it is a racist notion that tries to absolve the killer and blame the victim. sayit means that those who it either do not understand or do not want to understand the palestinian reality. i do not want to see anybody -- i do not just the jewish babies dying, arab babies dying. i do not want to see children of freight in israel or in palestine. but at the point where we are right now, people need to be separated so that they can, each of them, have their own rights protected within their own society. i will tell you, israel built the wall. the problem i have with that wall, build it on your own damn to build a are going wall, but it snakes in and out of the west bank. it takes valuable property. it denies palestinians in some villages to go to their land. it was built illegally on

palestinian land in the west bank. but separation may be the thing in order right now. otherwise we are heading for another century of conflict, which is not going to do anybody any good. i mean, if israel wants to be free and be protected, they have to understand that palestinians want to be free and protected, too. have hiserson cannot rights and freedom while stepping on the throat of another person and expect that person not to resist them a not to be angry. if america really were to care and want to be peacemaker, it needs to be firmer in asserting that the occupation has to end. not just let's try to do it and play the role of convener and then walked out and try to let them solve it themselves. they cannot solve it themselves. anthologies have taken hold on both sides that sort of inhibit them from doing it. america and the world has to be firm and say -- enough is enough, separate and separate

now. host: riverside, california, democrat line. when israel first started, didn't like six countries attacked them and they won? that littleme israel, the size of new jersey, i think, if anyone was surrounded by a bunch of nations that they knew disliked them, and there is a strain of evil people that really want to , i think i would be pretty paranoid. and if i had the choice of letting somebody, you know, have the freedom that i knew they had embedded, you know, these people that are the ones that want to destroy them, i think anybody would go to any means to survive. that is what the israelis are doing.

god chose them because they were the first one to worship the true christian god. at the end, jesus is going to come act to save them. i am not sure that jews were the first one to worship the christian god. they actually worship a jewish god. then jesus came and it was a change in the message. and then muslims. ,he -- believe mohammed came and they faced the same god, but all three affirm a belief in the same god. but i do not think muslims call it the christian god or the jewish god. i do not think christians: the jewish god or jews call it the christian god. let's be clear, there are some differences in the three. but with regard to the question of the fear and the six nations attacking israel, none of those six nations ever entered what the u.n. called the jewish

state. they were trying to save the remnants of what was left of the arab states because the jewish armies were actually advancing into those areas. if you look at what became israel, it was much greater than what the u.n. had partitioned as the jewish state. arabs, yes, they rejected that partition or they rejected that petition because what was to be the jewish state was 55% arab, even though it included almost all the jews living in palestine. it still had a majority arab population per they said we want a unitary state, a one-state with equal rights for everybody, and the jewish side and not accepted. you can argue that that was a wrong decision, but do not mix up the history about that. that is why i think that reading the history is so important, because all of us on all sides have been victims of mythologies that we have used to justify our

intransigence, used to justify our confusions, and to create fear. there are solutions to this. one side is not demonic and the other side. lee. those are real people who have real claims that can be set around the table and negotiated, but we have to understand, real people negotiating problems with other real people, not godly people fighting demonic people. if you operate like that, there is no solution at all other than one site has to exterminate the other. i do not think that is how it should go. host: a call on the independent line. thank you. i was waiting for almost half an hour, but it is good to talk to you. i have a question. i am disappointed in mr. obama from yesterday when he said i have no sympathy in hamas.

host: go ahead. caller: the reason i am disappointed in mr. obama -- first of all, i am not palestinian. i am a somalian-american. people ared jewish different. [indiscernible] , obama said this before -- he said i have no .ympathy with hamas these people attacking, and then they say they are fired on in a civilian area. that is unfair. i watch cnn.

think -- there is an egyptian-american that is doing a great job. , is this people hamas? i think this is unfair. guest: i think you put your finger on a problem, and that is that people have a difference with hamas -- i do not synthesize with hamas' politics and i do not support the politics. i deplore their tactics, the suicide bombings, these missiles, these rockets. they are stupid, and they are evil. they are simply not the way for palestinians to go forward. usepeople have come to hamas as synonymous with the people of gaza, the palestinian people. if you say you do not to because with hamas, does that mean you do not sympathize for the 1800 people who have died?

error. tragic i think the united states has not been helpful, and i think i am disappointed. i mean, i am disappointed that this administration which could have done better, should have done better, but did not by continuing to affirm israel's right to defend itself without any effort made to publicly call on them to stop, we allowed 28 days of this conflict to take place. at the very end, finally using terms like disgraceful. "time" magazine highlights some of the things president obama said yesterday -- no tolerance for the behavior of hamas. they have horrible priorities as

a political movement or their tactics as a military movement are just deplorable. am completely on board with that. but america could have and should have done more to stop the murder, and they did not. what that does when they do that, it compromises america in the eyes of the world. it makes us complicit in what israel has done. andreinforces the anger despair that leads to extremist , feeling like hamas justified that the west and america do not understand and do not support them. is it important that america take a balanced position, and i do not think we have been as balanced as we ought to be if we want to play a constructive role. host: a call on the republican line for james zogby out of california. caller: what needs to be stated, why hasn't mr. zogby mentioned

one time what is going on with isis and all of the christians and what they are doing to the churches and the people? that is the ideal that the muslims are pushing all across the world. watching the washington pro-palestine speeches, you can see that all the uninformed americans are being told -- i mean, i am a christian, and they are the ones keeping isis from and -- cross lebanon you right i stop there? look, i did not mention anything about isis or the islamic state because i was not asked a question about it. you ask the question and i will respond. they are a group that deserves to be condemned, not just condemned, but they must be stopped. maronitestian,

catholic, and my family is from lebanon. my syrianongly about christian brothers and sisters in iraq and what they are in during right now. i organized a meeting for the christian community to come meet with the deputy national security adviser at the white house, and we have a meeting today as part of a summit we are doing. i feel very strongly about the tactics used by not just isis but other extremist groups that have been persecuting not just christians but using these -- but other minority groups. an evil, sectarian virus has caught hold in iraq, syria, and elsewhere, and it is one that must these stop. the problem is that our country took itself out of the game or the war we engaged in in iraq not only help spur this sectarian virus forward but also

playingless capable for a constructive role. we have to find ways to stop it. notmaliki government should have been as sectarian as it is, and its sectarianism has been what has made it possible for this sunni extremism to grow. , certainly, pressure to create a more representative, responsive, tolerant, and inclusive iraqi government is an important step forward. the obama administration is doing that. finding a way to engage the kurdish folks in dealing with this movement, but also working with arab allies in the gulf is important because we have to find ways to build a and otherce to isis groups like that that are fermenting this kind of extrinsic -- extremism. but do not confuse hamas --

again, i do not support hamas. i find their ideology evil, but they have been protecting the christian churches in gaza, and that is what the christians tell me who i know in gaza, that they have had protection there. i do not like their and posing of their value system, there and codes -- the restrictive on the rest of society, but as bad as they are, they are not gang of thugsa who commit atrocities, horrific atrocities or do not look at them as a religious movement of muslims, they are not. the majority of iraqi people do not want the christians in iraq to be removed from that land or forced to convert. they know there was a huge role

before it was iraq and creating the history and culture and simulation -- civilization of the country. .sis is a disease they must be stopped and dealt with. we're looking for ways to help promote that the meantime, finding ways to help protect the christian communities in iraq and syria where they are so vulnerable right now. host: montana senator john walsh said today he will not be coming back to the senate next year. he was appointed to the seat in comes after his job a report that he plagiarized large portions of his masters thesis at the army war college. monday is the deadline for montana candidates to withdraw

from the general election. the two democrats who spoke on condition of anonymity said the party was eyeing nancy keenan to become the party's nominee this fall against representative steve daines. a house foreign affairs committee will be hearing -- having a hearing today on the ebola outbreak in western africa. we heard testimony from dr. of the, the director centers for disease control and prevention. here is some of that. >> there has been some misconception about this. it ebola is not as highly infectious as something like influenza or the common cold. what is so concerning about ebola is the stakes are so high. a single lapse in infection control could be fatal. that is why the key is to

identify rapidly and strictly follow infection control guidance. it is possible we could have ill people in the u.s. who develop being exposeder elsewhere. it is possible they could spread it to family members or health care workers of the infection is not rapidly identified. but we are confident there will not be a large ebola outbreak in the u.s. we are confident we have the facilities here to isolate patients, not only the highly advanced ones like the ones at every but at virtually major hospital in the u.s. what is needed is not fancy equipment. what is needed is standard infection control rigorously applied. forave released guidance doctors and other health-care providers in the u.s. on identifying and treating patients and preparing flight crews and cleaning personnel. fundamentally, we have three

roads before us. we can do nothing and let the outbreak rage. i do not think anyone wants to do that. we can focus on stopping these outbreaks and that is something we will certainly do. onwe can focus not only stopping these outbreaks, but also putting in place the laboratories, the disease detectors, the emergency response systems that will find, stop, and prevent future outbreaks. we do face in this country a perfect storm of vulnerability with emerging infections like ebola, resistant infections like the one we discussed in our last hearing, intentionally created infections, which remain a real threat. opportunitiesique to confront them with stronger technology, more political commitment, and success stories around the globe. earlier this year, the u.s. joint with the world health organization and more than two dozen countries to launch a global health to charity agenda.

that is exactly what we need to make rogue rest not only in stopping ebola, but preventing the next outbreak. the second document we have provided for you provides a summary of what the mapping is between what we launched back in february before this outbreak was known or reported to have known about what is the ebola outbreak. they are closely aligned. a former undersecretary for africa said to me that cdc is the 911 for the world. though i was happy to hear that, i realized that really what we want to make sure is every country or at least every region has its own public health 911. that will be good for them. it will be good for us in terms improvey, it will

economic and social stability and expanding that type of work, strengthening global health security will not only allow us buttop this outbreak, future outbreaks. thank you so much for your interest in this. >> that was part of a hearing held earlier today on the ebola outbreak in western africa. you can see that entire program later in our schedule and we will show you part of that event later this evening here on c-span. it has been 40 years since the watergate investigation which led to the eventual as a nation of president nixon. tonight, former washington post reporter bob bernstein talks about the legacy of watergate. he will speak with historians at newseum here in

washington. 2014 coverage continues with looks at state races and hawaii, tennessee, and kentucky. primary is today and we will

macgruder on the road. i need him to introduce me wherever i go. he got me excited. i get introduced all the time. thank you for your incredible service to our country. give james a big round of applause. i also want to say a big thanks to america's new secretary of veterans affairs, bob mcdonald's. -- mcdonald. as some of you may know, bob

headed up one of the biggest, most successful companies because he is a west point grad. he is heading out to be a hospital's around the country starting with phoenix tomorrow. thank you, bob for accepting this charge and this challenge. i know you're going to do a great job. i'm really proud of him. i want to thank all of the members of congress here today. especially those who led the fight to give bob and the v.a. toe resources that they need make sure every veteran has access to the care and benefits they deserve. senator bernie sanders, senator richard burr --

give them a big round of applause for the good work. and we are all grateful to our outstanding veteran service organization on behalf of all they do. thank you very much to all of the veterans service organizations. i want to thank all of you who serve here. century, the spaces help keep america strong and secure. 70 years ago, troops from here were some of the first to storm omaha beach. in recent years, many of you have deployed to iraq and afghanistan. .ou have risk your lives as a country we have a sacred

obligation to serve you as well as you have served us. in obligation that does not end with your tour of duty. thousands hundreds of of dedicated public servants of the v.a. help us honor that commitment. at v.a. hospitals across america we have doctors and nurses delivering world-class care to america's veterans. world-class care to america's families who are profoundly grateful for the work done at the v.a.. as commander-in-chief, i am grateful, too. but the last few months, we have conduct at bale the silvius. long wait times being covered up. cooking the books. this is wrong. this is outrageous. and working together we have set out to fix it and do right by

our veterans no matter how long it took. the first of to change the way the v.a. does business. accountable people for misconduct. some have been relieved of duty. we have reached to 250 -- to veterans. we are moving ahead with urgent reforms and we are instituting a critical culture of accountability. and rebuilding our leadership teams, starting at the top with secretary mcdonald. his first act -- he has directed all v.a. facilities to hold town halls to hear directly from veterans they serve, to make sure we are hearing honest assessments about what is going on. in a few minutes, we will take another step. i will sign into law a

bipartisan bill -- that does not happen often -- passed by congress. [applause] it is a good deal. this bill covers a lot of ground. from expanding survivor benefits to educational opportunities, to improving care for veterans struggling with dramatic brain injury and victims of sexual assault. but i want to focus on the ways this bill will help ensure veterans have access to care. first of all, this will give the v.a. more of the resources it needs. it will help the v.a. hire more doctors and nurses, staff more clinics. as a new generation of americans returned home from war and transitions to civilian life, we have to make sure the v.a. system can keep pace with that new demand. keeping in mind i have increased funding for the v.a. since i

came into office by extraordinary amounts. but we also have extraordinary numbers of veterans coming home. so, the demand, even though we have increased the v.a. budget, is still higher than the resources that we have got. this bill helps to address that. second, for veterans who can't get timely care through the v.a., this bill will help them get the care they need somewhere else. this is particularly important for veterans and more remote areas, rural areas. if you live more than 40 miles from a v.a. facility or v.a. doctors cannot see you within a reasonable amount of time, you will have a chance to see a doctor outside the v.a. system. and we are giving the v.a. secretary to hold more people accountable. we are giving bob the authorities so he can move quickly to remove executives who

fail to meet the standard of competence the american people demand. if you engage in unethical practice, if you cover up a serious problem, you should be fired, period. it should not be that difficult. [applause] and if you blow the whistle on in unethical practice or bring a problem to the attention of higher-ups, you should be thanked. you should be protected for doing the right thing. you should not be ignored. you should not be ignored. you certainly shouldn't be punished. to care for him or her who shall have borne the battle. that is the heart of the v.a.'s motto. this bill i am about to sign will help us achieve it. at but let's be clear. this cannot be the end of our effort. implementing will take time.

it will require focus on the part of all of us. even as we focus on urgent reforms we need at the v.a. right now, particularly around wait lists, we cannot forget our ong-term service goals for our we can't lose sight of our long-temple goals for our service members and our veterans. the good news is, we have cut the disability claims backlogged by more than a year and a half. but let's now eliminate the backlog. let's get rid of it. [applause] the good news is, we forged re resources in getting mental health. the good news is, we have gotten

thousands of homeless veterans off the street. we should have zero tolerance for vetrans homelessness. but we have more work to do in cities and town across america. we have helped more than a million veterans and their spouses go to college through 9/11 g.i. bill. now we have to make sure they are getting a good bargain in the schools they enrolled in. we have rallied companies to hire thousands of veterans and their spouses. that's the good news. th the help of joe biden and michelle obama, they know what they are doing. nobody says no to them. and they know what they are doing. america has to do right by all who serve under our proud flag.

and congress needs to do more also. i urge the senate once again to finally confirm my nominee for assistant secretary for policy , ms. schwartz. my nominee for c.f.o., ellen tierny. each of them have been waiting more than four months for a yes or no vote. they are ready to serve, they are ready to work. it is not that hard. it didn't used to be this hard to go ahead and get somebody confirmed who is well gaul qualified. nobody says they are not. it's just the senate doesn't seem to move very fast. as soon as the senate gets back in september, they should act to put these outstanding public servants in place. our veterans don't have time for politics, they need these public servants on the job right now.

[applause] some of you may have seen on television the commemoration, those incredible days in the 70's anniversary of d-day. free men and women volunteered to lay down their lives for people they have never met. ideals that they can't live without. that's why they are willing to do these things. some of these folks that you met, they were 18 at the time, some of them were lying about their age, they were 16. landing either at the beach or

behind the lines. the casualty rates were unbelievable. being there brought back memories of my own grandfather who then came home, and like so generation,s of his they went to school, got married, raised families. he eventually helped to raise me. on that visit to normandy, i brought some of today's service members with me. i wanted to introduce them to d-day and show the veterans of d-day that their legacy is in good hands. that there is a direct line between the sacrifices then and the sacrifices folks have made in remote places today. because in more than a decade, today's men and women in une form, we have met every mission we asked of them. today our troops continue to

risk their lives. it continues to be a dangerous and difficult mission as we were tragically reminded this week in an attack that injured some of our coalition trps troops and took the life of major general harold green. our prayers are with the green family as they are with all the families of those who sacrificed so much for our nation. four months from now or combat mission in afghanistan will be complete, and our longest war will come to an end. many will step out of uniform. their legacy will be secure. whether or not this country operly repays their heroism, repairs their service and sacrifice, that's in our hands. i'm committed to see that we fulfill that commitment because the men and women of this generation, this 9/11 generation

of service members are the people we need for our time. the community leaders, business leaders and i hope maybe some leaders in our politics as well. from the great estrogen racial to the 9/11 generation america's -- have called the answered the call to serve. as your commander-in-chief i have no greater privilege than to make sure our country keeps the promises we made to everybody who signs up to serve. as long as i hold this office, we will work to do right by you and your families. i am grateful to you. with that, i am going to sign this bill. thank you. [applause]

[inaudible conversation] >> everybody on the committee did good work on this, so i want to thank everybody for their leadership. this is really good -- a really good piece of legislation. [applause] >> good job.

>> the president in fort belvoir, virginia, earlier today. we are hearing president obama may make remarks this afternoon about iraq. a new report in the "the washington post" reported that the president may authorize a u.s. military airdrop of humanitarian supplies to iraq to help those in the northern part of the country. a "the washington post" story also says the military strikes

is less certain but is under active consideration and was discussed at a meeting among obama and his national security advisers this morning. we're planning to cover the president when he speaks. more live coverage coming up tonight when the campaign key coverage continues with a look at key races in hawaii and tennessee. primary is today, and we will hear victory and concession speeches from candidates with live coverage starting at 8:00 eastern here on c-span. hear more about the primaries. one -- what is the most important thing to watch today? >> the most important thing to watch in tennessee today is going to be the senate race. senator lamar alexander, who is a legacy in tennessee politics. he's been involved in tennessee politics for over 20 years. he's running for a third term.

he's facing an aggressive challenge from a couple tea arty candidates. his most prominent challenger is joe carr. mr. carr has been going across the state telling people that senator alexander is a d.c. insider. he is no longer someone who represents their interests. he has had somewhat of a difficult time getting out his message, because he doesn't have a whole lot of money. but he has run an aggressive campaign scomprks that is the one most people will be paying attention to tonight. >> as far as mr. car is concerned, are outside groups giving him any attention?

>> somewhat. laura ingram came into town and held a rally for him. there have been some other outside groups that have done some on the ground outside campaigning for him. he really has not gotten the on the ground support that a lot of people thought he first would get in tennessee. >> as far as polling where does it place senator alexander? does it look like he will win this? >> it looks like he probably will. there hasn't been a lot of polling done. there was some polling done that gave alexander a lead. there has not been a lot of independent polling done since hen. now, the campaigns themselves, of course, have their own polls. senator alexander's campaign

leaked one of their internal polls that showed him with a 30-point lead. joe carr of course thinks the race is closer than thafment most people expect senator alexander to win and win comfortably. >> who will he face if he wins? >> there are a few key democrats in the race. they are both attorneys from the knoxville area. their names are terry adams and gordon ball. the democratic primary has not gotten a lot of attention in this race. most people think senator alexander is probably going to win a third term. is a istrict four there -- tell us facing what goes behind this race when it comes to the representative himself? >> this race has gotten probably more attention than any other

house race. it is just outside of tennessee. the reason for that is that mr. desjarlais is in the fight of his life. he's running against a fellow republican by the name of mr. jim tracy. he is a state senator. the reason this race is getting a lot of tension is because of some revelations about congressman des jarlais' personal life that came just after he was reflected in 2012. he had gone through a very difficult divorce a number of years ago. his divorce records were revealed shortly after he was elected. in these records they showed the woman that he was married to at the time, not the one he's married to now, but the woman that he was married to at the time had gotten a couple of

abortions when she was married to him. mr. des jarlais also admitted to having sexual relations with a number of his patients. all of this is problematic if you are positioning yourself as a conservative republican, as he has. people had sort of republican him off and assumed he would lose, but in the last few weeks, his campaign has shown some signs of life. he out-raised mr. tracy in july which would seem to indicate he does have some momentum here. and in interviews he's kind of given the indication that they are in a forgiveness sort of mood. some people think he may well pull this race off now. >> michael collins talking about primary day in tennessee. thank you for your time. >> thank you. >> and our live coverage of the

den 10 senate rhyme ri along with the state races in hawaii and kentucky begins at 8:00 eartern here tonight on c-span. >> the airline pilots association held its annual safety forum here in washington. they discussed safety for unmanned safety programs. this is an hour. snolet thank you for joining us. let's begin our next panel. as i mentioned earlier, i'm going to change my role a little bit and moderate this discussion

with our friends from the f.a.a. , transport canada, and the international civil aviation organization, otherwise known as i.s.o. those of us in the safety business know our work is ever-changing and never finished. we can never die ue lewd ourselves into thinking that we have all the answers. no flight is ever routine. we are just like the -- or just like the previous one. there is always a unique set of circumstances to an otherwise safe flight. we have to assume the system is able to detect threats and alleviate high risk. aateor rs working around the world are working for the appropriate use of safety data, safety management systems, voluntary safety recordings, recording programs, or the safe

integration of unmanned airline systems or as we like to refer to them, remotely plotted aircraft. there is always still work to be done. i'd like to her the perspective rom our colleagues and from i. on these subjects and areas that need to be addressed not only in north america but throughout the world. i would like to introduce you to this panel. to my left is john hickey. he's head of safety at the federal aviation administration. to his left, director, general civil aviation at air transport, canada. to his left, chief of flithe light operations at i.c.o. you can see their full

biographies at the back of your program. o let's begin. all right. i'm going to cut to the chase. we're already hearing about a emotely powered plane. how soon before amazon will be delivering a book on my doorstep ith a vehicle like that. >> regarding the approval, it will be done in a pursuedent step-by-step basis with safety at the foremost in our minds. today we have, as you know,

there was a congressionally six key test sites we will get information from. four of them have been stood up. the other two are not far behind being stood up. we have also issued the very first snergssmergs -- commercial approved restricted category aircraft up in the arctic, and they have been operating up there. we have been very engaged in providing exemptions to a imited group of commercial operations as a result of congressional reply mandated -- what they call sequestration 333 in the authorization bill. there is a lot of activity we are doing. we really don't have standards at are appropriate yet for

u.a.s.'s. i think many of you know we will have a proposal for the small u.a.s. rolled out later this year. there are always some of the critical technologies that still need to be solved. like sense and avoid. so i think to some degree it is not going to be as soon as some people think it is. >> ok. interesting. in the rule you are going to put out later this year and the response you will put out later this year, do you think you will achieve some starts at that time? is it still a work in progress? role, and small u.s. it is only a n.p.i. run. n.p.i. by virtue of the run, there are special committees. they will be able to see and

avoid. >> what about in canada, martin? where are we with u.a.s. integration up there? >> integration is probably a ways away. in 1996 we put in place a rule that authorized u.a.v., special flight operating certificate. the bad news, it was not a standard, it was just the ability to issue an authority. we will got 150 of those last year. clearly the volume is increasing. a lot along the way. a lot of those operations are commercial. the challenge is -- a lot of them are being dealt with individually. based on that we have some guidance which will be less individual. we also need to determine what

ur expectation rs. -- expectations. we also have a working group in four plans. the first face is below 25 kilograms within line of sight. there is work to be done on that. i think in that general area, there is an idea to help the f.a.a. civilian flights of operation are less com flex. we have a general sense of where we are. the next step is obviously beyond line of sight. i think that's a challenge not because of any authority industry isn't there yet in terms of solutions. and the longer term phases are getting into the vehicles. e are some point away. we are trying to make some regulations for that group. probably in the next year or two

we will have something in place. >> are you two, the u.s. and canada, do you have an open dialogue between these two agencies? >> the answer is yes, in a lot of areas. that doesn't mean the rules will be the same. i'm not sure if you're ware, it is s a rule making -- level. the first phase of that. in that phase. >> what are of that. in that phase. >> what are you seeing at i.k.o.? give us a perspective as how r.p.a. is developing worldwide from your perspective.

>> we are take a.i.g. sfep-by-step approach. in the blueprint that we see ahead for this type of technology, what we're trying to o -- do to the extent possible is mirror in terms of our international proaches for r.p.a. operations for what we do for manned operations. so in that respect, the u.a.s. study group which by the way is going to be uploaded to full technical panel, we have been looking ahead on working on what sort of requirements would be necessary for the issuance of an air operations certificate, very much in line with manned operations. what type of liences will a remote pilot need to meet? as well as whark are the air worthiness requirements for the vehicles themselves?

that's been a major focus of our ork. previously in 2012 we came out with some regulations, including aircraft registration. and in annex to the seas air was the initially enabling rules that would allow for one state's ours another multiplotted airline. so again, work is going to be focused on the air worthiness equirements. our u.a.s. study group has been

working the last few years. they want to work out the guidance, which is the first step leading toward the development of international standards. from the 23rd to the 24th and 25th of march 2015 we'll have a global synposium to discuss the impact of rabs in operations and gradually in line with the aviations, the aviation block upgrades. he eventual integration into non-segregated air space. that is a long-term process. we're looking at the first international standards in respect to licensing, the air operator certificate, air worthiness certification, and some enabling standards in annex 10 in about the 2018 time flame.

we'll look for updates of those standards as they materialize. >> very good. ou know, the two big -- i'd be interested in your thoughts. are r.p.a.'s and u.a.s.', should that be an interest gallon part of next generation? are they just another operator within next gen? guess i'm asking, do you see this being integrated as we move forward with next gen? >> first of all, when you look at u.a.s.'s, and i'll use the

phraseology we use in the u.s., u.a.s.'s, there is a focus on u.a.s.'s snuff themselves because of the significant challenges they have both in the privacy and many other issues. but it is impossible for us to look at next gen without considering the impact on u.a.s. right now in is not a lot of focus on u.a.s. as part of the ext gen environment. as my colleagues have mentioned, we are still many years away from what you would see as a safe integration in the very business jest air space in our system. we're just not there yet. as we get further down the road, there will be a bigger and igger focus on it.

i think if we want to integrate, there is a safety standard. there is i lot of work going on on microversions of that to get to the point where u.a.v.'s of any size have the ability to intergrate. i think really in setting that bar, they would finally get there, there would just be another user. so every generation should be accommodated. >> what do you think? >> very much in line with both what john and martin said, the aviation system upgrate grade is a systems architecture. if you are going to take a systems architecture approach, you have to consider all the players that will be in that system. to as we move ahead from block zero, which we're currently in as opposed to block 1, block 2,

and block 3 of the aviation upgrades, there are situation that is apply to the situation of remotely plotted aircraft. but it is not all at once, it is an incremental approach. >> i have heard all three of you underscore the importance of safety here. you are dealing with high-level safety concerns in assuring the public. what other steps do you think you can take to ensure the public that safety is the prime directive here in r.p.a.-u.a.s. integration versus the tentative that has to be done. how do we assure them there will be a process to be followed to assure safety out there? >> well, i think it is a relatively short answer.

taking deliberative steps into the more busy air space, there is a per seppings and it is filled by some of the promotions like amazon.com and others that we are imminently set for seeing u.a.s.'s. you would be on a commercial flight for delta airlines for example, and you will see a u.a.v. fly by. we are not going to see that any time soon. i think as the public sees this thing not happening, and the f.a.a. has been out there letting the public know that we will not allow these u.a.s.'s to come into the system until we are completely sure they are safe, i think that's a great step toward educating the ublic. >> i think they are keen not to

get a bad reputation because that will affect their future from many points of view. -- ink the uninformed users i think the educational piece is the most work to do in the short term because they have no idea the consequences of that. >> mitch, from the international perspective do you see the -- do that may ing people not know there needs to be service in this basis? is that something you are looking at as well? >> yes. when i look at the u.a.s. study group, we had representatives in the industry. we had sort of the main core,

the regulators, the industry, and the pilots also on the .a.s. study group. so you saw two different approaches. it was a matter of education indicating the r.p.a. industry on what are the expectations for safety in our international environment? especially if you are going to start operating in unsegregated air space. zoo that is very important. i also think it is important that we take the robust safety management systems that we utilize today in manned operation and reply those to the lonely ossible to plotted aircraft operations. >> thank you very much for that

seguay. what lessons have you learned, good and bad? the hink to that effect, expectations in the industry, we have come a long way with it. a 009 we may -- made conscious decision to employ perhaps the education piece. the other big piece is how does hat affect our programs? it is very hard to go in there with that. that has also been a big learning experience. those things are starting to

coalesce. we are moving on into other areas even though we have 95% of our flights. we have seen the need to cover all elements. if you are going to be in a system, the whole system needs to be playing under the same rules. there are still decisions being made about what and when. >> very good at keeping us up to date here in the u.s. >> we are actually quite further along than other people might see. artin brought up a number of decomponenents that transcend to the united states. we don't have a rule, we don't have a mandate. we are in the process of doing a rule making. but it is sort of rating for the rule to come out. we have developed a pilot program with dozens of airlines in the united states which comprise, as martin said, well

of the traveling public. what we're seeing is, we're seeing a variety of different maturity levels of the s.n.s. system in a variety of different airlines. what is really important about s.n.s., and this is exciting, and martin alluded to it, is when the airlines get to a very sophisticated level of s.n.s., a very high level of maturity, it is going to fundamentally change the way the f.a.a. conducts its surveillance. the surveillance necessary for an airline that does not have an s.n.s. requires a certain level of oversight you might suspect. but if an airline is doing all the things of an s.n.s., analyzing data, developing safety enhancements, implementing them, checking their effectiveness of them, if an airline is doing that, the f.a.a. doesn't have to have the

same level of oversight that we did without it. we can put our resources on the more critical areas of the safety area. we see s.n.s. as a tremendous boon to safety in the system. also, the other things i wanted to mention is we also are developing our own internal s.n.s. system. our staffing is based on risk -based management decision making. many of the things we are doing internally is fundamentally based on risk-based decision making, which is a key component of s.n.s. jet lot has been said about culture, and i think fundamental to s.n.s. is voluntary safety. i hear in some of the meetings i go to, well, relations between employees and their reporting is

management labor issue. culture ly, safety lays a role. promoting -- getting the mindset that the operator needs to focus in on that type of environment to get safety in place. what can you do as a regulator? >> i think the f.a.a. has had a long, great history of promoting voluntary reporting systems. one classic example of how successful voluntary recorded data can be shown is in the commercial aviation safety team, which has been existence since late 1990's when we were xperiencing quite a bit of action in the united states, and we created this government

collaboration where we would actually bring data to the table, share data in a just culture environment. as a result of looking at that data, we were able to develop a number of safety enhancements. when two different groups of people are looking at the same data, it is very difficult to reach different conclusions. what i have seen is when you are looking at different kinds of data you see the disagreement between one group and another. as a result of the aviation activity as a major contribute tore, we have seen the accident rate, the commercial accident rate in the united states drop 80%. so what we see in the future now is increased voluntary reporting of information. because remember, you otherwise will never see that data if we don't provide a culture and an environment where people feel

comfortable with submitting that information. so i see that as being even a bigger role in the future. >> have you had that success in canada promoting the safety culture? >> it is very clear to us that where we see this is really from he top down. some people are not comfortable, it doesn't work. you ask what our role is it, one thing we can do as government is be a bit of a role model. the old issue, who going to go first?

-- i think today is there has to be a lot of success . >> one thing we always talk about in voluntary safety is bviously the identified data creating agriculture gate data we can act on. mitch i'm interested, i.k.o. has just made some changes with regard to protecting data. maybe you can highlight for us. >> i would just like to provide some backdrop for this.

in this room when we are talking about primarily north american population, or we were talking -- about jess -- culture. what you are talking about is a protection of safety information information. it's difficult because you are talking about a balance of protecting safety information for the cause of safety and the need for proper administration f justice. initially the i.k.o. work was the so-called attachment e to an ex15 which talked about protection of guidance.

and on that point of maturity can only be provided for security. coming out of the high-level safety conference, the countries of the world gave us clear guidance. we needed an annex devoted to safety management processes and we needed to focus in on protection of assist information . so just november last year, the newest an ex-- annex to the was of annexes we had annex 19. it also also included guidance on the protection of safety information. so what had been the latest changes? well, we had a safety information protection task force that's met for the past three years. it's been difficult work. it came forward to the navigation division of i.k.o. with proposal to at least in

annex 19 as it talks about the type of information that would be used in the safety management situation or safety program how could we upgrade our guidance to a standard. so proposal one was affected. it basically talks about the use of safety information for safety purposes. with that, a proper administration of justice. also using the information for its collected purpose. these are important proposals, and it goes across just

cultures. it goes across the different types of additional systems out there in the world. this is an initial proposal. it will go out for consultation. the pilot international community will have their opportunity to comment on these .roposals we're expecting those to come back for review in january of next year, and we're hoping they can become applicable in the ovember 2015 time frame. >> mitch, martin, do you see any implementation of what we are talking about? >> no, i don't, because i think we have been very, very diligent and very -- we take very high

importance of protecting information. i can reflect back on the 2000's. it was very difficult to get airlines to come to the table and share information. i think at the root of the problem, at the root of the receipt sans for them to come to the table was mistrust of the f.a.a., of perhaps retribution and etc, sharing the data. what we have learn sd we have developed a community of both management, labor, and the f.a.a. of holding at the highest level the tenet of protecting data and information. that is if we can't do that, i can assure you all the data will try up. and they will all go away. so i think we're already there. . do aflawed the i.k.o. work

i think it will help many of the other work of the countries that don't hold this to the highest state as the u.s. does. >> i think we are trying to see an open reporting kind of culture, at the same time a confidential reporting system. the two protections are quite different. that certainly has not a challenge. we are missing some protection. it is something we need to put in tact to provide that protection. we did try once before. we lost that before, but that is really to protect the individual. also the companies themselves need that variety. >> ok. i want to just -- the last two days we've alluded to certainly the tragedy of malaysia 17, and

there is still a lot of dialogue about the disappearance of malaysia 370. certainly within the last few weeks a lot of spotlight has come out on i.k.o. as far as what is the role of i.k.o. in accident investigation and afety? mitch, i wonder if you could tell us where this is going. i.k.o. is really in the front here. i think it would be wise to preak this up here. there are two different subjects, so i will address what the community is doing in relationship to the malaysia 370 first. we don't very much about what happened with malaysia 370. the only thing we do know is we

can't exactly locate where it is. that's the only thing we know this morpg. the community got together and organized a disciplinary meeting on global flight tracking in march of this year. this brought together both government and industry to start to talk about this issue and start to set some near determine, mid-term, and long-term objectives for the future in respect of tracking airplanes. so the near term objectives, i have to applaud an initiative made by iota in moving ahead in tracking airplanes on a global basis. so there is a commitment made by iota to work on this issue, in particular, working on the issues where there isn't air space and the potential exists for airplanes not to be tracked

presently at the rate we would like them to be tracked at. so iota formed an aircraft tracking task force called the attf. it is really a broad cross section of our aviation industry. it involves the regulators, the airline industry itself, the airline manufacturers -- airbus, boeing, bombardier, the air navigation service worldwide. it also involves the airline pilots, the international ederation. that group has been working to implement flight tracking to track airlines worldwide throughout their flight. hat's the objective.

we expect their results to come forward in september. directly relate today that is what we call a concept of operations. so as our ability to track airplanes improves, we want to make sure that the stim system it would need to respond to an abnormal flight situation with equally and robustly respond to that. the objective is to search and rescue people in a shorter period of time. we have to look at the infrastructure and a constant of operation that more closely integrates what airlines would be doing in terms of their and how of airplanes

that fits into the overall air flight travel navigation. so this exists on what i would call the leading members of the community in the air navigation infrastructure, what we call the airs of our technical panels working with the air navigation system. they are looking for the concept of drafting this by the end of september as well. so in are two groups working in parallel but at cross polination. so in terms of what they would do in terms of airline crafting is being developed by the irlines, and we're looking for that ahead.

ultimately they will come up with their recommendations for the industry, and the system-wide approach, their recommendations by the end of september. >> what about malaysia 17 as far as the role as far as accident investigation? do you see any changes coming own the pike for that? >> in the history of what i.k.o. has done, going on fact-finding missions, i don't think conceptually that's changed much with malaysia 17. i need to follow through with a time table of what i.k.o.'s attempts have been to stall it ou will out.

as you all know, the tragedy occurred on the 17th of july. within five days we had a team of people in the ukraine to provide advice to the government of ukraine in this accident investigation. to provide icao was advice to the convention of civil international aviation, and the international provisions of an ex13 as it pertains to it was investigation also a fact-finding mission. all of this is consistent with the united nations security council which called for a full, thorough, and international investigation consistent with nternational guidance.

and i think you can imagine there was a strong call on icao to be involved in this process. where we have been more invoffed we did participate with the international community in getting a hand over to the recorders to the appropriate authorities. in addition to that, we basically provided some looking over the shoulder as the recorders were -- the information is downloaded as both the cockpit voice recorder, and we'll continue our guysans and support. but i think what this did, and i listened intently to the previous panel, these comments are very consistent with that previous panel, just last week

the president of the council of icao and the secretary council c.e.o.-level ed a d -- g between icao, io and the international service providers worldwide. they jointly when they got together condemned the use of weapons against civil aircraft. they vowed together and made a joint statement that the downing of malaysia 17 is unacceptable. so here's where the challenge is. almost immediately after the event we came out with a statement. this is how we inform all the states in the industry. we reminded the statements what their risks are. as was previously mentioned to mitigate for that within the air space above their sovereign

territory. the coordination that a state is responsible for, the coordination between air traffic ervices and operators. but in the world today, there are country that are at onflict. and those countries can't carry out all the threat assessment because they are in the mft of a conflict and they may -- they are in the midst of a conflict. so coming out of this meeting on the 29th of july, it was agreed to form a high-level task force. it is called the high-level task force on risk arising from conflict zones. there will be high-level executives from regulatory services from states, high-level from industry, and also the

pilot community that has the very strong vested role and interest in this will also be present during the task force meeting. the task force will have its next meeting the 14th and 15th of august. they were given a clear mand mandate to come forward. i will characterize what their recommendations are to the international civilation -- civil aviation community in eight weeks. t is a tight time table. so to characterize the recommendations making sure the right information gets to the right people at the right time, and how do we go forward in that. thank you. >> all three of our panelists

are willing to take your questions. it may or may not be on anything you discussed so far. until light of what mitch just said, how can the u.s. and canada participate or encourage or even destruct the international dialogue going on? obviously we have a strong ntsb here, we have a strong ntsb up in canada. what roles do you see or changes that may result from this? >> i think there is nothing wrong with part of that task force. my colleague on the security side. think it is inevitable. i think the f.a.a. will have a safety role from the safety point of view.

i think we will both be very engaged in it. >> we have very much engaged in icao task rce, the force. d i want to reiterate that iota came out quickly about the need for some sort of continuous monitoring of aircraft over difficult periods of flight. while i am not here to discuss or establish u.s. policy toward our position on that, i will say it is difficult for anyone to say that we shpt have something different than what we did have because it really from an aviation safety standpoint to have an airplane simply dispeer and not know why is a setback to aviation safety. no doubt about it. we need something. it all comes down to, what form

does that take? >> we do have a text question. >> good morning. one of the questions that has come in, we have had a few, is it true that airlines in canada -- this question is for martin -- cannot advertise for rated pilots when looking for new hires in canada? >> that particular issue is a labor issue as opposed to an aviation safety issue. i don't want to give you a blunt answer, but it is really among foreign workers. foreign workers are only permitted if there is a labor shortage. so what are you looking for? you look for domestic resources first. i don't want to answer the question because i want to make sure it is previce. that is actually a labor issue that belongs to a different

service. even though we validate their license we only do that with our human resources. they have changed the name of late, but it is really an issue in that area. so we are engaged, but ds not an yurebment i can speak to. >> s.m.s. and a well running complement to a it will save the f.a.a. money. it is kind of a bit of a force multiplier. i think everyone here would agree if you have a robust reporting policy, you don't have to send the pilots to the cockpit so often. but there is a regulation coming out soon. it has been promised to come out

next week for the last few years. it is supposed to come out in a couple weeks. some of the rumors we are hearing about this could have to do with things like sole source. there is no way to find out, that being the sole source and still allowing discipline against that pilot. also the f.a.a. has ataken the stance they want everyone to go to a template o.o.u. making sure they are all the dame. we're having a hard time with this. the m.o.u. portion is a great way to start the program. here's how you set up the program, here's how the programs are going to work. we will started the programs in the beginning with the f.a.a.,

and to role back what you are going to give to the new entrants, billy bob's air service out of des moines, makes absolutely no sense to us. the first pilot that has taken a task over sole source report will end all information coming into the f.a.a. all of it. [applause] i decent don't think that's the intent. i think that is a very, very big mistake that the f.a.a. is missing. so i urge you to work with the people at the head quarters and say, look, guys, if you have an established program that works like united and most of the airlines here, don't touch them. let them go. if you are trying to avert the -- if you've got 30 pages, it's

not working anyway. it is like hours. e template from a few pps -- paragraphs, one or two paragraphs. is there anything you can tell s as a body that -- what you said earlier is that you are assuring us that you want the information. you will are going to lose the information if you go down that path we're being told we have to go down. what can you tell us about that? >> first of all, let me back up. when i talk bd s.m.s. and how it would drive a different surveillance model. i am not speaking about specifics about whether we are going to be in the cockpit or not. so please don't misunderstand. we would tailor programs. there are two individual programs depending on the nature of s.m.s.

i don't want to be on record saying i was specific to any part. to your main part, now again, i will echo back that we very much support the need to get single source information. if we don't get that, we will lose valuable information. that information must be protected. i can't emphasize that enough that that is a very important thing. i have to be honest with you, 56m -- i don't know the ac 120 that you were referring to that seems to be rumors running around with regard to that. all i can tell you is i will go back and take a look at what's going on there and see if we are sort of undermining the very nature of what we just talked about. i'll take that back. thank you very much

>> and we don't want to jeopardize, even for the sake of expediencey, because that high-level data is essential to what we are doing here. thank you. >> i think we have time for one more question here. >> we appreciate your approach to wide-scale uses, but what can we expect -- and this is a professional speculation, what will the public see as the first use of u.a.s.'s and how far it is in that? it is just a speculation. i'm not ghg to hold you to that. >> i'm going to tell you we have of camera crews, a lot commercial work, for tv commercials.

the way we're comfortable is putting a fence around where they can do it and when. we have farmers looking at their crops. the that's a capacity they idn't have before. so the uses are -- >> what i would add from the united states side, it maybe not -- i think he used the phrase, what would the public see. i would say what the public would be aware of is much along the lines of what my colleague said. you will see a lot of border protection. the inspections of bipartisan pipeline in the agricultural

use. that is need, and that's going n right now. i think what the public could be eeing is 333, which allows certain entities to operate for business veng venture. i think you will see more along those lines. you won't see them in the air space any time soon. >> are there hot spots beyond

the united states that you have seen wrapping up, as far as development? >> just to give you an idea of right e of the industry, now for commercial air frames, they are the final producers of airplanes for today. -- stimates are >> well, we could talk for hours. i am grateful to our panel. i am grateful to you coming here and speaking on these subjects. would -- i would like to thank .ou for coming here

[applause] >> coming up live on c-span the president talking about his national security team about iraq. the obama administration is drops for ref fees on mountains near iraq. the people are mostly religious groups in iraq and are running out of water and are warned of a possible humanitarian crisis that could cost thousands of lives. we will have the president's remarks should he speak live ere on c-span. tonight former "the washington post" reporter takes part in the discussion on the presidency of richard nixon and the legacy of watergate. historian david brinkley at the museum here in washington. you can see it live here at 7:00

p.m. eastern on c-span3. >> also tonight, live coverage of campaign finance 2014 with a look at races in hawaii, tennessee, and kentucky. tennessee's primary race is today. we'll have speeches from the candidates. book tv on onth c-span. at 8:00 p.m. ann coulter on her book "never trust a liberal over 3." en at 10:00 p.m., jim demipt "falling in love with america again." >> this month c-span presents debates on what makes america

great, evolution, and genetically modified foods. health care, i.r.s. oversight, student loan debt, and campus sexual assault. new perspectives on fighting infectious disease. and our history tour showing sights and sounds from america's historic places. go to c-span.org and let us know about the programs you are watching. on us at 202-626-3400 or acebook and twitter. >> we will talk with democratic consultans and--

the possibility of bipartisanship in washington. we'll take your phone calls and you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. washington journal is live every morning at 7:00 eastern on c-span. >> the house foreign affairs subcommittee held a hearing today on the ebola outbreak in western africa and whether or not there is public concern in the u.s. we heard from the zers centers from disease control and prevention. this portion is 1 hour, 15 minutes.

>> the subcommittee will come to order. good afternoon to everyone. i called this emergency hearing during recess to address a grave answer is health threat which has in recent weeks ripped the mass media and heighten public fears of an epidemic of the ebola virus. what we hope to gain from today's hearing is a realistic understanding of what we are up against while avoiding

sensationalism. ebola is a severe and often fatal disease that first emerged or was discovered in 1976 and has killed 90% of its victims in some past outbreaks. since march of this year, there have been more than 1700 cases of ebola, including more than 900 fatalities in guinea, liberia, sierra leone, and nigeria. this time, the average fertility rate in this outbreak is estimated at 55%, ranging from 74% in guinea 242% in sierra leone. the disparity in mortality rates are partially linked to the capacity of governments to treat and contain the disease and perhaps per capita health expending by effective governments. there is also concern giving -- given modern air travel and the latency time of the disease that the virus will jump borders and threat lies elsewhere in africa and even here in the united states. in my own state of new jersey, and a hospital just a few hundred yards from my district office, precautions were taken. a person who had traveled from west africa begin manifesting symptoms including a high fever. he was put in isolation. thankfully it was not ebola and the patient has been

eleased. the new jersey health commissioner reiterated to me yesterday that new jersey hospitals have control programs in which they train and our deal -- ready to deal with infectious patients who come through their doors. she told me physicians and hospital workers follow specific protocols prescribed by the cdc on how to protect themselves as well as other patients and how to observe a patient if they have any concerns, which include protocols like managing a patient in isolation so they are not around others who are not appropriately protected. the commissioner also underscored that the federal government has u.s. quarantine stations throughout the country to limit introduction to any disease that might come into the united states at words of entry like new jersey's liberty international airport. i hope our distinguished witnesses will confirm whether sufficient resources are available and are being properly deployed to assist victims and contained the ebola disease. are there gaps in law and policy that congress needs to address? to the government witnesses, my plea to you is that if legislation is needed, i will work and i know i will be joined by colleagues on both sides of the aisle who will work with you to write those new policies. key symptoms of ebola include fever, weakness, joint, muscle thomas throat and stomach aches. the invite him -- then vomiting, diarrhea, rashes and bleeding.

these symptoms are seen in other diseases besides ebola which make an accurate diagnosis early on uncertain. earlier today, i had a full and lengthy reefing with the deputy chief of staff of the president of guinea. he said the virus has masked many other diseases, including loss of fever. many doctors, including those who have never seen a bowl and is part of the world before, it has been in other parts of africa but not in west africa, just simply did not think this would be ebola. many of them have died. ebola punches holes in blood vessels by breaking down vessel walls, causes -- causing massive leeding and shock. most people cannot fight the infection effectively and as a result, there is massive leading within seven to 10 days.

the infection too often results in the death of the affected erson. fruit bats are suspected of being a primary transmitter of ebola to humans in west africa. the virus is transmitted to humans with close contact in the blood, secretions or other organs of infected animals. some health workers such as the heroic air -- heroic american missionary aid workers nancy writebol contracted the disease despite taking every precaution while helping ebola patients. both of them are now being treated at emory hospital in atlanta, georgia in an isolated unit after being flown to the u.s. in a specially equipped air air ambulance. while there is no known cure for ebola, the doctors have been given doses of the next bear mental antivirus cocktail developed by san diego

company called snap pharmaceutical. they are reportedly both feeling stronger after receiving the drug but it is considered too early to tell whether the drug itself caused the improvement in in their additions -- their conditions will stop the pharmaceutical company has been working with an arm of the notary responsible for hounding weapons of mass destruction to ebola -- to develop an ebola treatment for several years. the drug attaches to the virus itself and it has never been tested on humans before the two doctors who gave their consent to be the first human trials. there will be great hope if z-tap works and if the two americans who bravely agreed to test it and it has a positive effect. that would been it would be

produced in great quantities and sent to people in west africa. it is still an experimental drug. those who use it might the given complete information on its use but that's something our experts i hope will address. there's also promising research being done by a company who has come up with a drug and process -- one of the comments that has been made that it has never been tested on humans and that it has been provided 100% protection from an otherwise lethal dose of zaire ebola virus, but not in humans. it's been done in non-humans. unfortunately, it impacts the ability of the international community and assisting the overnment to meet the self -- health challenge. some of the leading doctors in those countries have died treating ebola victims. the nongovernmental and american personnel there say they are besieged not only because they are among the only medical

personnel treating these exponentially spreading disease that because they are under suspicion by some people in these countries who are unfamiliar with this disease and fear doctors may have brought it with them. of course this is untrue, and myths do abound. the current outbreak as we know is unprecedented. many people are not cooperating with efforts to contain the disease. there is an information gap. despite the efforts through cell phone and radio to get the message out, there is a learning curve. as we consider what to do to meet this health challenge, i suggest we get funding levels for pandemic preparedness. this is for congress and the executive branch. in a restricted environment, funding has fallen from $201 million in fiscal year 2010 two an estimated in 2010. we must in short change follow efforts to save these people in

this country. our expert witness, tom frieden, is trying to assure the government we are doing what we can do to address the risis. he announced the dispatch of 50 or more public health officials in the next 30 days. who, the world bank him and many others are also joining in and trying to meet this crisis. to those who say we have no plan, i would say planning is definitely underway and is being done so aggressively. still, there is much more that needs to be done. i have introduced legislation known as the and neglected tropical disease act which establishes to support a broad range of research activities to achieve cost-effective and

sustainable treatment and control and, where possible, the elimination of neglected tropical diseases. ebola is not on the top list of 17 neglected tropical diseases but it does fit the definition of an infection caused by ah -- pathogens that disproportionately impact individuals living in extreme poverty, especially in developing countries. it ebola had been thought to be limited to areas where it could be contained. we know that is no longer true. we need to take seriously the effort to devise more effective means of addressing this and all neglected tropical diseases. i now yield to my good friend and colleague, the ranking member. >> mr. chairman, thank you for your leadership and calling today's emergency hearing to give us an opportunity to learn about and work to address the current ebola outbreak in west africa.

i look forward to hearing directly from our witnesses on the work their agencies are doing to combat the deadly outbreak and how they have coordinated with the government of impacted countries. i appreciate their efforts at outreach to keep congress informed on this devastating situation. this outbreak comes as nearly 50 african heads of state join us here in washington dc this week as part of the first in history u.s.-africa leaders summit. i have been honored to join my african and american colleagues as we join together to reach the full capacity and promise of the african continent. we had several production sessions that further cemented the relationships between u.s. and african nations and highlighted opportunities for us o continue to work together. despite the meaningful dialogue and collaboration that occurred this week, there is still work to be done. the development of health care

capacity and global security is just one area of collaboration for the u.s. and african nations. i was a little dismayed that with all the activities that happened this week around the summit, the crisis we are dealing with today is very important, but when it came to coverage on africa, the coverage centered solely around ebola. i want to commend the steps being taken by the government of liberia, sierra leone, nigeria guinea, and the u.s. and the great work of the health professionals throughout the world who are doing everything they can to help people who have contracted this awful disease will stop with over 1700 suspected and confirmed cases and over 900 deaths since march, the current outbreak is the longest lasting, widest spread, and deadliest outbreak recorded.

t's also the first ebola outbreak in west africa and the first outbreak to be spreading in both rural areas and capital cities. the unique nature of this outbreak has made combating the disease difficult. west africa has not faced this disease before, and communities among governments and health care professionals do not have the expertise and capacity to address the scale, spread, and proper treatment of the outbreak. this lack of logistical expertise, health care workforce and supplies has hindered the ability of governments to identify, track and isolate new cases and properly care for those infected. officials have had to fight against fear of the disease and culture -- the literal unfamiliarity with robert treatment which has really contributed to the spread and kept people from seeking care. yesterday, i had the privilege

to speak to president ellen johnson about the impact on her country and the work they have done to fight the disease. i asked what more we could be doing and one thing she talked about was the need for logistical support, the need for training of their health care workforce so they would know how to prevent the disease. i'm sure tom frieden is going to say we do know how to prevent the spread of the disease but that is where our efforts need to be directed. the other thing the president said was the problem with the outbreak is all the resources are centered toward the outbreak and then routine medical care has suffered because there has not been the workforce to be able to handle both will stop so the call for increased international assistance to provide food and water to impacted communities -- she said the communities that were most heavily impacted were quarantined and that there needed to be food and water brought into the areas, especially in situations like this where you have a concern

civil unrest, there could be an outbreak in areas that are quarantined and feel they do not have access. she felt that was one of the ways the united states could help the best. it's in our interest in the world interests to continue to support nations as they fight this outbreak and work to develop. health care is a human right. we're hoping to prevent future health epidemics from occurring. both the chairman and i have introduced legislation to respond to this crisis and i look forward to your testimonies. i'm interested in hearing from all of you about what more congress can do to assist your efforts to combat the disease, outbreaks, and support international efforts to improve health care systems around the world. thank you.

>> thank you very much. i would like to recognize in the audience the special representative to the secretary-general of the u.n. on sexual violence in conflict. thank you for joining us today. i would like to now yield to the distinguished chairman of the state department, commerce and justice department subcommittee of the appropriations committee, congressman frank wolf, who has had a 34 year career of tremendous support for the weakest and most vulnerable, and a matter of fact, the genesis of this hearing was a conversation with ken isaacs last week. we were planning on a hearing on the ebola virus force number and the sense of urgency and chairman wolf set up the conference call, the sense of urgency was so great that the thought was it that are now and we can have more hearings in the future and more action plans and the like.