because of a personal tragedy. son todeeds lost his suicide in november and was wounded himself in an attack. deedspened after senator try to get care for his son, only to be denied by a system he tried to fix, and the system told him there were no beds available. since november senator eads has recovered from his physical theds and has led legislature to enact legislation, adding millions to prevent other families from experiencing a tragedy like his did. the amount of time a mentally

ill person can be held is limited to eight hours. before making mental health his signature issue, the senator was a county prosecutors known for allowing access, and was elected to the virginia house of delegates in 1991 and left the house. he was a democratic nominee for governor in 2009. these help me give a warm national press club welcome to virginia state senator creigh deeds. [applause]

that generousor introduction. i want to invite my wife who gave this up for her birthday. i would like to recognize some of the people who have been 1991.ince they told me i could speak for 20 minutes. that might scare some of you. i will do the best i can. thank you for allowing me to speak about an important and overlooked issue. despite the warning signs of a system failure and despite the fact that as many as one in four americans suffer from some form mental illness is set aside in our private conversations. when ice woke at -- when i spoke at the senate, i referenced

radley as an analogy of how we deal with mental illness. in order to effect change we have to bring mental health out to the daylight and have an honest discussion about the successes and failures of our services. rehash whats not to happened on november 18. i will not talk about the events of those days any more than passing reference. the issue is bigger than any one individual's experience. i will not answer any questions about those days. speak publicd to about mental illness and my tragedy, i had three goals. to do my partd to bring about equity in the treatment of mental health. second, i wanted to use the experience to change the law to make it less likely that others will undergo similar heartbreak. third, i wanted to make sure

that my son is remembered more for her is living than his dying. for his living than his dying. i have organized this talk around the street points. my son was my hero. on mayds came to school 6, 1989. he was named creigh, but called gus. from the beginning gus was bright and a little small for his age. he did not grow until average size until he was a senior. as he grew he would take volumes of the encyclopedia to bed to read. he amazed at church, reciting the lord's prayer from memory before starting school. in elementary school he excelled at everything. he holds the record for the most perfect standardized test sol

scores in bath county. kit at through a drum age seven. he taught himself to play harmonica, nano, mandolin, and practically any other instrument. he wrote songs and performed throughout the area. any imagery hern mastered spanish and could explain the differences among the various latin american dialects. he could lecture you on the element of languages. he was learning arabic and cantonese. he had an interest in gaelic history. soccer,thletic, played he started as a freshman for the bath county soccer team. he won numerous awards as a member of the high school band. he was valid current taurean that he was valedictorian of his class. he was witty.

he had everything going for him. at an early age he knew how to bait a hook and build a fire. he loved the woods in the garden. he spent many summers in a nature camp in vesuvius, virginia. he helped at camp poppy. lifelongped friendships and a deep appreciation to the outdoors and our natural resources for these camps. at an early age he developed an intense religious interest. at the age of 20 come on tripyan -- on a one-man across the country, he was worn again. that renewed his interest that his family came to accept. and oureturned, gus family embarked on a new journey. our family's experience with the manville -- with the mental

health experience is a demonstration of the problems we as a society have in dealing with the issue. either his mother nor i wanted our sont the fact at was sick. in 2010, after we divorced, gus was living with his mother. she was concerned about his fixation on what he was making in the shed. mealked him into letting hold the knife for him. he worked at a park, but returned home. we still do not know what happened out there. mom arrange for him to enter a crisis intervention center near charlottesville. he stateyed for a week or two. i cannot believe my son was talking this way. he was my child, but also an adult and i was not privy to any information about his diagnosis

or medication. when he came home i helped him obtain a job. he spent the winter washing dishes. my brilliant son was a dishwasher, but he was happy. left the job gus and then came to live with me. his behavior was more erratic. he talked about suicide. i went to the magistrate and had him committed. later we went through the process again. fromtimes gus was released the hospital with medication and put under the care of a psychiatrist. at no time was i ever able to talk with a psychiatrist or get an accounting or even and un-detailed accounting of what his problems were. a psychologist or social worker at the second hospital told me gus was bipolar, but not a classic case. he said the medication gus was on would be reduced. i kept hoping that gus would be all right.

old self when he got out of the hospital the second time, but he seemed more stable while on medication. he kept appointment with a psychiatrist and made plans to return to william and mary. i began to relax. the summer of 2012 gus returned to the nature camp. he continued to abide by his appointments and go to the camp and he managed his medication. school in 2012 and made the dean's list. that fall he brought a friend home because the boy had nowhere else to go during the break. christmas was uneventful. andwent back to william the mary in january. i went to a pharmacy, to refill his medication, and left him with a prescription card and trusted him to keep it filled. stoppede in 2013 gus taking his medicine. when he returned home, while his

grades continue to be good, his behavior and attitude had changed. he went back to nature camp last summer, and even in his illness his heart was always evident. he was known at camp last summer for his kindness to homesick campers. he always had time for lonely strangers. he was the guy who would always give the people on the street looking for a time a dime. he was a good samaritan. as parents we continue to believe we could get our son back. that illness which had never been fully explained, at least not to me, had not taken over and that gus would be able to lead a productive life. friends and family a short me he me hegrow -- assured would grow out of it. what about mental illness? longise, we as a society

mature, find treatment for physical illnesses such as cancer or heart disease, alzheimer's, but we also look for cures and treatment, but what about mental illness? as a society we treat mental illness so differently than others. not only are we embarrassed by it, and we act as if the nervous system are not parts of the body. if my son had cancer or heart disease we would have known what to do and we would have known how to pay for it. with mental illness there is no assurance. two generations ago we began the process of institutionalizing the mentally ill. we decided we could save money and protect civil rights by providing care in communities. some of our instincts were good. our implementation has been a failure. men and women with mental illness are still in jails and prisons. a never adequately funded

system of treatment. the result is that the community service boards virginia have spent so much focus looking for money that the urgency for care is lost. not only is there a lack of equity in insurance payments, there is a desperate lack of services in some parts of the country. across the river from this building is one of the most affluent parts of virginia. there are many other regions where unemployment is high and people are poor. who finishudents school with hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt are not likely to want to practice in those areas. they want to go where they can make enough money to live well, and who can blame them? those who complete the requirement for psychiatrists to not talk to world virginia. virginia. not only is it impossible to pay for psychiatric care, but in

many places the care is not available. last november as i tried to put my arms around my new reality i began to wonder about the law and how to effect change, real change. i decided on a two-proneged approach. the crisisprove intervention process. we have a two-step process. if the love one is in crisis, you can't petition for an emergency order. law enforcement will detain the individual to obtain a mental health evaluation. as soon as the order is served it can be extended for another two hours. if the person is deemed to be a danger to himself or others the evaluator obtains a 48-hour detention order. several changes seemed obvious. the professional conducting the evaluation needs more time to make that evaluation. the evaluator needs better tools possibleifying

placement rather than having to call each facility, and limited bed space should not result in a person in crisis being denied treatment. think about it. under existing law, the magistrate cannot issue a temporary detention order even if that person meets the criteria until a dead has been identified. that makes absolutely no sense. an emergency room cannot turn away a person in cardiac arrest because the er is full. a police officer does not wait to arrest a murders aspect -- suspect until jail space is identified. when a crisis emerges, our systems respond to protect individuals in the community. why should a mental health crisis be different? the changes we made to that process are simple him and i saw george barker here and he is part -- first, we added a requirement to law enforcement to notify the local mental health agency tasked with

completing the evaluation, the community service boards upon execution of a custody order. --as result hours may pass before and evaluator -- that lack of notice is a tragic flaw in existing law allowing precious time in a life or death system to be lost. we mandated a real-time psychiatric bed thestreet be developed and -- bed registry be developed and be immediately used. it will go forward now. an early version of the registry went online earlier this month. the registry will need to be updated to provide real-time information. the valuator will no longer waste time calling each facility looking for a bed. lengthened the evaluation time to eight hours,

particularly in rural areas. we required revision of ace that -- of a state that cannot be identified at the end of eight hours, there is an additional four hours to find an appropriate facility. personl that means is a determined to be in the services will have a dead at the end of it 8 -- have a read at the end of eight hours -- have a bed at the end of eight hours. every one of the situation is life and death in this critical change will save lives. among other changes we made we extended the temporary detention order to 72 hours. this will ensure there is time to properly begin treating and stabilizing the individual. after 72 hours, if additional treatment is needed, a

hearing can be held and the person can be committed. these changes were described as modest, and i would agree, but they are significant changes to the front end of the crisis intervention process, and i'm convinced they will save lives. aced on myprong is belief -- is based that there are organic problems in virginia 's systems for delivery of mental health care services. fixes will not come quickly. in the past small legislative victories diffused the pressure for change in the sense of urgency. even the degree of success, people lose focus despite the problems that remain. i hope that will not be the case this time. when i went to the general assembly this past january, it had been six weeks since the incident and the first time i was publicly visible. there were many people, some of whom are my friends, who were shocked and some even relieved by my appearance. -- nobody sight of

lost sight of our needs in mental health. i promise you that i have not lost my focus or sense of urgency. now the real work begins. he had the easy things. we have addressed failures in the process that my situation exposed. i'm not saying my situation occurred because of flaws in the law. i believe what my family went through in november and continues tendure could be prevented. we want to ensure that families with similar circumstances will not suffer as mine did. i know we prevented future tragedies, but we have so much more work to do. --ile the legislation a addressing intervention, the most significant legislation

passed was aced that he resolution peer desk was a study resolution. government is also ridiculed for studying things to do. virginia at his leisure has avoided them -- the virginia legislature has avoided them in recent years. this year he made case that our mental health system has such problems that a comprehensive examination was needed to develop solutions, some of which will be difficult to reach and some which may be expensive. a senate resolution creates ace that he legislative body to examine our mental health care delivery system. out of that process i am committed to making improvements to ensure the efficient delivery of services in every corner of the commonwealth to provide adequate funding. we can start by reviewing the reports prepared by our inspector general. one study exposed the system has a shortage in psychiatric bed because the hospitals are slow to release agents.

the study will serve as a way to keep mental health policy at the forefront of our discussions in virginia him and i hope the end result can be a model for other states. in the beginning of this study, my mind is completely open. there are no sacred cows than the current system. everything is on the table. agree with the argument that we just need to spend money. nothing about my experience with the system in virginia inspires confidence. i am reminded of the biblical story of esther. when she was faced with a moral dilemma that would require her to put her life at risk he saved her people, the jewish people. she acted in response rate question -- who knows but that you have come to your position for a time such as this? i'm not suggesting my situation is as grave, but through the loss of my son, i was faced to face with -- face to face with

deficiencies that our legislators created. i could either be lost in my grief or i could act. i chose to act. one of the most heartrending responses to my tragedy have been the letters and e-mails and facebook messages from people all over the country who have gone through similar tragedies. i remember the state legislature, and my name might not be the easiest name, but i am well known. this could happen to me and my family, going under significant amount of media attention, the reality is that people die and are hurt frequently in similar circumstances. some of the worst strategies we have seen in this country have been because of people with mental... have not received proper treatment. i survived. i hope the result of my survival

is that my son is remembered for his living and not for his dying. that we improve our laws and prevent teacher tragedies and we finally destigmatize mental lists. virginia has the opportunity to lead. we cannot afford to pass up this chance. we have a lot of work and over to the memories of my son and other parents, siblings, and friends to be successful. thank you.

>> thank you, senator. about how this is not something that is a one-time issue that can be solved with one action or one piece of legislation. what can be done to keep mental health issues at the forefront of lawmakers' minds in subsequent years and in the general public? >> as i said, this past session there were some people who did not think i was going to show up. these guys had supported me all these years, they knew i would show up, but there were people who thought i would show not show up. every day, redp eye, red face, that kept the people in the forefront, but we got the study commissions created, and we have a strong commission that will be for four years and it has bipartisan support.

my scars are not going away. i can tell you that as long as i am there -- and there are others that are going to make sure it stays there, at least in virginia -- it is just amazing the number of requests i get to speak all over the place. this is an issue not just in virginia, but all over the country. a lot of people are going to the watching what we do in virginia. when i was trying to get this passed, the problem with passing study resolutions has been the majority in the house of delegates. i went to the speaker and the chairman of the appropriations committee, both of whom i have known for a long time, and i looked them in the eye, and i was getting nos. we arere behind what doing. they understand we might be doing something very achy in virginia and we might do to spend a lot of money to fix the situation.

it takes tell you that determination. we have an opportunity in virgin you to lead, and hopefully we are going to. -- in virginia to leave and hopefully we are going to. >> does the legislation go far enough or is it a first step or an incremental steps to something else? last november, i was in a hospital bed trying to think about what we can do, and believe me, i am not done. knewrms of legislation, i what we had to do was addressed the crisis intervention piece. that is just incremental, because that is the part that clearly broke down. in my situation. we could find ways to address that and honestly they were not all my ideas.

george barker and others were involved in developing those ideas, democrats and republicans. -- i believe there are bigger problems than our system, and our system is not unique. error problems in systems all over the country. that is why i pushed the study resolution. this was an incremental change. we changed an important piece of the mental health care picture in virginia, but the real work lies ahead. we have to reform the system, and we will be a failure unless review. you have to use this opportunity of the study resolution to spend four years looking very hard, very intensely at the virginia process. yet to see what works and what does not and we have to come back with no changes over the next years. in virginia at least it is incremental, the change we have passed. does it go far enough? i think we changed what we could

change this year. politics -- government is a compromise and it is about accomplishment of what you can. it is not about we are going to do more down the road. [applause] >> what about next year? are you planning to wait for the result of the commissions work or do you plan on more legislation on this topic next year? >> the resolution calls for a report at the end of the two years -- i guess in 2015 and 2017. we will have legislation in 2016 and 2018. if good ideas spring up before then, we will introduce it. remake the system into a system that works for every part of virginia. we might already have it in

place. i don't know, but i won't know until we conduct a study. the plan right now calls for legislation in 2016 and 2018. if good ideas come up then, we will go forward. >> can you comment on the handling of the ig investigation given the concerns that were voiced last week by the author of that report? him the week after i got out of the hospital. i found him to be compassionate, knowledgeable, and determined to get to the bottom of the situation. also, once i found out about this 2012 report -- i am embarrassed to say i didn't know he made a report in 2012 that would've addressed many of the issues that were exposed in my incident. i have looked at that report. after he resigned in

early march or late february. i met with the inspector general and he sure to me that the only differences of opinion about some of the opinions is that he was only changing adjectives. he told me all the recommendations would go forward. the inspector general is a retired fbi guy. i have faith in law-enforcement. i think his comments but an exclamation mark after the inspector general's report and makes clear we have big problems in our mental health system. i wish we had the results of the inspector general's report prior to the passage of all the legislation because that would've enforced a lot of what we were trying to do and perhaps allow us to go a step or two for further -- two further.

resigned intigator protest saying the findings of that report wore censored -- were censored. were you concerned with the contents of that report? >> i am ok with it. there were other investigations as well. the state police conducted a pretty thorough investigation. i think the inspector general's report is consistent with the findings. i think he probably would've taken it a step further but i am that hisdon't know signings -- i don't know that the inspector general's findings are inconsistent with this the police report. i think it is all out there. i am not that concerned. >> one of the things the report recommends is a decentralizing through virginia department of behavior health into a regional

authority. authoritynk that more on mental health treatment in virginia should move away from richmond? >> i am one of those guys that believes the government closest to the people is the best, the most responsive. i think that would be an idea that some would say before the study commission. we have not even started the work of the study commission so it is premature to say that any approach is going to be taken. that you have seen in the findings in the report, do you blame any individuals or organizations for possible failures or do you think what happened is representative of a larger problem with mental health care in virginia or in the nation? some things i'm just not going to talk about. i think what happened was a system failure. it is both people at fault,

organizations that fault, but it is representative but it is representative of what can happen anywhere else. and what does happen in other places. individuals aeave position to do something for their actions. >> what would your opinion of virginia's mental health system prior to your involvement with it with your son was the need to reform clear only once you got a close up view? or was it something you paid attention to before that? >> that is a great question. my primaryors, connection to the mental health system was folks from the csb who came to me that they needed more money and funding. i visited with the community service board. i have gotten many functions for various areas that are

represented. --wasn't something that i was at the top of my agenda. my son, for the last three years of his life, were pretty difficult. i was in constant contact your children are over 18, you can make them go to the doctor. you can't make them take their drugs. you can make the return phone calls or keep appointments. i was in constant contact with with -- ilks or was in contact with him. that reforml you was on my mind before all of this occurred. the only issue that only came to me was that we need more money from the csb. i want to point out -- i think

there are csbs interstate that function very well. the ones a function the best are the ones that get a lot of funding from the local government. we don't do a good job of funding csbs in virginia but that doesn't excuse everything, what happened to my son. [applause] >> a couple of questions on patient privacy and family access to information that you referred to a couple of times -- what changes would you propose in confidentiality laws regarding mental health professionals communicating with families of the people they are serving? >> it is very difficult for me to talk about that at the state level because we are guided by the federal law. there is very little we can do at the state level to undercut it. if i were the came and changing

things on a big scale, i might reform hipa. young people with certain mental betweens have a curve the ages of 18 and 35. perhaps parents need to be more involved in those years. sometimes the only thing you know about it is the bill that be paid.that have to you are welcome to pay the bill but not know what's going on with your kid. your kid might be 25 or 35 years old but they are still your kid. that is very difficult. i would probably make major changes at the federal level but i am not at the federal level and i have no desire to be. [laughter] >> we have had campaign announcements made at the podium before. on that topic, in addition to hipa, what will be the best thing the federal government would do to improve the nation's mental health system?

know that i am prepared to answer a question like that. too not really encouraged much productive work occurs. [laughter] >> you talked about the practice of denying patients who are in need of care and that in care. -- a bed or care. should there be a zero-tolerance policy for those that may pose a danger to themselves or other? >> this should be -- there should be. that is what we did in virginia this year. the point i was trying to make was that when a crisis occurs with a bank robber or him or her running down the street, you don't stop the guy and say, let me see if i could find a jail cell for you.

we put them in jail. this shouldn't be a difference between what you do in a mental health crisis. the comments i made about washington -- i don't want to be derogatory. let me tell you about marianne. and 1965, when congress really did things that mattered, the voting rights act and the silver rights act, there was one congressman in virginia that voted for those. he wasn't from fairfax county or arlington. oun,asn't allowed in -- loud norfolk, richmond. he was from merriam virginia -- marion, virginia. marion is in another world probably. it is southwest virginia. who was the congressman was the last congressman -- i would suggest that it took heroic votes to

make a difference in this country. he paid for it. pat jennings was his name. [applause] >> in addition to the problem of patients being denied care in the first place, what you have to say about hospitals dragging patients with a serious mental illness when they still need care? that -- that is a big issue. my son was hospitalized twice and both times -- when he was first hospitalized, i visited him and he was under the 48 hour order. he said this is where he needed to be in i realize it now. about six weeks later, we were back in the same situation. he was released within the 48 hours and we had a problem. we took -- by the time we went to the next hospital.

he was one of the smartest people i met him he could figure things out. there was no psychiatrist or psychologist he couldn't talk out of or into what other -- whatever he wanted to do. answers to give -- he knew what answers to give. that was one of the reasons we changed 48 hours in virginia, to give people more time. in the long term, i don't know, i think one problem that we have to address in the study group is while we are focused on crisis intervention, what do we do long-term? how do we provide for people long-term? was -- son, the plan this broke our hearts. i have spent the last three years of my sons life worried that he would end up homeless or in prison. that is not such a bad option now. once he got committed

was to end up with a long-term place in a state hospital. that is a tough thing to think about. we are going to be looking at long-term care. we are going to be looking at people are sure that not released until they are ready to be released. i don't know the answers right now. we hear a lot about the need for improved mental health system and improve access to it. what is your message for people within that system? what can they do as individuals to improve the system in which they work? >> stay focused on the patients. stay focused on -- every situation is a life or death situation. the public system of mental health, every system is life or death. that tooence has been

often people are pretty cavalier about the situations they are in. oftentimes, they are not. do your job. i don't have an answer. that is fit for c-span. [laughter] >> given that many advocates want to play down the possibility of violence with people and mental illnesses, what other changes should be made in educating families about the possibility of violence? >> part of the problem with mental health, as i indicated, for most of us, it is out of sight and out of mind. i think we need to think about mental illness. we need to think about what to look for in our young people. we need to think about how to deal with it.

my son had this thing with knives. he made a lot of knives, but there was never any indication that he was going to be violent. i never sent the violence on my son's part. i know that my former wife was concerned about it. felt there was a threat of violence with gus. -- for we can really begin to would dress up the possibility of violence, we need to be honest about mental illness. we need to understand it is like cancer. it is in every family. it is either within your family or within your circle of friends. somebody know is suffering, whether it is addiction or depression or something more severe. once we start to deal with honestly and openly with mental health issues then we can think

about violence. in my circumstance, there was never -- i never felt afraid. i never felt afraid. i don't know how to answer that question properly. the agealked about how of onset is usually on young adults. how do you think access to care could be improved for young people who are new to their mental illness and it will not accept or even recognize that they are ill? >> that is very difficult. that is the exact circumstance i was in. my son was 20 years old. before the recep are a sign -- before there was ever a sign. the only thing i could do was go to a magistrate and have my son hospitalized. that is one thing we have to look at in our study.

the bigger issue is what can we do under federal law? what can you do with someone who was unwilling to be treated? that -- i don't know what the answer to that is either. >> what advice do half her parents who may fear their child is suffering of a mental illness? >> love your children. love your children and do whatever it takes to protect them even if that hurts you. nobody wants to believe that their children, their precious children are sick. --one wants to believe that to think of cancer or physical illness, that is bad but to think of a mental illness that might not be fixable is tough. all you can do is protect your children and love them.

>> you talked about returning to the virginia statehouse after your tragedy and how hard that was. tell us what with the best and worst things your colleagues did or said to you and what advice would you give to others and how to approach someone who has been through a tragedy such as years? -- yours? >> everybody is different. everybody approaches these things differently and you never know how to respond. richmond, orle in at least my colleagues were fair and honest. they know me. they know i am kind of quiet and pretty shy and i like to be left alone. that is under the best of circumstances. this time, i really wanted to be alone. -- the 23rdknow me year i have been in richmond and generally, my doors open and anybody that wants to visit with me have a chance to visit with

me. i see constituents or different people all day long all session. this year my door was shut. i didn't visit with people. even good friends would come by and visit with me and say, are you kidding? i would say no. there were some lobbyist that continue to press me and continue to hound me. that bothered me. people didn't -- people that that respect my privacy, that bothered me a lot. most people did. most people just kind of left me alone because that is where i wanted to be. i told people -- somebody texted without i haven't visited a local group of people that are present -- that i represent. i'm here tod back, do my job, that is all i can do. frankly, what zell miller

wrote, he never needed a psychiatrist. after thisshavon happened that i would find somebody to talk to. the work was the best therapy i had. before -- imagine was sweating and scared to death to go back because that would have to be in front of people but now i can do that. >> you told us about the online, real-time registry and is -- it is in a test phase. tell us about how that works and when does the next step of that registry come to fruition? >> we will see. it has been in the works since about 2009 or 2010. the department of behavioral health says they were cut out from under them.

they were able to establish it. i have no doubt that funding has been cut. with everything that is on the internet these days, it seems to me that a kid -- my kids could've set up a real-time registry. what they got now is not real-time. we have looked a different things. it is updated every day or updated every day right now, i think. it just when i -- it is when a line in the first of the month. it will take a little more time to develop. now, when a-- right worker or evaluator goes in, they have to call through to the hospitals. this registry will not mean that they have to make those calls because they still will to make sure the bed is still available. the real-time might be 35 minutes ago. it will tell them which hospital is not -- which hospital's not

the cult because it will tell them what hospitals do not have beds. that will save time. when you are dealing with the emergency custody order. whether it is four hours or eight hours under the new law, it is still a limited amount of time. you got those precious seconds ticking away. this real-time registry, i am convinced will be very helpful. >> you talked a lot about access . what about the treatment itself? have you talked to pharmaceutical companies about new drugs? is there anything you see that could be done to create incentives at the state level? >> i am all ears. if there are things we can do, but talk about it. my son, i remember he talked about how the drugs heard him, physically hurt him. i heard that from other people

, too. i don't know enough about the medications and i don't know enough about the research. if there are things we can do at the state level, i am all ears. i think it is going to take a bigger push. that is probably something that could happen at the federal level. there could be more incentives built in for the development of pharmaceuticals. >> what about the insurance side of things? the mental health parity act was passed a few years ago and now today is the obamacare sign-up deadline. do you think there is enough access to parity for mental health treatment and -- in earn certain system now -- in our insurance system now? >> i don't think so. one of the afford -- achievement of the affordable care act is there is parity. a form of medicaid

expansion in virginia, that would immediately open up about $200 million a year for people that are mentally ill. people that are in that stage of medicaid expansion would have better access to mental health care. we don't have enough equity. the problem with the parity law is that it has not brought about parity. the affordable care act does so that is significant. [applause] >> we have a couple of questions about veterans. we've had some speakers here at the press club talk about veterans need primitive of care. -- need for mental health care. do you think that is something that should be done in the efforts you're working on in virginia or is there anything specific you are looking at for veterans? >> it is not something specific i am looking at. honestly, when you think about

-- people have come home from war for forever. they see unspeakable things. they go through unspeakable events that thankfully most people don't have to endure. it is impossible not to be affected by that. a normal human being, not to be affected by that. we have to focus on mental health care for veterans. that is not something specifically that is part of the study, but that is certainly something we will be looking at in terms of what we can do at the state level. >> we are almost out of time before i ask you the final question, i have a couple of housekeeping matters to take care of. i would like to remind you about our upcoming speakers on april 2. we have the commissioner of the u.s. internal revenue service. on april 14, lewis black, the comedian, with discussed politics and social issues.

welshil 23, general mark will be here. second, i would like to present senator deeds with a traditional coffee mug. [applause] and for the final question, you told us a lot about gus. can you tell us one more untold story that you would like people to know about your son? kidy son was as an ordinary except he had extraordinary ability in many respects. when he was a little boy, this 1995 --bly about well, he was six years old and he would travel with me. his sisters and his mother would call it that he would take one for the team. he would travel with me on my journeys and i shared this thing called the blue ridge economic development commission.

he sat for three hours one afternoon in a corner at the squire center at virginia tech while we conducted our meeting. i was chair and he sat there playing with trucks and a little mini garage. a couple years before that, the whole family was at a ballgame in norfolk. the ballpark had just been built and we were out in left field and gus was about -- that was 93 so he was about four. he was sitting across the picnic table with me -- from me and he looked at these two little kids rolling around fighting. he said, dad, those boys are doing what i would like to do -- they are fighting. i said, yes, gus. i took another bite of my hamburger and he was gone.

[laughter] he was ordinary in every sense until he was about 20 years old. we finished our google tutorial -- gubernatorial campaign and he had some time on his hands and decided to be mentally ill. that was a joke. he didn't decide. he had this unbelievably sweet nature that was apparent and evident up until the end. he was a great kid. [applause]

>> thank you, senator deeds. thank you to her audience for coming today. also like to thank our national press club staff including our journalism into two for helping organize today's event. here is a reminder. you can find more information on our website. if you would like a copy of today's program, you can find it there as well at www. press.org. thank you. we are adjourned. [applause] >> on the next washington journal, the president of autism speaks. she will talk about the recent cdc report showing a rise in autism. a census bureau report that shows residents leading role -- leaving rural areas. the executive director of compete america on advocating for tech companies.

washington journal, live with your phone calls and comments every morning at 7 a.m. eastern on c-span. coming up tonight, it is cut in with the reporters who broke the edward snowden leak story. that is followed by chuck hagel on dod's efforts to recover remains. examination of the candidates in the upcoming presidential election in afghanistan. >> hello. please, take your seats. welcome back. this next event, i promise is going to be interesting. it is a skypent