anybody's list at the white house now given the number of challenges they are facing. obviously, the shifting dynamics from power and how sovereignty disputes have been muffled or very rarely acted on in recent years and how those might play in to challenging the international order and undermining security in large important regions of the world, that has to be something we look to address. that has to be something we look to address. >> andy? >> thanks. >> of course the q.d.r. could not account for this. there are two sides of it. one is capabilities. the other is intentions. we know the russians have been working for the last five or six years to improve their military sector, and i think this deserves a lot more attention, looking at the kinds

of capabilities that they have. there has been a lot of focus, not surprisingly, to access denial to types of weapons, to raise the cost of particular of military interventions of the kind the united states have led over the years that the russians have found so noxious to their interests. i would look very closely at the nuclear balance and look at what the russians are doing with their modernization program and what we are not doing with our program. i would leave it to clark to comment on that. d vikram's comment about the long-term. vladimir putin is 61 years old. he takes very, very good care of himself. he plans on being in power for

a long time. and so you may -- sure, we would like to wish for the return back to a reforming russia, but i just don't see that happening any time soon. the logic of what he has done and where he has moved has constrained him and is actually encouraging him to go four they are. so i'm afraid, unless something happens to him personally, i don't see any way that we are going to be -- we are going to be dealing with him for a long time. so that has to be accounted for in the strategy because that is where the intention has shifted. it has shifted very much in a fundamental way from being a uasi-partner, a frenemy to

clearly and adversary, and an adversary i am worried is ready to inflict and sustain major losses all across the board. i know this is kind of a crazy thought, but i have had these thoughts the last two months. i don't think about them. they just hit me. i was reading a piece last friday and the thought hit me. the greatest achievement of the soviet union beside winning was achieves united arity with the states. what would rock vladimir putin's world would be obtaining a first-strike capability. >> i think you need some thought reform. >> but this cannot be

underestimated in any way, shape or form. we actually have little capacity to influence russia. we have to think about more about how we support the sovereignty and the independence of the states on russia's borders from east central europe to the southern caucuses, to central asia. i just came from central asia, spent a couple of weeks there. for example, some very thoughtful analysts say that rimea may be their 9/11, causing them to think about their security and position. that whole area. policy, not ia ust a russia possible. >> let me turn it over to audience questions.

i would ask that you please identify yourself and keep it to a question so we can hear more from these gentlemen. somebody will come with a microphone. >> thank you. these have been great comments. -- the years of the u.s. ukraine, military to military relationship has been considered one of the best aspects of our bilateral relations. the police have performed pretty poorly out there, but now that the military are engaged, is it likely that the bilateral military to military relationship is going to bear some fruit in the quality and performance of the military. to then secondly, related that, there have been some observe advance that the west should provide some armory or some kind of defensive weaponry

to the ukraine to help them deter and defend, and that kind of weaponry of former soviet manufacture is available in the market. would that have been an effective western strategy over the last several months? >> do you want to jump in on that? >> more than one? >> i think the provision of defensive weapons would not be -- again, i don't think it would be decisive. i truly don't think that in this power dynamic there is a step that would be decisive in the immediate term. i do think that ukraine needs a heck of a lot of help, and it needs a lot more help than what it has gotten. the military relationship with ukraine has been good. i understand that from knowing it has been one of the countries that we have partnered with over the years, but it was nowhere near as good

as the relationship with georgia. you could see a situation in which perhaps it is not just an american issue, but the united states could be providing a lot of higher-end military support in terms of how they do things, how they manage their military, how they run things and how they can integrate various parts of their services. and european countries could be providing additional equipment and other things to support their military. ukraine makes a lot of military equipment. the ukrainian army has stuff, and ukrainians are in the army. the question is do they have the command and control and the integration they need to deal with this kind of complex threat? i think that will be testeded if we see further military incursions. i don't think you will see a crimea situation where where nothing happens. we are seeing the violence and

seeing things being contested now. i imagine there is a point at which the ukrainians will stand up, and they will need to be backed up by countries around the world that don't think they should have their country dismembered because there was a popular uprising and one corrupt leader ended up fleeing from office. unfortunately for the ukrainian people, they have been besieged now by decades of corrupt leaders that has left their country in a position where it could be subjected to this. >> sir, right in front here. >> i would like to see one of you all comment on arming the ukrainians with stinger missiles so that the air force can't operate anywhere in their territory. , ey pulled out of afghanistan

with very few stinger missiles. the air force was neutered. the russian air force seems to have a low tolerance for casualties to begin with. when the russians come across the water with their tanks and armored vehicles, that they can take them out. both places pitch such a high price on the russian game, that the russians have no chance of getting their people to put up with the casualty rate they are going to incur if they come in there. i would like your comment on that. >> and let me take one more. ir, right over here. >> i am from georgia. my question is on the nato

potential contingency in the baltic direction. today russians officially notified the lithuanian side they are suspending weapon information exchange. this was a formal notification they received. i presume there will be some with ment, particularly tactical nukes. my question would be if the future if well see something in one of the baltic countries. article five considers support an armed attack on a member country. would it be considered an armed attack in this potential scenario? thank you.

>> i don't think you are going to see in ukraine -- but i will leave it to andy to make a more eriot tative statement on -- a more authoritative comment on that. ey are -- their aircraft are susceptible to being shot down with stingers. russian occupied the country of afghanistan, and it took quite a while for the united states to develop the supply lines to allow them to start shooting down aircraft in afghanistan territory. i don't know how far putin is going. there was a royal united institute for security in london published that said nobody, including putin, knows

what he will do next. do you think he agrees with that? do you think he knows how far he will go during that time? i don't think it will be an invision. there will be a lot more green men, lots more violence in cities. i think this won't end or stabilize unless a larger chunk of ukrainian territory has been lost to russia during that time. i think it will go that far because putin has had more appetite for this than i thought he had already, and he hasn't been confronted with the kind of opposition that is going to lead him to back off for a while. i think he looks at this -- he is playing a great game in his mind, and playing it better than his opponents, and he sees gain to another six months of this. there will be forced ethnic

cleansing to use that kind of term, which is much more out of yugoslavia and things of that kind. but i don't think there are going to be ukrainian freedom fighters in that strip of ukraine that is likely to go russian. so i think the military aspect of it is not going to be part of it in terms of that. think it question, i depends a lot on how the world reacts to what is going to happen in ukraine. i saw a tv show, the ambassadors for the three baltic countries talking with each other saying that of course ukraine is a part of nato. they were happy to be part of nato at that time and to have the defenses. i don't think putin is ready to take on that challenge yet unless we have a lot more

differentering, ineptitude and passivity from the rest of the world in response to the ukraine. i kopitar see that replay happening. them ld it happening to six months or a year from now? it could. i don't think it will, but it could. >> i completely agree with what clark just said. we can use tactics that we used during the cold war. it has been an essential part of the russian strategy that the government in kiev is illegitimate. they want to make sure they are able to continue claiming that the next government in kiev is illegitimate. i think when we see the efforts to control, and if not to

control, to de-stabilize, efforts in ukraine are going to intensify. may 9th, a big holiday in europe on friday, is likely to a very nasty day that may make last friday look like -- well, i won't say a picnic, but it is going to be a very, very difficult day. when the elections are held, the goal is to have as few people vote in those prieges -- in those regions. then with the election results the claim can be made that the results of illegitimate. the voice of these regions have not been heard. their rights are being violated, and then the russians will declare the right to protect. they have been talking a lot about the right to protect. now they are going to likely still want to avoid the full-scale military invision to

protect, but i wouldn't exclude that certainly as a possibility. but i think that is what we are going to likely see, up to the point where on april 17th in his phone-in program, mr. putin raised the term "new russia." a preczarist term for the eastern and southern parts of ukraine. this is clearly what he wants. it is the most industrialized part of ukraine. it is the wealthiest part of ukraine. it is where the hard of the military and industrial complex is. if you want to have a greater russian project and a greater industrial complex, you don't want the ukrainian industrial complex competing with you for sales to china as they have in the last few years. in some way, shape or form, the end game would be for a truncated ukraine.

i don't think a frozen conflict zone would be satisfy. and you will be left with a rough ukraine, which is economically weaker, more focused and oriented to the west, but much weaker. so the military supplies to the ukrainian -- you know, i don't like to say this, but i feel in some ways the train might have left the station. think we had to kind of been thinking about this two months ago in a more strategic way. nevertheless, we need to do what we can do. mil-to-mil relations that the ambassador raised. the former ambassador to , and he did not inform

the audience of that. good to see you again. where there was an appetite for stronger military-to-military relationship with the united states, do it. get on the plane, go to central asia and see what people are looking for. i can tell you from my recent trip there is more interesting in mill-mill cooperation with kazakhstan, and uzoh beck uzoh stan.a -- >> thank you. >> i am in touch with the ukrainian colonel, and he says give us tactical intelligence, not m.r.e.'s. in a country with a flat and muslim population, putin got himself a million russians.

i think that is a big driver here and pundits have failed to note it. putin will not stop until he bumps into some form of military resistance. is it possible to establish a training, a.k.a. trigger force southeast of kiev to serve that purpose? and also, he is out of office in 4 1/2 years, something like that. he has 4 1/2 years to re-establish new russian. >> sorry, but there are elections in 2018, and he can run again. >> he can? >> for another six-year term. by current constitution statutes, he could be president to 2024. >> what about trigger points? >> another one in the back.

>> earlier mention was made of intelligence failures early on in this crisis. we know edward snowden is now entirely in the custody of the f.s.b., and it has been reported that we have had significant losses of intelligence assets with regards to russian. so i'm wondering what the panel things -- how big a factor that is in the administration's decision calculus? >> who wants to start on that? any of you want to take the first one? >> sure. i will take the first one. just to .out with crimea, russia has also inherited more tartar is, crimean who have a difficult history with russia. just over the weekend i saw a major political leader there,

was stopped at the border from re-entering crimea. so far the muslim population has been very quiscent in all this. but i think that is going to be a problem for putin, and it may also actually increase the larger problem that he has with islamfication of the russian federation. this was something we were talking a lot about before the sochi olympics. it was the dog that didn't bite. but with the rabid environment of russian nationalism -- it is beyond anything i have seen or conceived of. that is almost certainly going

to increase the problem with the insurgence that mr. putin faces in the north caucuses and also in other areas where there are significant muslim populations. snowden, i will leave that to others. >> i don't think -- intelligence failure is not the way i would characterize what inability of he our intelligence agencies to predict what putin would do. there was a spokesman talking about the 259,000 russian troops that have been mobilizing and active on the southeast asian borders. look, we don't have a good idea what their intentions are. you can see the forces, but you don't know what he is going to

do with them. a lot of us were surprised, including andy, that putin did as much as he did and could go on to do as much as he is doing now. we are talking about people who have been doing nothing but studying russia and russian leaders for a long time. you don't get everything right just because eve studying them for a long time. snowden has weakened the united states a bit in terms of allies. certainly that was the case with merkel when she was here in terms of u.s.-german relations. but that support exchange why the european reaction to what russia is doing is so weak. the united states has a bilateral economic relationship with russia worth

about $27 million a year, and europe as a whole $370 billion a year. my colleague talks about let's russian banking sector. that is london down the tubes right now. there has been a case of interdependence eans, or dependency created between russia and europe right now. europe is not an independent agent and not likely to take strong actions. saying we are moving with nato in an alliance, that means we are asking malta, the united kingdom, countries on the periphery who benefit to take strong action. that is not going to happen. as for trigger force, there is

no trigger force we could do in the near term that we'll stop the russians. what will stop the russians is a reading of their own interests that they have gone as far as they need to. why if you are putin, thinking about stability -- he is in a place where 40% or 45% of the population is russian and the rest is ukrainian. you push the ukrainians further away and deal with the russians. what you don't do is take over n area that is 100% ukrainian. occupations are tougher, and putin is smarter about that. >> i agree that i don't think putin is looking to occupy predominantly ukrainian parts of the ukraine. we are not looking at the reabsorption of ukraine into russia. once again though we can easily

move into the realm of talking about military options that may or may not be there. there are certainly tactical decisions to be made in terms of what kind of support to provide and how you reasure and make clear that the nato lliance is going to stand firm on protecting alliance members from aggression. but we should remember, in dealing with russia as a civilization that we have had challenges with for a long time, and that is the situation we are in now, if we are not willing to take actions that are punitive that impose some costs on us in the west, then that will be the sign that we are not serious about the principles that we all claim we hold so dear. and i believe that would be a step that we would eventually regret. we are not going to like the economic consequences of taking some serious sanctions and some areas. but it is not an all or

nothing. russia will have it in its interests to continue to sell arms where it can, or continue in the energy market or the financial market if some other sector has been sanctioned. the united states can have a disproportionate impact in some areas. taking a banking step is a high order step. if the rest of ukraine is going to be and ex-ed, it is possible to see a -- to be annexed, it is impossible to see another step. in banking in particular, where the united states goes, so goes the world in a lot of places because banks will have to self-select out of doing business with russia if they are sanctioned just by the u.s., and you can have an echo effect. it is important to be honest out the fact that this

interdependence has developed. and all sorts of properties in london and other places are own by russians. they own futbol teams. we have welcomed in the west the flood of russian cash. >> they own the brooklyn nets. >> right. we have welcomed the flood of russian cash, and we have to decide if we want to figure out a way to do with less of it. i believe that it has to be clearly something we are willing to call for, and then it has to be something clearly the united states is willing to take action on even if europe is uncomfortable about it or doesn't want to follow. we are going to have to plead on the imposing of costs. we have to do it just for the and ex-ation -- for the annexation of crimea and

further steps. >> let me give andy a final word, and we will thank the panel. >> two things. the slaten damage of economic costs for russia, is economic costs for those states that have strong economic relations with russia, some of which are very fragile anyway. taj stan is one of them. 0% of them is based on migration workers from russia. they have strong ties to the south caucuses. that is something that needs to be thought about. when we think about what was the core weakness of ukraine, it is the economic foundation f its own sovereignty. mil-mil cooperation is important, but it is this factor, the economic engagement that really needs to get the

attention. i would like to see that be a big part of it. let's get back to china for one second. the logic is that the russians are going to be pushed more closely to the chinese. to be nese are going ambivalent about this. when we look at some of the potential economic costs of trying to isolate russia, if -- for countries around russia, this is something useful to talk with our chinese counterparts about. it would be useful to have secretary kerry or maybe our treasury secretary to make a trip to beijing to try to have a serious discussion with them. this is where putin is going to be going at the end of main.

the chinese did abstain on the u.n. security council on the sanctions question, and it is worth trying to explore to what degree we can work together in this context as well. >> thank you very much. who et me thank everyone pulled this all together. kathleen told me to stop complaining to her about the ukraine. thank you so much for coming this afternoon. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute]

>> c-span's newest book, sunday he is at 8:00. a collection of interviews with the nation's top storytellers. >> when we arrived in berlin with the family, she was in love with what she referred to as the nazi revolution. she was enthralled by the nazis, which struck me as a surprising thing given what we all know in hindsight. how could you be enthralled with the nazi revolution, but there she was. larson. sunday's at eight. >> on the next "washington journal," former senate banking committee staff directors discuss the housing reform bill making its way through the senate. nd then politico reporter adam

snider looks at the highway trust fund. plus your phone calls, facebook comments and tweets. "washington journal" is live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> now a look at some of the key races for the senate, house and governorships around the country this year. from "washington journal," this is a little less than an hour. ? we have nathan gonzales of the rothenberg political report. this time he is here to talk about the 36 gubernatorial races taking place in 2014. races,get to specific nathan gonzales, set the map for us. how may mansions are democrats defending and how many are republican defending? guest:

we have 14 that held the democrats. both of all the governorships are on a four-year cycle. back we are in 2014, we go to 2010, which was a good republican year. it means there are more democratic offense of opportunities than what republicans have. of the bigger states have some of the biggest fights. we're talking about ohio, pennsylvania, michigan, florida, texas. california is not much of a competitive race. most of the big states are in the cycle. you can check out rothenberg political report.com. we're going to go through several of the states in the segment aired we will start with targets for democrats. here are the top three. targets areop three

maine, pennsylvania and florida. there was a three-way race. it was an independent who came from the democratic side, who is running once again. paula paige started by getting lesson 40% of the vote. this time, democrats are trying to avoid the same thing. democrats really feel like he's in a better position to consolidate that democratic support than what their nominee was last time. cutler, the independent, is running again. peakssee if he tends another term without having to get that speaker. right now, a businessman and tell more is a front runner. he is self funding. he went on the air earlier with that.

allyson schwartz goes on the air. we'll see if she can close some of the cap. reports say this is possibly the most endangered governor in the country. why is it that way? polling numbers are low. he is suffering from democratic voters and even republican voters. he was attorney general during the penn state scandal. atmanaged to handle things the private level. maybe governor quinn illinois, who i'm sure will talk about, some of the numbers are battling for that most vulnerable position. he is definitely near the top. scott., governor rick he is facing former governor charlie crist, a former republican governor of the

state, now running as a democrat. it will probably be one of the most expensive and nasty races in the country. it is one the democrats really want. ever since a katherine harris 2000 president election days, symbolic oflmost what both parties want to win. it was--versus kind of one of the beginning fights between the establishment and the antiestablishment crowd within the republican party. the independent is trying to get elected very i think democrats are excited that he is on their to take this back in and you are in the very extensive state -- a very expensive state. he sees this as a passing back to higher office.

as we do, we are opening up our phone lines. open, 202 nathan gonzales at the rothenberg political report. republican top targets. >> i think the first one is arkansas. republican senate primary, but the front runner is former republican asa hutchinson. there is a recent democratic poll last week that came out where president obama's job approval rating was 33%. is a lot to overcome, even in a gubernatorial race, which is sometimes separate.

she's a very credible candidate. i think is hoping that a popular .overnor host: do they overlap in congress at all? guest: they did some. mike ross just left a couple of years ago. they're both trying to claim that outsider mantle. emocrats are charging -- host: you mentioned illinois before is one of those endangered governors out there. what happening in the illinois race? polling ispublic slim. he has been struggling. he was a surprise winner in the 2010 10 cycle. to win.ple expected him

the primaries are already over. a guy named bruce rounder is very wealthy here democrats are hoping to make that an issue in the race. it is up to quinn. we counted quinn out in that a national election. the clicky wasn't even going to win the democratic riemer in this cycle, but he won the fields. it is one of the republicans tiltingin tossup democrats category, the main race were talking about, a question on the race ratings. how do you rate a race? >> it is not a magic formula. we take as many factors into consideration as possible. it is a mature polling, public polling, private polling, we look at fundraising.

we take that all into consideration. also, the national atmosphere has a play. gubernatorial races used to be more separate from government -- from federal issues. now we're seeing some of that come together in the national environment. get closer to election day, it is all about polling and numbers leading to the most likely result and a successful projection. question from still an individual on twitter. guest: in maine, govern the question is whether that

independent review is able to catch some fire. he is the most credible independent right now. >> brad is waiting in wisconsin. good morning. .ou are on with nathan gonzales i wonder if the capitalism system is going to fall apart. host: not sure about his overall question about the capitalist system, but talk about wisconsin. governor scott walker is up for reelection. he is already had a reelection of sorts when democrats tried to recall him after his initial election. most likely democratic nominee is a businesswoman. party, iop democratic

just do. -- i just do not think -- wisconsin has become so polarized, it it is really only four and six percent of the election that is persuadable. most people have made up their mind on the race. class can we talk about the larger game for governors not just about -- not just talking about 2016? guest: they are trying to do rail some of the governors with high hopes. governor scott walker of ohio, and governor of democrats believe they could not him down the cycle and then they would not have to worry about them in 10 years. governors like new mexico's democrats are trying to weaken them and take them down a notch. martinez has a race, even though we think she is favorite.

if they can do some damage this time, it might help them down the line. host: nathan gonzales is with us for the next 45 minutes or so. callers toaiting for call him, we want to ask you about the role of national parties here. the republican governors association, the democratic governors association, how much money are they putting into races this year and how big a role will they play? guest: critical roles in the state. it is different because they are bound by each individual state. you see them set up state that will than

advertised. you see them with more ambiguous names. they will be big players. they are able to raise money, sometimes more money, because they are not bound on federal death by federal limits. more money raised than spent in the states. but they are looking for the it ispportunities and probably better that states like california and texas will not be on the most competitive because that will suck up the most money. >> some of the money already being spent on campaign ads. here's one from the republican governors association. hitting on his background as a defense lawyer, in the race in south carolina. we will play that and come back and get a comment. >> have you heard the news? >> a sex offender who abused a minor and negotiated a man's

to 38ce from 10 years days. >> you heard right. a sex offender who abused a minor. 10 years-38 days. he personally represented dangerous criminals, reducing their jail time and putting them back on the street. vincent wrapped -- represents criminals, not us. that at getting some pushback from democrats in the race. >> it is an early attack. it is an effort to try to drive up his negatives before the race even gets started, even though he also ran in 2010. this is the rates democrats want to push to the top. he has become a polarizing figure. democrats deftly want to defeat her. ad isype of that -- something they have to deal with. it is a record we have seen come

up in other races. it is controversial because he is just doing his job, but almost everything is fair game when it comes to political ads. post""the washington talking about spending by the party campaign arms. having spent about $4.8 million in four skates. you can see south carolina there, and other states, wisconsin, michigan, and arkansas now. the democratic governors association come about half of the spending is playing out in arkansas and michigan. we will talk more about that. alfredring in alpha -- waiting period good morning. class good morning. -- caller: good morning. join the race for governor. general,would say in

he is in a state that is trending republican. his handling of the snowstorm, the ice storm that happened, democrats started to see an opportunity. they are likely to be the grandson of former president sometimes, --rea that gets jason carter some attention but president carter has not been on the ballot were almost 35 years. it opens the door and gives him a second look , but i still think it will be difficult for any democrat to win a race in this midterm with president obama in office overshadowing some of the races. think we could see you change the rating from safe. the governor does have some work to do. another race you have rated as safe is vermont.

someone on twitter says, vermont will be democrat for sure. we do not even have a republican candidate for governor. the amount of safe races on both the republican and democrat side, this year is it unusual? guest: i would have to go back and look. there are always competitive races. the cycle because 2010 was such a great year in 2014, republicans are defending those needs, there are more safe republican races. and house races, there is that divide between competitive and noncompetitive. quest for minds are open if you have a question or comment about the race. is with us. lee is waiting in philadelphia, pennsylvania. a democrat. quest good morning. nice to see you. i am living in philadelphia. i know it is predominantly democratic or the governor we have now has not done -- done

anything for the state. he has ruined the school system. he keeps cutting money off. i would like to see if a female -- i would like to see a female governor. what do you think her chances would be to win the election? would do a whole lot more than the present governor. quest the congresswoman is a credible candidate, running behind in the primary because tam went on the air old -- early with the advertisement and boosted his numbers. allison has had a good fundraiser. we will have to see whether they resonate. there is a second woman in the race. a former's -- former environmental official. his initialon for web ads was raking up the good

that exists in harrisburg. have another in the race, pulling in the single digits, that might be, it'd for someone like allison's words. -- allyson schwartz. host: you bring up tom in pennsylvania. where do you think he gets his money from? it seems to be an issue in this race. >> he is a businessman. he has been willing to spend and put that money up front. sometimes, early advertising does not necessarily work. voters are not paying attention, so he could almost be a black hole for candidates. get closerble to into the 40%, which, in that race, can be enough to win in

the state. seehe role in 2014, are was are wef self funders -- seeing a lot of self funders? guest: now, they're are able to fund raise incumbents. they could draw on personal wealth to win reelection. some of those are already in, and now they defend themselves. -- : a reflection of what people already think. it does not tell people what to think. be making a calculated decision and they're looking at a nominee and a look

at the primary polls, and they see even if their candidate is not getting to the nomination, they might try to look at their second choice because that candidate might have a better shot. there might be some of that calculation going on. sometimes, holes get it dad not. thinkwith people already and not trying to tell people what to do. in florida on our democrats line. caller: good morning. i want to ask your expert there about our governor race in florida. governor scott one last time without any interviews with local newspaper editorial boards, nor any interviews with local tv stations. do you think he could win again without disposing himself and doing more of a grassroots campaign? thank you. florida is such a large

stake, you do not have to run the grassroots campaign. is a media battle. it is about being able to raise enough and spend enough money on television in all of the media markets to get your message out. that is part of the reason candidates of florida do not have to do that as much as retail politics. as the incumbent governor, he is getting far more a share of student he than what he did as a candidate. whether he wants to be interviewed or not by different media outlets is almost irrelevant. those stories are going to run. it is a big state, different than almost any other state. one of the questions with the hascratic candidate, he name id, but his campaign throughn, he has gone

multiple staffers and he is trying to get that together in order to run. the official campaign is necessary to win in florida. you cannot just be an accidental governor. host: as a former republican does heas a democrat, have anything to worry about in the primary? guest: senator bill nelson is still keeping his toe in the water and wants to be mentioned as a potential candidate. i guess we cannot rule that out now. it seems not likely he will do that in, but in general, democrats are united in their disklike for governor scott and that is amending some of the fractures in the party. they just wanted to beat him and are willing to look past something to get that done. quest we are talking about in 2014. races robert in clinton, maryland. caller: i was wondering about

our race in maryland. we have a primary next month. on the republican side, there is a black republican, charles, who won the gop straw poll. your thoughts on his chances on being able to bring fresh air and a new image of the republican party. he has been reaching out into black neighborhoods. could maryland see its first african-american governor on the republican side? i do not think it will be this psychotherapy look back to when michael steele was a credible candidate for the senate, that looked like an opportunity and ended up fading comes final days. when it to the race in maryland, it comes down to the democratic primary. three people are in the race, but it comes down to the lieutenant governor. that primary is fascinating

because we are seeing health care and the affordable care act layout in a different way. a criticizedcandidate ofwn for the implementation the affordable care act in the maryland exchange, criticizing the rollout of it in maryland. it is i didn't touch a dynamically do not see in other races, where it is an issue between democrats in the democratic primary. in this cycle, it will be a democratic governor, we just do not know which one quite yet. quest maryland is one of eight states that has currently been ranked as safe democratic states. any other interesting primaries out there among those a? those eight? in july, governor deal is a polarizing figure. he got criticism when he appointed senator brian to that

vacant senate seat. , we are seeingy an independent candidate now. peerng as an independent that changes the dynamic for the general election. it is too high of a hurdle for republicans to get over 50%, but if the democratic vote is the governor and a democrat is running as an independent, you could see someone like that governor potentially sneak into that. we have had that related -- rated as safe or democrats there we will change the rating soon. there is at least a viable scenario or path for republicans, though i think it is still a long shot. >> we are talking with nancy gonzalez. , do most states have term limits for their governor? yes.: a majority.

there are exceptions. it a rick perry has been governor of texas for the good part of a quarter-century. he is not running for reelection. that is an open seat now appeared a majority of states have term limits. limits to two terms. making newsy yesterday in comments about a possible future presidential run . we're talking about the governor editorial races -- the gubernatorial races. from the republican governors association early in the segment. now i want to buy one from the democratic is as the agent. this came out back in january. class a former congressman who lost to tim walberg. now a congressman. democrats wanted him to run. they feel like he is a credible candidate they need to defeat snyder this cycle. class here is a bit from the ad that came out earlier this year.

>> i grew up in livingston county. among was a nurse that was a science teacher. i saw the difference. charge of early childhood education. in congress, i thought for early interest rates on student loans. we need to stop the cuts to school funding. to tax- that money goes breaks to businesses, even if they send jobs overseas. cut a school funding is no way to build a strong economy. earlier thisunning year in michigan. your take on that ad? one of the reasons we have seen that is because he has not been able to keep pace in fundraising. i was an effort to boost his chances, boost his profile, and also get in attacks on snyder to buy some time in order for them to increase his fundraising. what is fascinating about michigan, it will be a great

stay to watch in terms of getting the most bang for your buck. you have a competitive gubernatorial race and a competitive over and -- open seat race. you also have multiple or -- multiple congressional races on the ballot. is in theto watch former district now held by the candidacy isif his boosting his turnout, he might be able to be him again. your thoughts on a races taking place in your state. if you have questions with -- , he will begonzales here. dwayne, good morning. caller: i have a couple of questions. what is obama's popularity rating in florida, and what effect do you think that will

have on the governor's race? seen a lotis, i have and i was wondering what the reason for that is. the president posses job ratings in florida, it is similar to nationally. --e people disagree with slightly more people disapprove of his job man approved. there was a special election in wherea's 13th district, we were looking at his job approval ratings and it was not something that was an anchor around the neck of the democratic nominee there. it is something democrats will have to deal with. badi do not think it is as as running in arkansas like we were talking about earlier. in terms of ads, rick scott is an incumbent governor and he has

personal money. i believe he said he could spend $70 million total raised in his own money getting reelected, and being able to have the deeper well of resources is the reason why u.s. a more scott adds. you will see ads from outside democratic groups coming to help as things get going. --do you think governor stop scott will win in the summer? caller: it is a one-sided race. we are only seeing as from one candidate. it is like chris is not even in the race yet. host: thank you for calling in to add thoughts. we are interested in hearing from you and what you're seeing. nebraska, omaha. joan is waiting. good morning. i have a comment on all the polling places calling.

i'm getting maybe 3, 4, and they are coming from all over the nation, and as far as i'm who i willas far as vote for, that is between me and the ballot. it is private. hello? host: yes. caller: i'm getting calls from california and all over, kansas, utah, texas, florida, -- >> is it worse than it has been in previous election cycles? for the election coming up, we have got primary care in nebraska on the 13th of this month. i'm getting calls from all over the nation for who i am going to vote for. it has gotten worse and worse. i have shut off my tv because

all they are doing is slamming ish other, and what i mean they are putting the other candidate down i am tired of it. guest: you mentioned the primaries coming up on the 13th. you will see a refrain from some of that. you're right in the epicenter of republican primaries right now. a crowded primary for governor and a crowded primary for senate it. raceple candidates in each , wanting to know where they stand in each race to make those last-minute calculations. in the next few days, it will not end until the primaries are over. >> let's go to john in california, and independent. good morning.

your tv and go ahead with your question or comment. caller: i was wondering if you think kevin johnson would ever run for governor of california. guest: good question. moreobably gets as much or attention than most mayors in ,he country from his background but i always think running for higher offices a lot about opportunity. when is the right opportunity coming up, who else is running, whether there is a viable path to the nomination, but he is able to get more attention than most mayors are so he is one to watch. >> california is one of those states where candidates go to fund raise. which state will spend the most money on governors races, how much? i think it will be

florida. i think we will see florida and in total, iould see will give a guess of at least $150 million. that could be a low estimate. >> the candidates themselves? could rick scott alone spend between 70 and 100 million. when you add on chris and outside groups, we will get to at least total spending of at least $150 million. host: we are talking to nathan gonzales. the rothenberg political report. lady in california on our independents line. go ahead and turned on your tv. caller: ok. we have a situation going on in california that most elected officials are not even aware of.

california, as you know, is a very large state. she does entirely different types of backgrounds. northern california, where most of the resources are, such as water. then you have southern , which is supplied by us. simply, there is not a large population appear. there is a grass movement and to bringions are out california into two separate states. my question is, i am wondering when the politicians will catch all of this and what they will

do about it. think we see these efforts pop up from time to time and i think it will be difficult. candidates that want -- want to run successfully, what they want to try to do is bring together different factions in order to win statewide. you are right that some of the issue discrepancies are very different than what someone in l.a. and orange county, how they feel about the issues and what someone in central valley feels about the issues you're we are watching a number of competitive congressional races, one of them district,nia's 21st that water is a central issue in the state, something democrats and their teammates are trying to take issue with. being such a large state with differing populations is

-- have tohey live deal with. i do not think we will see us dividing and adding other state, whether in california or the east coast. i do not think we will see that in the future. class we would love to hear from viewers, their thoughts on governor races in their states in 2014. south carolina. the line for independents. dan is waiting. caller: good morning, gentlemen. are determined by how you ask a question. i think it is ludicrous to try to -- last i heard, 70% of people were called for polls. they do not even want to get into them. another thing, we are seeing our elections in completely circumvented, circumventing the will of the people by the wealth of corporate america. it is a terrible thing and it is not inp soon, we will be living

a system where the europeans with families inheriting power, wealth, and prestige, and we will be without anything. good they. >> a couple of points, one on polling. you are right some polling, the question wording and the way it is asked can impact the results of the poll. there are some good pollsters who asked the questions and do not ask leading questions in order to get accurate results, but there are some who tried to determine the order in aasking the certain way. a poll came out last week that asked questions about the affordable care act before they even asked about the candidates. you bring up that issue in the minds of the person responding to the poll, and i think that does have an impact on the other

questions. in terms of influence and money in corporate america, you are hitting on one of the central campaign issues democrats are talking about, whether it is the white house and equality, to democrats. they want to talk about equality and fairness and he is the influence of outside money as an issue to resume with swing voters. >> what are the polls you trust the most? we try to take in as much polling as possible and not rely on any single poll. when you are looking at polling for a national poll, nbc news in washington journal is a great goal to go through. looking at everything together and trying to take the long view, there are good partisan pollsters on each side. we have a different view on partisan polls. isot of people say if it paid for by republican or democrat, you should throw it

out and it must a skewed. pollstersere are good on both sides. remember the candidates pay money in order to do the polling to make strategic decisions. they're not interested in paying $20,000 for a poll just to put to a press release and tried inform public opinion. they're trying to get the polling numbers in order to help them know what issues to talk about, what it is people want to know about, and guide strategic decisions. helps in the following get a better idea of what is going on. classic question for you, how come states like kentucky have democratic governors. chris is a good question. there -- their offices where voters have shown a willingness party, aor the office party we are not thinking of in red or blue. because of federal issues, they

are different from state issues. we are not talking as much about social issues but more about economic issues. when one party is in power, they make economic issues they do not poweror they have been in so long, there is an alleged abuse of power. one is in the office for two or three terms or longer, voters are more willing to say, let's give the other party a chance rather than continuing on and sending the same party to watch him. they can begin to everything. -- they can be two separate things. >> there is an opportunity to focus more on local issues. federal issues are going to be guided -- the federal races will be guided by what is going on in -- on the hill. those are questions the candidates have to answer to. --h state is dealing with on economic issues but in a different way.

is the state's budget like, what sort of decisions have to be made to balance budgets so it could be a more localized race. it comes back to the federal cannotand the president be ignored. plays into the psyche because it is what is going on as well. victor, democrat, good morning. caller: good morning. turn down your tv and go ahead with your question or .omment we will come back to you in a second, get your tv turned down. gladys in maryland on our line for democrats. good morning. i am calling concerning rick scott in florida. he does not seem to want to be reelected there is he has done so many things that are

negative. he had people standing in line for hours and hours just to vote. how does he expect people -- deep down, i do not think he wants to be reelected. then the medical care, he is against that? what does he think? so many people are poor. it is a large state. younnot understand how expect to be reelected. cannot understand it. host: bringing up medical care, can you talk about the impact of affordable care affordable car? guest: if governor scott were here, he would give a different story. he would tell us he wants to run for reelection but those are some of the issues democrats want to bring up in order to generate enthusiasm within the base, which can be critical in

midterm election. medical expansion is something governors have to do with. that is one of the tangible things with the affordable care act. we are seeing different governors making different decisions and different levels of success. with the state insurance exchanges, i know in kentucky, i know the governor is not up for reelection this year, because they are in an off year, but that is one of the places where democrats have nationally pointed to a success story here that is a place that can impact a senate race where mr. o'connell is running for reelection. also, maryland with the implementation there and talking about lieutenant governor anthony brown having to answer questions about the role out there. the limitation of the affordable the act is something governors in these races are dealing with. happening this november. republicans defending 22 season

democrats defending 42 seats in the fall. let's go to pennsylvania on our line for republicans. tell us how you see the race there in pennsylvania. good morning. i'm wondering if a lot of money .s being spent i heard other people that i admire that corbett needs to be the person elected for our especially with what is going on in our state, where everybody else seems -- their campaign thing is to get as much off of the oil companies as they can get and keep feeding our entitlement type of state that we have. i wish we would go more like texas.

our local area, there is a lot of improvement, companies expanding, with that industry, it seems to be one of the things that might turn us around here. think.ondering how you you think it might make it? guest: i think it is a tough race. what you describe is a tough race, of who has the best vision for the state, who do you believe is going to take the state and the economy in the direction you want to take? that will be a fight in the general election and will also be a little that about what has governor corbett done in his first term. that economic vision is something you see in pennsylvania and we are seeing all of us the country. sarah in florida on our line for independents. caller: well, i am an independent voter.

i tend to be more democratic, but i vote for the person and i am very disgusted with congress and how they do not care about the country and they just care about getting reelected. i am very much a christian and this country started out christian. because of the unbelievers and atheists, they have taken god out of everything in our country and i heard yesterday on that somebody is going to try to take the "in god we trust" off of our paper money and our clients. i could not believe what i was hearing. i could not believe it. where were you hearing that report? caller: on a christian channel. i just want the american people to know and stop the unbelievers from taking away our wonderful

god that created us, ok. that is my belief. guest: by disapproving with congress, she is and with 87% of america. she can rest easy knowing she is in the majority on that. on our line for democrats, caroline. good morning. caller: thank you. nathan in george definitely deserves not to be reelected for several key reasons. number one, he is heartless and uncaring. and refusing to expand medicaid. by saying the state of georgia cannot afford to expand medicaid, that is ludicrous when everyone knows it is free for the first three years. nathan has demonstrated his incompetence and management skills. we had two snowstorms in george on his watch. the last one was made worldwide

news. his incompetence. the people endangered and into the enhanced for 24 hours because of his incompetence. also, his fellow emergency management director came into the office at 12 noon on the day after a major snow storm was predicted. then we learned in the middle of all of that that that was his usual time for coming in. he comes in every day at 12 noon and he did not change his habits on the day a storm was predicted. nathan is not on top of things. not managed his staff well. he is endangering the people of the state. he does not need to be reelected very thank you. calling from georgia. that is one of the states you touched on before has the key senate race as well. can you talk about the down and out ballot influences of some of the big senate races around the country? guest: in georgia, jason carter

was the likely nominee for governor. in the senate race, the likely nominee is the daughter of the former senator. on the republican side, there is a crowded primary. we start on may 20. looks like there will be a runoff. any number from former secretaries, the businessman who is a cousin of the former governor, three members of congress am a so that will go to a july runoff. in the general, this is georgia in the senate race, one of two democratic offices of opportunity. democrats are really pushing. to is the comes down democratic senatorial campaign committee is dedicated to keeping the majority in the senate for democrats and spending $60 million nationwide on over 4000 paid field staff in order to boost democratic turnout, get out the voting

efforts, particularly in a place i georgia, with the african-american community. one of the things they are focusing on is identifying new black voters, voters who have 2008-2000oted in the 12 presidential election, to try to identify those people and register them to vote, get them out to vote. if they are able to do that on the senate side, that could help in the gubernatorial race as well. get a few more calls in a while we have nathan gonzalez. bruce, on our line for independents. good morning. caller: generally, as an independent, i conservative on most issues. the size lieutenant governor brown who is running, the other two candidates, the attorney -- ial,bruce i cannot recall

forgot the guys name. and the other person running, a delegate, they are extremely liberal. on illegal immigration is ridiculous. some of the other stuff they picked and supported -- one other issue, repeal the death county. listen how stupid they are. there was already a moratorium in the state of maryland for any type of death penalty, they carry out the death penalty because of the drugs involved with that. been anybody executed in something like 20 years. host: bruce bringing up several issues there. i want to get a response from you. when you have a safe

state, the site is in the primaries. when you get to the primaries, you are talking to one segment of the electorate. to a polarization of the candidates where they are moving to the left and right on issues in order to win the primary because that is essentially the general election. carl on our line. ofler: i have a couple points about the election process. i would like to know about how you feel about debates. i would also like to know, in the debate process, instead of -- please forgive me, but instead of having a high saluting reporter or a television commentator, i would like to see more directed toward , toward hall mentality

the common folks, somebody not in the eye of the media, asking the questions, so you can get, in my opinion, a more honest response from a candidate and not be so scripted. haveems to be, when we debates, it is scripted unless you go to a town hall. i think debates are part of our political process. depending on the state and depending on the race, sometimes you see a mixture of the different formats you're talking about. some of them are guided by reporters and some of them are guided more in town hall. the presidential race has two different styles, of debates. be easyne hand, it can to say, let's take it out of the hands of the reporters, and just by being a political reporter, i am not defending that being the only way, but sometimes with average citizens, you get an

issue they might care about nmi not have as broad an appeal. the is one of the things reporter as a moderator should do, is try to boil down what are the most important issues to the majority of voters and try to get answers that way. inre are town hall meetings order to touch with grass-roots voters. those are being recorded. even though they are not debates, the answers are being recorded by the opposition and those are becoming a part of the bigger debate, even though they are not official. host: nathan gonzales

"washington journal" is live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> we kind of set up our on prison, our own trap. that we're contributing to it. when you get addicted to drugs, the whole world gets spilled around your need for drugs. suicidal, every signal in the world is you gotta die. sunrise, it's a beautiful day, your pans, people love you, but everything gets closed in. i could think about, i gotta go. so i think we ourselves get traps, that those society somehow contributes to. but on the other hand we take it can't seelly and we what's really out there. we can't see that the world is aslly there, beautiful angels and mentors and people who do care for you. >> this month, book tvs book

club selection is "it calls you back," an odyssey through love, addiction, revolutions and healing, by former gang member luis j.unity activist, rodriguez. start reading and join the conversation with other readers in our book club chat room, at tv.org. >> now a discussion of u.s. strategy regarding china. the center for strategic and international studies hosted the head of the pacific air force for a little less than an hour.

we cover from hollywood to bolly polarnd from penguins to bears. the other think i'd like that thank michael and david for skiing me to present here after mustache march was over. mine was embarrassing, i openly admit that. pictures, i've tried to burn them all, i haven't been successful. well.did not do so i appreciate not having to have that when i was here. some people haven't quite figured that out yet. topic, i'll do a couple

things here, but i'm looking forward to your questions. i believe, and i truly believe the the time i've spend in pacific, which is the gritter portion of my career is, this pacific century for the united states. it's been used before. secretary clinton said it a that it was even used in a pbs special in the late 90's. the asiaally is pacific century for the united states and for a variety of knowss, i think everybody them. the importance of the asia pacific to the future of the united states, i don't think can be overstated, whether it's the economic to trade ties, it's everything that is incorporated part of that. t.p.p.as simple as the that is not necessarily simple, transpacific partnership. the economies in the asia region, china, japan, russia. that alone speaks to the volume

of importance. the amount of, commerce that goes through there and then the challenges we face. go through that i'll try to cover all those things in the to folks.ake sense and i will try to make this work. so, as i said, what i'll do to one over the'll do a.o.r., we're not there yet. there. okay, so i fly airplanes for a living. ( laughter ) and i can't work a clicker. i'll tell you what, we'll leave it here, hopefully we'll get to the next slide soon. i'll do one over the a.o.r. we'll start up in the northeast our way down -- how am i doing so far? we'll work our way down south as we do this. certainly what's going on in

ukraine and crimea is a for us, and it's a challenge for us in the asia pacific as well as europe. had a conversation about a week and a half ago with phil breedlove for about two hours, he's not having a lot of fun as you might imagine. what russia is doing in ukraine crimea has a direct effect on the asia pacific. aviation and the increase in those areas depicted in green that come with the long range aviation, nay picture an f15 intercepting a bear that had flown down to guam. there have been a lot more in way of ship activity as well. it's a combination of things to their capability to do it. intelligence, obviously, and we participate

with both the japanese and korea. so a significant amount of increase in the activity from russia in ae asia pacific and we relate lot of that to what's going on in the ukraine. prettyorea, everybody is well versed in the things that have happened from the nuclear test, the threat of another nuclear test, what they've done theirestarting all reactors what they've done with program.sile launches, missile launches and space lunches. execution of, the purge that government. thatusly i will tell you that -- tension in the korean peninsula is truly as tight as it's ever been. appears to be getting worse to us.

and to continue to be more and for us.a challenge as we work down, obviously, there's a couple things that the east chinan aseaone is the east chain china.eclared by the first challenge obviously is consultationith no of any of the nations in close proximity, they didn't talk to talk to the, didn't republic of korea, they just it.loped second thing was the rule to operate within that is do not follow international law, they don't follow i.k.o., there's rules that are not consistent norms.ternational and finally, as part of their anlaration, there was undefined threat, basically it says you follow our rules and do do and well you to have the right to use special defensive measures. defined that, but

that is laid out there. a challenge. foralso have the potential and, again we've open talking about idea.s not a good obviously all the different there.rial disputes down number of territorial

allutes, you can read about those challenges with respect to the disputed territory and how solved. being what the united states continue actually says and we say is that of those disputes need to be solved in a international peaceful manner under international laws, international rules rules and ta resolution. the assertive and aggressive behavior of nations we do not acceptable way to solve those and we continue to reiterate that. again you can go through all the as we walk down there. fisheriesso the new law that takes about two million square kilometers in the south applies a high net fisheries law which means that come intoies that have to getl waters

clearance, again that is outside law and anormal rule of international practice. facether challenges we include counterpiracy, we have a to date movesful ofh multination support out singapore and malaysia, indonesia, thailand and the united states. cut down the number of piracy attacks within the malaca, but that's still a challenge. of course the political turmoil that exists in thailand today potential for prime minister being removed potentially or the entire courtt based on what the says it on top of that, the

we like to use in the pa civic is you can fit every land mass in the planet in the ocean and still have room left over for another north and africantinent contend ent. world with about 60% of the world's population. ring of fire, it's not a question of if there will disaster, natural it's whether when and where and those.lity to respond to in japan, like the great earthquake and tsunami, or typhoon haiyan in the philippines or earthquakes occurs. that we have learned and we believe states that as we wee these challenges that are more required to be closer with our allies and partners. faceher words as we sequestration and budget reductions, as we face this number of challenges and the

in this part of the world to the few of the united states, in fact we need to be our allies and partners and friends in the region. more.d to engage it's going to be a long briefing if we have to wait for all these slides. i have no idea how to make it go to the next sly. okay. so the next slide is one that has several engagements that participating in, and i think it goes to the point of the term again something we on use is a statement that virtual actual absence. we've got to be forward in the a.o.r., we've got to engage. year in fiscal year 14 about 400 different engagements pacific region, indo region.ific the other thing, you can almost drawt up there, but if you

a line from alaska down to anderson over to hawaii, back up commonly, it's referred to us by us as the strategic triangle. it basically u.s. soil that into the pacific that do power projection engagement and everything we need to do as we project that pacific reek on. we also have permanent bases in engagend korea and we throughout the rest of asia and we're moving more and more to the south and southwest as we more in asia. you've heard some of the things that have happened recently. we're doing an engagement with australia where we get a there.nal presence also we just signed the enhanced defense cooperation agreement with the philippines. we have presence in singapore that we operate out of. we have a continuous engagement thailand and we're continuing to do that. is other thing i'd tell you places, not bases. we're not building any more bases in the pacific, we won't

build any more bases in the pacific. but we will have a rotational presence. in the cold war we had a program called checkered flag we would take state side based union exputs rotate them into europe every 18 months to years. we're trying to do that and becoming successful in doing pacific.he asia about 18 months or two years we intend to have unit and rotate somewhere in the pacific. obviously these are just an example of some of the places that.doing red flag alaska, those are high exercises. a humanitarian assistance disaster response in exercise. that's growing. are continuing those exercises and we move farther west.

think 26 neations are going to participate in that to include chinaople's republic of will participate in july of this then we continue to the exercise right now to date we've done about 185 for this year, fiscal year and have about 200 left as we move on. next slide. worked, well done. you might get promoted now. ( laughter ) good, thanks. so i won't spend a lot of time on this, but this is what we by five strategy. slide, theht of that , to be ready to do all those things.

contingency ops, stability and free access. deter aggression. and when called upon respond to defend states interests and our allies. we use those five lines of operation as, i kind of wear hats, which means everything that flies within the pacific theater is under the joint force air component commander. i also have the role of the area commander, which means 52% of the worlds surfaces defending.ible for which is one of our biggest challenges. space control authority and air space control authority. so those five lines going across those five lines of operation, we call them, are the five things that i have to be able to order to meet what the national command locklear and admiral do.cts me to

it's building partnerships, relationship itself, it's all maintainngs you do to access, maintain good relations ability ton the interoperate with our friend and allies. the area air defense commander role is one that bothers me every day. the largest missile arsenals in the wold are russia, china and north korea in that order and pointed atm are either us or our friend and allies. to defend against a potential missile attack is a huge challenge. that when you look at what north korea does even today with respect to their arsenal.issile exactlyojection is ist, and my ability to do it to get whatever kind asset i need in place in hours, not to provide intelligence surveillance reconnaisance, to

mobility, humanitarian assistance, disaster response and if called upon to put pour projection capability into that theater in the way of globe power. for the mast decade and a half the united states hasn't really worry about command and control of our forces. if you look at with a we've done in iraq and afghanistan, everything over 80 feet off the owned.we've unfortunately in my role that's not the case much we'll be contested in a variety of ways. the number of satellite in the is paltryic reej a compared to anywhere necessary the world. yet on top of that cyber denied, communicationings and degraded environment and the ability to command and control, so how do you do flexible exphapped and control? centralizedo from control?o distributed

then how do you then do decentralized execution to meet and staynder's intent inside the decision loop of your adversary so you can operate can.r than he finally the last point of operations our incredible airmen in the pacific theater, they're the greatest asset this nation has. gain faith in america, just watch out the flight lines, they're incredible they will dazzle you every day. my job in life is to make sure care of,aken everything i can do to make sure they and their families are taken care of. the left hand side is the way we go about doing that. justpand engagement is that, it's our ability to engage, it's key leader engagements, it's training exercises. of sequestration, increasing combat capability is hard, so how do you do that.

every dollar you spend you have to make sure it's the dollar that will give you the most may notty because you have another dollar to spend. today i believe that we have more missions than we have manpower or time, and it's going to stay that way for the foreseeable future. ability to focus our efforts to get the most out of everything we're doing with our airmen and with our money and with the time that we invest has got to be to give us the capability. integration, it is how dothe joint force, we do air sea bats, integrated defense, stealth type platforms like submarines and come pine them with high visibility platforms. integration amongst us and our allies. australians buy the f f35, they've also announced

going to buy 58f-35's, the japanese are going to buy them. so how do you integ ray with those partners and bring the partners to the greatest capability to operate the same time. next slide. so i know we'll get to questions shortly. through these fairly quickly. i know watching peeps travel photos is not everybody's greatest time. you probably don't want to do this, but i'll go through just a couple of pictures of things we've done. it's indicative of the engagements that we're doing in pacific. this is general welsh and myself, we visited china back in the fall of this year. that's the first chief of staff years,o china for 15 1998 was the last time and that's the chief sitting in a j10 it was a great engagement. it was enlightening, it was struckive. was substantive. it was enlightening, i had been

in 2009 and i-been back since. so four years later, and dazzledell you, i was by the change. it was amazing, if there's any doubt in anybody's mind that is on the rise, there shouldn't be, because it definitely is and it was obvious conducted they themselves. we got to see a lot of their military operations and just in visited.s we there's also a level of i think a high level of confidence by their civilianand leadership. we had a chance to meet with the and thethe air force central military commission, one of the vices of the central military commission, a former chief of the air force general. substantial visit at the end of the day we all walked away saying that the military and the united states have the opportunity to operate significantly more in proximity to each other in the future and that will only grow over time. miscalculation is

great and our ability to deal a bettere, we must do job of managing that friction because the potential exist there's for something bad to happen. and we don't want something like p3 incident that happened before. places,t to visit many spent a lot of time with their military and again it was the nation is doing well.ingly next sly. closesly australia is a partner, we've been close partners with them since world and still are today. if you look at what they're nation,g for their operate,.ity to

the symposium, it was fantastic. many nations were represented allies.ll of our and many much our friends and partners from throughout the region. valuable.redibly that picture in the lower right hand corner is a neat story, are a set of twins from flight officer mobsby, an australian rap pilot that influence with the 90th u.s. of new guinea in world war ii, he was killed on a very dangerous flight him the rest of the flight got silver stars, he did not. up a petitiont for that and i was able to award the silver star to his two daughters. never met their father, they don remember him. they were born about six months he deployed. so a pretty neat story. but the relationship with australia is as strong as it's ever been and growing stronger

all the time. next slide. got to go to vietnam, went to hanoi, saigon, they still call saigon, by the way. but they use both names. will tell you that the chief of staff the their air force was very open and welcoming, the entire country was. they were noticeably appreciative of our efforts to engage with them. there are legal ramifications, things we have to watch by law with what we can do with the vietnamese. there's many areas why we can grow that relationship, and it incan creditably productive. we are looking at a couple things using some of the assets and flying through denang. there are some training environments we're looking to help them with. we do those four or five times a

year. pacific angels are events where dentists,ctors, veterinarians, engineering capability and we go to a place help.eeds we do huge medical engagement, ando engineering engagement probably as valuable is we bring in the host nation's military and government officials to increase their visibility with their own population. so it's very valuable and has a response. thailand, obviously another of allies, japan, korea, australia, philippines, thailand. the, again, this has 1994.oing on since next slide. finally. this is the pacific air chief symposium. we had 14 pacific air chiefs

that met me in hawaii, then we traveled throughout the united states. iteral welsh is the host of and i get to escort him throughout the united states. incredibly valuable, again 14 air chiefs from throughout the region. the picture in the upper right is at the u.s.s. arizona, down in the lower left in davisne yard montham. engagement,us tremendous opportunity to spend time with these air chiefs. think at the end of this what is the tell everyone in basis of this talk is as we face have 'we problems we see sequestration in fact our relationship with friends and allies has got to get closer. we have to pull them closer and greater understanding of our challenges and issues and forces closer and closer as we move forward. next slide. aways i'll leave you

with and then i look for to answering your questions. the pacific, in it's alive and well. know people talk about it is it actually happening during sequestration, did it happen yet? it happened. i think the amount engagement upre doing has gone drastically. emphasis,effort, the whether it's the president's trip, secretary hagel, secretary locklear anddmiral his moves throughout the a.o.r., engaged.ance is fully we were slowed down by sequestration, in '13 we had to some exercises that cost us terribly. we had to cancel an exercise in nellis thatd flag the indians were going to participate in and that was a blow to me, and it was something that we regret have made it up. they're going to participate in so we're continuing.

i think we've managed it as best into '14and as we went were able to go back to the full engagement scenario and the full engagement setup. to shrink foot print a little because of the reduction in budget. going well.ink it's the key to this whole thing is about building relationships. talk theater security cooperation it's all of that. it's from subject matter expert to exercises on the grand scale to smaller exercises to everything we can do. i think that's it. i appreciate your attention. this that i before hoped that i finished speaking before you finished listening, i hope that worked out for u. and i look forward to answering your questions. thank you very much. [applause] >> so while they're moving the

>> while they are moving the podium, if you have written question, raise your card. as soon as you have them, they will get them to us. i will turn it over to dr. green. >> thank you very much. we will be posting the general's slides on our website. that was a very robust and busy, but not too long, agenda for engagement. it prompted me to ask first a broad question about the ulture and philosophy as the air force. in the 90's you had this idea legant presence. at times the store canadians like the air force has approached forward presence and engagement with a little more

distance than some of the other services. but what you're describing is could you put this in the store context of the ways the air force overall? >> and will go to my history and what i grew up with and then where i see it today. it is when i mentioned with the checkered flag mentality. there is some of this in here, but when we were stationed and rotated through, it was to figure out where your forward operating rotation was and what would happen when the gap ccurred. and the air force was the key component to that. we are taking on the same kind of model in some ways, more about engagement, security and stability, and forward residents and goes to the actual presence rather than virtual presence.