were concerns that some customers were being forced to wireless when wireline infrastructure was destroyed. wireless is not the same. you have propagation of other issues, reliability >> i think you referring specifically to the island in new york. it is predominantly a summer population. this was an example to me of the advantages of a robust and diverse technology. couldn'tsituation we -- with a wireless solution to give people some really good functionality with the intent of improving that. we talk to customers over the course of the summer and at the end of the summer made the

determination that we were roaring to rebuild fiber. this is an example where wireless provided a great short-term solution for customers over the longer-term. we determined that fiber was the longer solution and that was a unique situation. what we are doing and what the trials are looking for issues at other areas we go to wireless. we are looking at predominantly a copper to fiber migration which doesn't present those same situations. customers are getting the same services over different fiber infrastructure. >> another issue consumers will care about is the fact of smartphones. it is a big issue. law enforcement has been concerned and they say a large number of the crimes occur when people steal smartphones. the wireless industry announced a voluntary commitment and starting next year they will things thatevices

will allow people to try to secure they'll cell phones -- their cell phones. you're been praised by regulators however some folks not that happy. the attorney general in new york and the da in san francisco have been very active on the kill switch issued that would allow you to turn off your cell phone off if it is stolen. say that you do so more. as a default and people shouldn't have to do anything to make it occur. i wanted to get your reaction to that. is a trade association that has really come together and showing great leadership on this issue. it is an issue that all of the companies take very seriously. anytime crime is involved, it is something we are all concerned about and make sure we are doing will be can to help prevent that. ctia came together and this is leadership coming up with a voluntary code. this has to have all parts of

the ecosystem involved. this is an something carriers can do your hourly -- unilaterally. you also need to look at the overall customer experience because we absolutely want to look at technology that works -- that might discourage cell phone theft. you don't want to have a situation where customers drop their phone behind the sofa, think it is stolen, how to turn into a brick and call back in and realized they cannot have it -- they have to have it turned back on or that it is accidentally done or it is hacked into. one could see teenage pranks of people turning off each other's phones. you want to make sure you really thought through all of the technology aspects of how the solution will work. i think ctia needs to be commended and taking a thoughtful approach and how we address this consumer need. >> it is at the state level for

the kill switches. >> simply because what we don't want as a patchwork to be consistent laws across the country. we think the voluntary commitment that ctia has come up with will address the issue. is immature and counterproductive to have individual states across the country passed separate legislation on this issue. >> we have so many issues we haven't gone to, including many in the area of security. let me close with one that is a big one. congress passed the usa freedom act which is around the whole collection of data. positionon taking a on the specific law and where do you think the policy should be going? >> we cannot in support of the act. we applauded it because it brings an end to bulk collection. it focuses on privacy of customers. we have been very supportive of that and will continue to be

sort of -- a supportive as it moves to the senate side. >> we hope you will come back. real to get him and that we hope to get even more insidious issues. thank you for your questions. thank you for your time. >> thank you very much. >> c-span, grid by america's cable companies 35 years ago and brought to you by a public service by a public service by your local or cable satellite provider. >> c-span has ensuing commencement speeches from college graduations around the country. beginning at 8:00, what secretary of state john kerry delivered his address to yield university -- yale university. johnson atcurity jeh his alma mater, morehouse college in atlanta and federal

reserve chair janet yellen at nyu. next, discussion about the v.a.'s future after root -- after the resignation of secretary eric shinseki. it is 45 minutes. targets to take care of. us to discuss eric shinseki's resignation is leigh munsil and chris carroll. at one point -- at what point do think he was able to escape being a distraction? guest: there was a deception and

scheduling of veteran appointments. it has been known for years and years that veterans had to wait a long time. what came out this week was they had established this system of keeping dual books. some people were heading toward appointments and some people who keepept off the books to the weight. wait period down. guest: it has been building for weeks. president obama was very supportive of eric shinseki. he did not necessarily want to remove him from his post. he thought secretary shinseki could deal with these issues but then it just builds and builds over the past couple of weeks. we heard from veterans groups.

the inspector general report came out on thursday. we had jeff miller of the v.a. committee as well as john mccain on the senate side and buck mckeon of the armed services. very tellingy -- a sign. i think that was the belt whether of this. veterans callse that hurt him more? inst: i think that set it motion. the american legion said he had to go and that is huge. nothing has happen like that in decades. and the final straw was the lawmakers who had been supporting him, people like john mccain saying he is a distraction.

host: we continue discussion on eric shinseki's resignation. our phone lines are open. we are taking your comments and questions as we go about this. a special line continuing for veterans. with to be calling on that line for veterans from albany georgia. caller: thank you for airing this desperate situation for veterans. i am a veteran. i joined the army at 16 years old. as a result of some of my duty, i contracted melanoma cancer service connected. i have been dealing with the v.a. for 12 years trying to get a rating for this melanoma cancer. they finally gave me 10%.

i don't want money, i want my health. to go back to the situation of hospital our veterans in atlanta, where i was a patient at one time, i was from their because they opened up a storefront. it was a community based outpatient clinic. contracted company that akes money off of the v.a. it goes back to win the government started hiring contractors to do government work, which is costly and ineffective. to treat 6000 three lpm's. you can do the math and see with that is all about.

he brings up some staffing issues in terms of contractors. are these issues that the v.a. is in the midst of fixing or is this part of the exploration into the problem that continues to go on here? guest: the v.a.'s going to continue to look into this thing whether it is contractors. health centers across the country are going to do in other more exhaustive -- do another more exhaustive report. hereey thing to remember is the v.a. does hundreds of thousands of these appointments every year. they affect all sorts of people. the quality of care has affects across the country. it is a massive system. that is bound to happen.

the key is finding out what can be fixed and what can be improved. topic president obama fraud up yesterday as he was talking about eric shinseki's work, what he had done for the v.a., and where these waste time problems came from. here is a bit more from the president's statements yesterday. >> where we have seen a problem, where we have been aware of a problem, we have gone after it and fixed it and have been able to make significant progress. what is absolutely clear is this one, this issue of scheduling is one that the reporting systems service --dha do not did not surface to the level where we will able to see it -- were able to see it. when i was traveling around the

country, the particular issue of scheduling. we are going to have to see to make sure how we get the information on how our systems are working. host: explain the scheduling issue for those who may not be as familiar with the story that started coming out earlier about this. when: the issue is veterans: and want an appointment they need to have this appointment within 14 days. that has proven to be an unattainable goal. it could be a result of resources, of management. meeting that goal determines bonuses, determines whether people get promotions. to get around that they have created this dual books system where some people are kept off the books so it is not clear that there are so many on the waiting list.

thehoenix more than half of veterans waiting for appointments were off the list. more than 1700 were off the books. how many actual investigations are going on about the v.a. right now? by their members of congress and specific committees looking into this as well -- are there members of congress and specific committees looking into this as well? guest: absolutely the v.a. panel is going to be looking into this. the white house is doing its own inquiry. president obama sent one of his aides to phoenix to get to the bottom of what is going on there. doing itsve the v.a. own audit of almost all of its health centers across the country.

some veterans have been waiting an average of 115 days for their appointment, which is much much more than the 14 days they are supposed to be waiting. problem is much bigger than it had been originally. obama waspresident asked if the justice department can get involved. what that he say? guest: he said that is absolutely on the table. in the phoenix report there are allegations of harassment. many on the hill call for those things to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. form ofuld be a criminal response. host: we will go to richard waiting in pennsylvania on our line for better's -- for veterans. caller: fortunately for me everything ended quickly. with 25 years experience. i have been to every v.a. in

pennsylvania and delaware. call people to let them know that walt's for all -- that -- v.a. is ok. the secretary definitely had to go. haveext secretary has to power to fire people because if you are not doing something properly you have to be fired. a doesn't matter if you are good guy or not a good guy, you should be fired for not doing your job right. if you do that in the private sector you are going to be fired. going to have whistleblowers and then everybody will go to jail and the whistleblower will keep their job. overall nobody tends to believe what they have to say when they come out and say this is what is going on. my cousin was in albuquerque, new mexico.

is albuquerque issue personal to me. not just because of my family members but all veterans are my family members. host: the color brings up whistleblowers. with reports of this, where there whistleblowers before the cnn story from earlier this year ? that was the one that gained a lot of headlines. guest: if there were they did not get blown up nationwide like this one to give -- this one did. there are reports that this wait time issue -- the whistleblowers who said there are cheating -- there is cheating and deception, that is elevating this to the level it has been act now. level it is now. it says in this piece --

that is in today's paper. theontinued talking about resignation yesterday of eric shinseki. john is up from camden town, missouri on our line for veterans.

caller: i think blaming shinseki for this is ridiculous. the fault belongs with congress. i will give you a good example of how congress works. -- yesterday you had a republican on there from texas, i cannot remember his name, discussing this same problem. the moderator read a report stating that each representative -- each doctor in the v.a. had a list of 2000 patients he was responsible for. this congressman said, that is not too many. there are doctors with 10,000 patients. of silly to me. i got out a pencil and paper and in 30 seconds i figured out that if a doctor had 10,000 patients, he works 365 days a year, 10

hours a day, each one of those patients would get 30 minutes of his time a year. notproblem is congress does know what the heck is going on. care and they politicize everything. our: if you want to see interview yesterday with jeff miller, you can check that out .n c-span.org we also interviewed sheila jackson-lee. in terms of other members of theirss tweeting out reactions to eric shinseki's resignation yesterday -- also senator harry reid, majority leader --

conch cement cory gardner out of colorado -- congressman cory gardner out of colorado -- congressman armey bera -- congressman ami we are taking your calls and comments. bill is waiting on the line for veterans. he is calling in from new jersey. good morning. caller: the thing that gets me is we either have people that are in charge and have no sense and have the reason for making the decisions that they make. as far as the veterans problems are concerned, there are too many veterans going to the facilities to be treated. they cannot handle them all. the of use thing to do would be

close to 50% of veterans are over 65, they already have medicare. why doesn't the government supply them with a supplemental insurance and tell those people they can go to whatever facility they want if they cannot get a at the veterans facility he echoed that would put the pressure on the facility appointment at the veterans facility. that would put the pressure on the facility. any of the solutions work into these proposals? guest come this is at its heart a health care issue. it is a question of what is going to be the best system to deal with as many people who have to go through the v.a. system. this administration has been dealing with health care issues for it while. the possibility that

those sorts of proposals could be used with the v.a. problems. we are not seeing a lot of concrete proposals just yet. yes a lot of federal population at this point are 65 or older. we have a ton of veterans coming back from iraq and afghanistan and all of the issues going on in the fee a -- in the v.a. will only be compounded if you have an influx of veterans coming back from recent wars. certainly an issue that won't be going away. they have to get to the heart of proposals about specifics of health care in the best way to provide health care. host: a question specifically twitter -- guest come i think the v.a. is saying yes we need more money to do our job. -- guest: i think the v.a. is saying yes i'm a we do need more money to do our job.

the cause of the ability to meet the 14 day requirement is they do not have enough providers. there has been a lot of debate about this in the past. coming around. people are saying yes, the v.a. needs more funding. host: question -- guest: it is part of the benefit and payroll system that exists right now. that is one of the first steps that secretary shinseki took before he left, removing some of those bonuses. some people have been getting bonuses and are not living up to what they are supposed to accomplish. that is something we may see go future to diminished in

v.a. systems. host: the white house -- here's more from him on remedial actions he was taking in response to the v.a. crisis. [video clip] >> i will issue the process for the removal of the senior leaders. [applause] we will use all of authority at our disposal to enforce accountability among senior leaders who are found to have instigated, tolerated dishonorable scheduling practices at the v.a. health care facilities. i have also directed that no dh a senior executive will receive any type of award for 2014. [applause] i have directed that a patient wait times be deleted from tha

-- from dha reports as a measure of their success. there contacting each of 1700 veterans in phoenix waiting for appointments to bring them the care they need and deserve. we will continue to accelerate access care for veterans nationwide, utilizing care both in and outside the v.a.. [applause] we will announce the results of our nationwide audits of all the v.a. health care facilities in the coming days. congress to support senator bernie sanders's bill, giving greater authority to remove senior leaders. announcements -- do those announcements continue despite his resignation?

guest: they do. the president announced they will be put in place. what really struck me was when he said, i was surprised this was happening. this has never happened in all my years in the army. people talk about the need for cultural change. perhaps the secretary just didn't understand the culture of the v.a.. host: taking your calls and comments. let's go to doris waiting in chicago, illinois on our line for democrats. good morning. caller: i am really sad that general shinseki has been vilified in this way. i think it's a pretty good human being and he dedicated his life to this country and the military.

my husband was a vietnam vet. he enlisted to the one 73rd airborne brigade. problems, wee any were happy with the care. i think the one thing missing is that republicans do not take any responsibility for their actions in these debacles. -- isdia is come complicit. host: which actions are you talking about? caller: hold on a second. the problems of the v.a. was compounded by these two wars, afghanistan and iraq. we had more wounded veterans. but we had tax cuts. and we had no increase. we did have an increase in vets meeting care. v.a. saw were cuts to

in 2008 bush proposed cuts to v.a. a $612 paul ryan proposed billion cut to the v.a. that would have taken 1.3 million that's -- million vets out of v.a. do you hear that in the media? nope. host: your thoughts on the history doris was talking about. guest: the funding question is a difficult one because there are reasons to say there is not enough funding at the v.a., that there are issues with funding, but in a lot of ways to budget has grown. it has not necessarily been declining. or notstion is whether it has been growing enough to keep up with this continued continued demand. and whether or not the money is being used advantageously and being used well, actually

helping veterans as opposed to just building a bureaucracy that doesn't get anything done or help those veterans. it is a matter of funding but it thatso a matter of using funding well. host: off of twitter -- whose loan tips in the echo guest: -- who is sloan gibson? infantry is a former officer who was a banker for a couple of decades and then he way he uso, which is the put in the veterans community know him. that is the organization that puts on two wars in war zones of entertainers and past set cookies and coffee at airports around the world for troops.

has now been handed the job of running the v.a. in the wake of eric shinseki's resignation. how long has he been on the job? guest: three months. it is going to be a steep learning curve as the president acknowledged yesterday. there is a lot to be addressed. host: haslam gibson made any comments that you have seen? i have not interviewed him or seen any substantive comments. we're talking with chris carroll and leigh munsil. we're taking your calls and comments. up next on the line for republicans from brooklyn, new york. caller: good morning. i finally get a chance to talk. president bush was a republican president. we had some scandal.

this time, with president obama -- there is a high number of scandals. solution.aising this they didny situations, not solve anything, but doubled my number of scandals. i think this resignation is a catastrophe for the community and the u.s. obamaa negative point for as a democratic president, with his policy to military staff. president bush, as a republican president, he had some good points. war in different countries started fighting each other. the persons in

scandal were much lower than with presidneent obama. host: he brings up the politics of this. can you talk about it from that perspective? what will this mean heading into an election year? a midterm election year, which compounds the sort of thing. a lot of democrats who were in the districts that were in danger were quick to jump on the bandwagon of calling for his resignation, calling for answers. obviously, politics plays into this issue. it is difficult to politicize veterans issues. that is the sort of thing that can backfire on you if you want to use it as a political point. it is veterans lives hanging in the balance. so, politics always pleasant to this.

it has always been a disappointment, on the forefront of people's minds, for the administration. they have been trying to push a bench of foreign policy related issues. the president came out and made and aouncement foreign-policy speech at west point, which laid out his doctrine for less intervention a summer on the world. now he is going on a two or of normandy for the d-day anniversary this next week. so, he has a lot of things he is trying to do. the scandal is just the split-screen. that is what they call when you talk about the media. you have the president on one side and the a issues -- v.a. issues. in the next week or so, he cannot get away from this issue. it will make it difficult for

them to do what he wants to the leading up to the midterms, and make the points he is strong on foreign-policy. there are issues at home. host: let's go to that line for veterans, daniel is calling for maryland. caller: good morning, how are you? host: good. go ahead. caller: i have been listening to general shinseki talk. the people in phoenix were about to be rescheduled. what is happening to the rest? i am a three-time combat veteran from new combat, not the vietnam stuff. what is being done for all of hospitals across the nation? are they all getting recalled? guest: there has been more attention on phoenix, naturally. that is where the story came out

of. all of them are being reviewed now. there was just a quick review done. not that this is happening at most v.a. hospitals. i can only assume, i i do not know for sure -- these people who have not had appointment scheduled will have them. host: this is one of the challenges that sloan gibson will be taking on. guest: absolutely. that will be his first rollout of the gate, to re-instill confidence in the v.a. to appear strong and able to deal with these issues. to get to the bottom of it, rather than brush it under the rug. that has been a frustration in the past. the question will be how much he will be dedicated to finding out what is going on. pusheems that there is a

from congress and the president to get to the bottom of this. he will be able to have the backing he needs to find out what is going on. host: go ahead. guest: the way i see it, this will be an easy thing to fix. a practice.topping what is not going to happen is problem of long wait times being fixed. host: i should note that sloan gibson was taking over the v.a. -- he was on this program back in 2009, when he was the uso ceo and president. the united services organization. he was talking about, at that point, the 60th anniversary of the usl. o. you can see that on c-span.org.

we are talking with leigh munsil and chris carroll. there are 25 minutes left in the segment. we will go to frank in new jersey on the line for independents. caller: how are you doing? host: good, go ahead. caller: i am a combat veteran from vietnam era. v.a., i am call the 100% connected. a lot of times, they will say to me, can't you see one of your outside doctors? we are on medicare, you know. it is a constant thing with them trying to ship me off to medicare. there was one instance where i had an ailment in 2010. it lasted for almost two years. i kept going back to the v.a. and they kept trying to shove me off to an outside doctor.

i ended up getting a colonoscopy, and oscar the, everything. i family the got to the bottom of things. it took two years. there are not enough doctors on the gp side. you have theck, stomach flu or something, and you call them up, they will try to make an appointment for you for two weeks away. you are sick that day. they tell you to go to the emergency room. the emergency room is 60 miles away. they just do not have enough doctors. this sort ofunsil, complaint is what members of congress are hearing as well. guest: absolutely. these are the things they want to try to fix. and also, keep in mind within dod and pentagon, personnel is a huge part of their budget.

it ballooned over the last few years. it has become one third of the base budget. payroll compensation, those sorts of things, for veterans. there is a good chance that we will see you reform of that as well. there will perhaps be less money spent or money spent more strategically. so, all of these things will be looked at in depth. host: one question from gene in ohio. what is the difference between active duty and veterans health care? guest: that actually was talked about this week. secretary hegel came out and said that the pentagon health service for active-duty service members -- and some retirees, would be audited as well. just make sure they don't have the same sorts of problems going on. there is a bit of confusion about what that wasn't how it was different. the v.a. is more for veterans.

and the pentagon health services for active-duty. there is a little bit of overlap. i would be interested to hear the specifics of that. it is very consultative process. it is difficult to get the nuances correct. host: chris carroll, do you want to jump in? host: -- guest: the active-duty service is called tri-care. it is a very good health system. no co-pay for service members. there are not a lot of issues like with the v.a. it is not perfect, obviously. military retirees are also eligible for tricare. although, there is some overlap. with tricare, you can go to a va hospital. it is a very complicated relationship. host: let's go to mike in bonita

springs, florida. caller: yes, this is mike. i was an instructor at a community college back in the 80's and 90's. i had a class with veterans. one of the subjects that was brought up was the exposure to agent orange. instructor, i took it upon myself to do some investigation. what i found was what the veterans were saying. they were not allowed to continue. there were no results and not downside to exposure. we all know what was happening in vietnam. it was used as a herbicide. the forces could detect the

other indigenous people who had high cancer busters. -- clusters. those were reported. when the veterans came back, they could not be seen for that. what i did, as i did my research, and found out that it is a contaminant chemical that was put into the -- you just can't control it. long story short. therehe cdc was doing, was a company that produced this. they were in charge of also producing the results on the humans. that is mike talking about his own research. chris carroll, have you done any work on agent orange? guest: not exactly. he does bring up an interesting point. one of the --

came in,etary shinseki one of his orders was to reduce the wait time for processing orders. he has attended to that diligently. ago, they maders the decision to accept people with agent orange claims. that expanded the weight time -- wait time for benefits processing greatly. this did not look good for shinseki. a lot of people said it was the right thing. is except that the claim. host: for folks who are not familiar, tell them about stars & stripes. guest: this is a paper that covers the military. it is an independent paper within dod. under some federal legislation, it gives us editorial independence.

we have no influence by the pentagon or military structures. we operate all of the world. carroll was previously a staff writer at national geographic magazine. we're also joined by leigh munsil out of politico pro. also, a former staff writer at dallas morning news. we are taking your comments and questions for the next 15 minutes or so on the resignation of eric shinseki. leigh munsil, i want to ask you a question posed in the washington post. in the longshinseki term create who might be a more permanent replacement at the v.a.? gibson may stay for a while, even to the end of president obama's term. there are names being floated as possible replacements. one thing to keep in mind is that you may have to have any eventual replacement go through a senate confirmation process.

given that this has become so political and so frustrating to members of congress, this has turned into such a big issue. that will be a very difficult process, no matter who you name. anyone who is not palatable to the senate will not be a good choice at this point. a lot of times, you want someone who will fly through the senate fairly quickly. perhaps some names that have been brought up were military generals. asy perhaps would be seen positives. some other -- another side of this is the v.a. health care summit. it needs to be run with someone with health care experience. haveill see candidates who more of a background in those sorts of specifics. maybe the typical v.a. a situation of bringing in a veteran, some one who served a long time and is well respected but maybe does

not have the organizational skills. host: talk about the rigors of a nomination process. does sloan gibson have to go through nomination before he took the job? guest: i believe so, yes. he did go through a nomination process. he has already been approved by the senate at least to serve at v.a. host: chris carroll, your thoughts? nuest: it is always a interesting parlor game. i have seen a lot of former military members and generals mentioned. mike mullen has been mentioned. peter curley, the former vice chief. choice. interesting he focused heavily on the problems of ptsd and health care for soldiers. i think that appeals to veterans

as well. some politicians have been brought up as well. ist: the wall street journal taking up this question of who might be a permanent replacement. here is a chart of some possible picks for the next veterans affairs secretary. one of the possible picks noted in that chart is a republican. the wall street journal noted that the confirmation hearing for whoever replaces mr. shinseki has a prime opportunity for republicans to score points against the obama administration. a republican could ease the process to something that is not terribly political to begin with. just some thoughts on a possible placement. let's go to jerrold on the line from indiana. caller: good morning. my name is gerald. i am a past commander, retired. i also am married to a vietnam

girl. i brought her back here to the united states. an honorable veteran. i received in 1997 -- no one is talking about this, but i received full compensation of 100%, disabled. they reclassified me as 60%. now they want me to pay them back $253,000. i talked to the american legion representative in indiana. they told me i would be punished because i married a vietnam girl and brought her back. i should have never married her. i should have married somebody in the united states. this is what i was told and i am very upset about it. d talking about his situation in indiana. it's good to roger in des moine

s. caller: good morning. i have been listening to everybody say more money, more money. the last four years, there has been $1 million each year carried over. millionr, there is 500 that is being carried over. $4.5 billionears, that has not been spent. also, do you realize -- i just heard this. obama just met with shinseki for the first time in two years, and that is when he accepted his resignation. 08, wasnt obama, 2007-20

given reports on these. deal forhis a prime his reelection. and nothing is happening. it has gotten worse. host: chris carroll, a couple of points. one on the unspent funds. was this the first meeting in several years? believe he met within him the week before, possibly the week before that. i do not know what the schedule history has been. he met with him once before the resignation. funds, i am just not familiar with whether there possiblynt funds or some statutory reasons they have to be directed in certain ways. that is a possibility, though. host: leigh munsil, any thoughts? anst: the funding issue is

interesting one. especially when you talk about whether there needs to be more funding. one thing that i have talked about with todd harrison -- he tends to be a good person to talk to with budgetary stuff. that the v.a. budget has grown over the past several years. there is a chart that goes up in the past 10 or so years. there are a lot of veterans compensations. those funds have gone up. it could be a matter of funding, but it is a matter of using funding well. throwing more money at a system that does not work does not fix anything. neither does taking out the official at the top of the system. these issues are systemic. that is what the report found out. they are across the country.

>> peter baker discusses president obama's foreign and defense policy goals. the second rector of the treatment advocacy center talks about the recent calls for the overhaul of the nation's medical system in the wake of last week in california shooting spree. climate change initiative which and he would miss ration is set to talk about on monday. you could join the conversation on facebook or twitter. washington journal, live at 7 a.m. eastern on c-span. about an hour and a half ago, president obama made a public statement in the rose garden about the release of u.s. soldier in afghanistan. the sergeant had been at had -- held captive by the taliban since 2009 become the only known soldier to be missing during the afghan war.

the president was accompanied by the parents who both spoke. >> good afternoon, everybody. and morning, i called bob jenny and told him that after nearly five years in act -- an activity, their son is coming home. the sergeant has missed birthdays and holidays and the simple moments with families and friends which all of us take for granted. while bo was gone, he was never forgotten. his parents thought about him and prayed for him every single day as did his sister sky who prayed for his safe return.

he was not forgotten by his community in idaho or the military which rallied to support them through thick and thin. he was not forgotten by his country because the united states of america does not ever leave our men and women in uniform behind. as commander in chief, i am proud of the service members who recovered the sergeant and brought him safely out of harm's way. they performed with extraordinary courage and professionalism and they have made their nation proud. right now, our top priority is making sure bo gets the care and support he needs and that he can be reunited with his family as soon as possible. i am also grateful for the tireless work of our diplomats and for the cooperation of the government of qatar in helping to secure bo's release. we have worked for several years to achieve this goal and earlier this week, is able to personally thank his leadership in getting

it done. as part of this effort, the united states is transferring five detainees from the prison in guantánamo bay to qatar. the government has given us assurances that it will put in place measures to protect our national security. i want to express gratitude to the afghan government which is always -- which is always secured our efforts. going forward, united states will continue to support an afghan led process of reconciliation which can help secure a hard-earned peace in afghanistan. as i said earlier this week, we are committed to winding down the war in afghanistan and we are committed to closing gitmo. we also made an ironclad commitment to bring our prisoners of war home. it is who we are as americans. it is a proud -- a profound obligation within our military and today at least in this

instance is a promise we have been able to keep. manymindful that there are troops who remain missing in the past. that is why we are never going to forget. we never going to give up our search for service members who remain unaccounted for. we also remain deeply committed to securing the release of american citizens were unjustly detained a fraud -- abroad and deserve to be reunited with their families just like this family. janie, today families across america share in the joy that i know you feel. as a parent, i cannot imagine the hardship that you guys have gone through. as president, i know i speak for all americans when i say we cannot wait for the moment when sou're reunited and your son i back in your arms. with that, i would like bob an opportunity to say something and janet as well.

say thank you to to everyone who has supported bo. he has had a wonderful team everywhere. we will continue to stay strong for bowe while he recovers. thank you. >> would like to say to bowe right now who is having trouble speaking english -- i am your father, bowe. to the people of afghanistan, the same. the complicated nature of this recovery was -- will never be country ended -- comprehended. to each and every single one who affected this in this country, and the service branches, at the state department throughout the whole of american government and around the world, international

governments around the world, thank you so much. wordsnot communicate the this morning when we heard from the president. so, we look forward to continuing the recovery of our son which will be a considerable task for our family and we hope that the media will understand that will keep us very preoccupied in the coming days and weeks as he gets back home. thank you all for being here very much.

>> more of this year's commencement speeches from around the country great we will hear from secretary of state, power, jeh samantha johnson, and federal reserve chair janet yellen. in 1966, john kerry spoke as a graduate at yield university's class day. this year, he delivered the annual class they lecture during yale's commencement weekend. he stroke about the struggles of the 1960's generation and he urged the graduates to keep faith in the government possibility to break gridlock.