because of the last eight years, you are going to be faced with a number of very nasty surprises and so your focus is going to be, obviously, on those crises. to manage the ng long-term festering problems, like the budget and the regulations when you are faced problem?. kind of crises.there are a n is a crisis, isis is crisis. which is why, in the first hold a camp david alleys who our arab are fighting on the ground and ask them what they need from us. know, our arab alleys, all

of them i know. they are fighting isis on the ground, as we speak. years.own him 15 now he's going to the chinese. asked the egyptians to share the intelligence and arm them for three years. we have alleys that are willing unless ur part but not they see leadership and support. here's another set of crises that have to be dealt with. it's a slow, creeping thing, but crisis. this president has rolled out a orders and utive egulations that are crushing, whether it's the epa that are destroying the oil industry or the 400-plus pages of regulation that the fcc rolled out over the internet.

stuff, the national regulations board, on a partisan vote, changed the rules for franchisees. they wanted unions to unionize. political ut a agenda. a whole set of things are going be rolled back. it's always a leader's job, however, to understand how to balance the short with the long-term. you know, someone many years ago asked me to define leadership. the highest said calling of leadership is to others.potential in balance is the art of leadership. has to balance many and s, short-term long-term. urgent crises and crises you see the horizon. confidence in humility and what

it's thingso alone. we need to begin immediately, hold at will not take immediately, our tools to cut size.overnment down to in this regard, i will ask for the citizens of this nation's help. i started out in my remarks by i admire how feariously you take a citizen government and i believe we have to return to a citizen government. 80%is a dangerous thing when of the american people think that they just don't count anymore. it's a dangerous thing for a of zen government when 75% the people think their and inept.is corrupt why do i say that? i mention that i believe we have budgeting.ro-base some version, where we know money is being spent

because it's only if you can see appropriations, we don't talk about the whole budget. gets s how the budget bigger and bigger and bigger for goes back and y has to justify a program. justify , you got to every dollar. to get that done, requires congress to act. to get congress to act is going partnership between leaders and citizens. so here is what i'm going to ask citizens, as the leader, the president of the nited states, i will go into the oval office, on a regular basis, i will ask you to take phones. smart if you still own a flip phone, you have 18 months to upgrade. very important. . [laughter] i see a lot of flip phones here. important. you need to upgrade to a smart phone because what i'm going to

ask you is this, do you think it's important we know where being spent and sort of move to some zero-base budgeting. it is a tool to reengage citizens of the process of their government. i know how you're going to vote. important is it people firedto get up and frustrated. a leader frustration and anger and focusing that pressure what we knowecause is politicians respond to pressure. how the bill got passed executives could get fired. so i'm going to use your common good judgment to put pressure. congressess 1 for yes, will act. that's how you get the machinery

going. it will be started immediately, ut it will not be finished immediately. yes, sir, you are the last question. uh-oh. . [laughter] . >> let me shake your hand, first. .> well, thank you. >> trump -- go.uh-oh, here we i thought we were going to get question.ut that [laughter] beautiful person. 'm just saying what a mistake me made. . [laughter] however, i have one question for you. when you get in the white house, your husband will probably be there. >> oh, yes, i hope so. [laughter] however, what is he going to wear? are you going to make that

decision? or him? [laughter] well, now that is a unique uestion, i've never heard that question before. thank you, sir. nd thank you for your know, i have to digress for just one moment. come up to le have me and women will say, don't said about what he your face. about yone think i care what donald trump thinks about my face? [applause] . my husband has really never what to wear.e on . [laughter] i don't think he's going to now.t . [laughter] his moment of greatest pride, and if he were standing right this, iswould tell you when he comes home from costco

and said, look at this shirt i bought, it was only $9. good italian s a for pittsburgh and he's a man's knows his wife doesn't tell him what to wear. ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for your support and being here. i want to close by asking you to think about what this nation can e. what this nation must be. what this nation, i believe, will be. that every day. in the nd, i picture two of most powerful symbols of our lady libertycracy, and lady justice because i think they tell us all we need to know about the future of our beautiful nation. y, she standslibert tall and strong, as america must always be. she is clear-eyed and resolute.

eyes from't shield her the reality of the world and aces outward as america must always face and she holds her knows she because she hope.eacon of lady justice holds a sword by her side because she is a fighter, a warrior, for the that have principals made this nation great. she holds a scale in the other all of remind us that us are equal in the eyes of god must be equal s in the eyes of the government powerless aliked and she wears a blind fold and ith that blind fold, she is saying it must be true, it can e true that in this nation, in this century, it does not matter what you look like. it does not matter who you are. how you starttter

or your circumstances. every american life must be filled with the possibilities that come from their god-given gifts. god, in on, under divisible, with liberty and thank you, god -- ladies and gentlemen. thank you, god bless you. .hank you. >> on behalf of the city republicans, the e wanted you to have to take something back. you can't carry onboard because 'm sure there's something in here that's over the liquid limit. our residentse of of news together baskets hampshire-made products so we wanted to share that with you.

>> wow, thank you. thank you very much. thank you. john brennan testifies about we will be live from the cato threats. and talking about their time on the international space station. institute here live on c-span. tuesday a discussion on the state of the army. joining us live at noon eastern on c-span2.

a signature feature of tv is our all the coverage of book fairs and festivals from across the country with top nonfiction authors. here's is our schedule. new the end of september we are in new york for the brooklyn book festival celebrating its 10th year. in october the southern festival of books in nashville. the weekend after that we are live from austin for the texas book festival and near the end of the month we will be covering to look festivals on the same weekend. it is the wisconsin took festival in madison. accor and the boston book festival. at the start of november we will be in portland, oregon for wordstock. at the end of november we are live for the 18th year in a row from florida for the miami book fair international. that is a few of the fairs and festivals this fall on c-span2's book tv.

>> president obama took part in a town hall meeting focusing on andege access affordability. the president was joined by education secretary arne duncan and took questions from students, parents, and teachers. this is one hour 10 minutes. >> barack obama. president obama: everyone give .t up hello, iowa. it is good to be back in iowa. . was missing you guys go polar bears.

it is great to be back in des moines. , saw theat the airport hampton inn, i must have state their hundred night. i am sure i have some points or something. i have a couple free nights at the hampton inn. everyone have a seat, relax. i know it's september, so i know you guys are all about to be flooded with ads and calls from a bunch of folks who want this job. i just can't imagine what kind of person would put them -- themselves through something like this.

1 during the introduction it was like, "the next president of the united states." [laughter] president obama: it is an example of what our young people can do when they put their minds to it. i would like to thank your principal, mike goodrich -- mike bukovic. [applause] president obama: your superintendent is here. where is tom? [applause] president obama: your mayor is here. he was here. he had to go to a city council meeting. he is missing out on the fun. attorney general, tom miller. [applause] president obama: treasurer, mike fitzgerald, a great supporter. [applause] president obama: and of course,

secretary of education, arne duncan, for letting me on his bus tour. i will not give a long week, -- speech because we want to and most of the time taking questions from you. i want to ask the net we came to north high school because you guys have done some great things over the past few years, making sure more students have laptops and ipads, improving ap courses, test scores. you have become a good example for the whole country of what is possible. and -- [applause] president obama: we thought we would come and pay you a visit, talk with some of the students here in des moines, and with your parents, because i know that there is nothing a high schoolers love more than being in public with their moms and that. [laughter] that is what my daughter's me all the time. it was seven years ago this week

that a financial crisis on wall street ended up ushering in some really hard times on main street. but thanks to the incredible resilience and great and hard work of the american people, we bounced back. we created 3.1 million new private sector jobs in the past 5.5 years. 16 million people have the security of health insurance, many of them for the first time. our house -- our high school graduation rate is the highest that it has ever been. [applause] president obama: and i should point out, by the way, if you want to see the best graduation rate in america, it is right here in iowa. [cheers] [applause] president obama: we have been investing in things that help to grow the middle-class and provide opportunity for every

young person. but no 21st century economy -- nobody in a 21st century economy is going to be able to do what they want to do with their lives, unless they've got a great education. that is just the truth. by 2020, 2 out of three job openings will require some kind of post high school education, whether a four-year university or a community college or a tech school. and it is an investment that pays off. partly it pays off, and rochon mentioned this, it empowers you and gives you a sense of who you are and your hopes and you dreams. it helps to sharpen how you see the world and empowers you in all sorts of ways. but it also has some pretty practical ramifications. compared to a high school diploma, a degree from a two-year school could at earn you and for $10,000 per year. a four-year degree could earn

you $1 million more over the course of a lifetime. that is how important an education is in today's economy. just as higher education has never been more important, let's face it. it has also been never more expensive. that is why arne and i are working to try to make post high school education more affordable. we have increased scholarships. we have reformed our student loan system that final -- that funnels millions of dollars into big banks. we cut that off directly and said let's give that to students. we created at $2500 to help working families pay for tuition and books and fees. we are helping people cap their federal student loan payments so if you want to be a teacher or social worker or some profession that may not make a huge amount of money, you can

still do that knowing you will still be able to afford yourself and your family while doing it. and we are fighting for two years of free community college for any student willing to work for it. [applause] president obama: the bottom line is, no young person in america should be priced out of college. they should not be priced out of an education. i know that finding the right school for you, the best school for you is a top process. melia is going through it right now. you guys are juggling deadlines and applications and personal statements. and some of you in the back of your mind, you are asking yourselves what you plan for a career and what you want to do with your life. i think we should make that process easier. a couple of things that we have done that we are announcing over the worst of this week on this

bus tour, we have introduced something called college scorecard. right now, a lot of families do not have all of the information they need to choose the right school. a lot of the college rankings systems that you see, they reward schools for spending more money, or for rejecting more students. i think that is the wrong focus. our colleges should be focused on affordability and serving students. we pull together data across college cost and value and we created this scorecard. you can scroll through it to see which schools are more likely to graduate their students, more likely to result in good jobs for those students, more likely to make sure those students can pay off their student loans. and you can use that information to make choices that are right for your future and for your budget. you guys can go to collegescorecard.ed.gov.

we've already gotten half a million visits since we launched this thing on saturday. it is a valuable tool for students and parents as you try to make a decision about where to go to school. we are also simplifying the student system. part of it is that it is just complicated and time-consuming. those young people are leaving money on the table. there maybe some of you that are not aware of all the financial help you can get. we have shortened the federal student aid form, called fafsa, down to about 20 minutes. it used to be two or three times as long. and because only congress has the power to eliminate certain requirements, we are asking them to simplify it even further.

the good news is, it has good bipartisan support. we have a congressman here from virginia who traveled with us, congressman bobby scott. where is bobby? there he is way in the back there. [applause] president obama: he is a democrat and working with republicans to see if we can further shorten and make this form simpler. today, i'm also announced that beginning next year, families will be able to fill out fafsa even earlier, starting october 1, right around the time that college applications ramped up. you will not have to wait for months for your w-2s to arrive to get started so you can get a jump on the college application process. you will knows in her how much aid you while for and have more time to evaluate your options. we are also working with colleges and universities and scholarship programs to align their financial aid processes and applications with this new start date. all of these that taken together should help hundreds of thousands pay for college. i know that is important to you.

i will end my remarks with a story of someone who could not be here, but graduated here from -- graduated from here last year. his name is miko green. you might remember him from the polar bear basketball. [applause] president obama: the reason i want to tell his story is for the past few years, niko was homeless as a junior and senior. he was grateful to mostly stay with his coach or his counselor. but before that, he spent nights in shelters, church basements, or hotels where his mom was sometimes sleeping next to drug addicts or worse. he said, i have seen some terrible things, but i'm in full for a because it has taught me to be strong. -- i'm thankful for what i've been through because it has taught me to be strong.

last year, he filled out his fafsa and found out he qualifies for thousands of dollars in federal and state aid. today, he is studying and still playing ball, hoping to make money enough one day to build a career and give back to the mom that he loves. [applause] president obama: so that is why we are here. this what this is about. so students like niko and rochon, and students like many of you who want to take that big step and work toward your dreams, we want to know that we are there to help you achieve those dreams. we want to make sure we will help those who are willing to put in the effort to succeed.

that is not just good for those students, but for america. this country was built on the notion that it doesn't matter where you co from, what you look like, what your last name is. if you are willing to work hard, you can make it. an education is the key to making that future possible. that is how we grow this country. that is how we make it successful. that is the incredible project, the great experiment and democracy you are all a part of. with that, we are looking forward to taking your questions. thank you very much, everybody. [applause] is this working? here's how it will work. you are your hand and i'm calling you. we will go girl, boy, girl, boy to make it fair. there are people in the audience with microphones.

wait until they get there. introduce yourself and keep your questions short enough that we can get as many in as possible. and contrary to whatarne said, he will get all the tough questions and i just want the easy ones. [laughter] president obama: who wants to go first? this young lady shot her hand up quickly. right here. we need a microphone up here. >> hi, my name is angelico. my question is for you. what do you believe the role of the teacher should be? president obama: what do i believe the role of teacher should be? that is a great question. when i think about my own life, you know, some of you may know my dad left when i was very

young so i did not know him. i was raised by my mom. my mother was a teenager when she had me. she was 18. she was still going to school and working at the same time as raising me, and then my sister. she was my first great teacher. and what she taught me was compassion, caring about other people, but she also taught me to be curious. when i think back to all of the great teachers that i've had, it is not so much the facts that they have taught me, because i can get those from books. it has been teachers who were able to spark in me a sense of curiosity. how does that work?

why is that the way it is? somebody who would want -- somebody who would help me want to learn more, that is the great -- that is the role of a great teacher. someone who can convince you to be so interested in a subject that you start all the time -- overtime teaching yourself. are a lot ofere great teachers here. a challenge in being a teacher is that sometimes students don't always appreciate good teachers. let's face it, because i think sometimes we think education is something that you just receive from somebody else. it is passive. they just kind of foreknowledge -- pour knowledge in here. but in fact, good teaching is a conversation with somebody where they are giving you not just answers, but asking new questions and helping your brain

get a workout. and trying to help you figure out things yourself. also, having great teachers are people who have confidence in you and have high expectations for you. and they see something you were they get a sense of, you know, you are important and you can do amazing things. when you feel that from a teacher, that a teacher really thinks you've got something in you that is worth saying or writing, those are the teachers that you remember. those are the teachers that inspire you. what do you think, arne? secretary duncan: i will be quick. i think that is a great answer. sometimes teachers see things instance that they don't see in themselves. lots of folks could look at you and say, well, that is where you

are going to go, because they look at your mom and she is locked up. those are teachers i remember from my childhood, who saw things in me that i did not recognize in myself and helped to bring that to light. [applause] president obama: great question. alright, i think it is the guy's are now. -- turn now. let's see, the gentleman right back there. right in the corner there. >> my name is dennis. i'm a senior here at north high school. [laughter in the background] >> what is so funny? president obama: are you the dad that is so embarrassing? >> maybe. if they embarrass me, i embarrass them.

president obama: well, you know -- let me -- [applause] president obama: i'm going to beg off this question a little bit. i promise you i'm generally going to give you straight answers. on this one, i'm going to move around a little bit. right now, i'm going to stay out of the campaign season partly because i cannot track of all the candidates. i will wait until it is one and before i can say. here's what i can say. a society's values are reflected in what we put our time and our efforts and our money.

it is not sufficient to say we care about education if we are not actually putting resources into education. [applause] both arne and i have gotten go sometimes -- gotten guff sometimes from within our own party because we have said money is not enough. if a school is in teaching consistently kids so they can achieve, so they can share and change how they do things. in collaboration with parents and students and teachers, we have to figure out how to make it better.

we need to be encouraging more creativity and empowering teachers more to it. those won't cost money. but we also know that if i said don't have the right equipment, then it's hard to teach science. if kids don't have access to broadband and laptops, they are at a disadvantage to those kids who do. if you've got a school that doesn't have enough counselors, and so come time to apply for college there aren't enough counselors to go around and kids aren't getting the best advice they need, then they may end up selling themselves short in terms of their ability to go to college.

resources do matter. part of the reason i'm making this point, so when you are evaluating candidates you pay attention to this. we are going to have a major debate in congress on this coming up. the budget is supposed to be done by the end of this month and so far, congress has come up with a cop -- with a budget. and there are some in the other party who are comfortable with keeping in place something called sequester, which is going to result in significant cuts over the next several years in the amount of federal support for education. that is going to force them, either through layoffs or kids not given the kinds of support that they need, it will have an effect on the education of students.

i just want everybody to be clear without endorsing any particular candidates ideas that if somebody is running for president and they say they want to be the education president, it means two things. one is that you care about every studt doing well, not just some. because weber is president is president for all people -- because whoever is president is president for all people, not just some people. that is when number one. [applause] president obama: endpoint of and point number two is that you've got be willing to provide the resources for communities that do not have as much of a property tax base, and so they cannot always raise money on their own to help their students achieve. anything you want to add? secretary duncan: very quickly in getting into this candidate or that, you've got about two dozen to choose from and they all want your vote stop -- all want your vote. questions to ask any candidate is, one, what are you willing to

do to have access in early child to quality education? that is the best investment we can make. [applause] secretary duncan: never to come over what you do to increase the graduation rate? we're proud that it is at an all-time high. what will you do to make sure high school graduates are work ready and we need to lead the world in college graduation rates again. we were the first of the generation and today we are 12 creative every candidate you ask what are your concrete goals for those four things, what resources are you willing to put behind that, our country would be a much stronger place. [applause] tagident obama: not to be a team here.

angelica asked about what is a great teacher. candidate say that the big problem with education is teachers we should not vote for that person. [applause] and it is the most important job we have got. folks who go into teaching do not go into it for money. they go into it because they are passionate about kids. that does not mean that there are not some bad teachers and it does not mean that we should not hold teachers to high standards as well and continue to work in terms of professional development and recruitment and retention of great teachers. there have been times when arnie

and i have had some on certain issues because we want to encourage fermentation and -- experimentation. you can measure how good a school is by whether or not it is respecting and engaging teachers in the classroom so they are professionals in the field good about what they are doing. forced toot being teach to a test and it is a written to make sure -- important to make sure, what we here's a bunch of teacher bashing. i can tell you who to vote for but i can tell you who to vote against. somehow -- those are that teachers do not deserve the decent -- deserve decent pay.

right there in the brown sweater. a intern at the hillary clinton campaign. obama: i guess i know who you are voting for. >> do you think it is possible or realistic for there to be free tuition for college in the united states is president obama: i think that is absolutely realistic for us to first of all have the first two years of community college free because it is in my budget. and i know how to pay for it. if you close up some corporate tax loopholes that are not growing the economy, and our

just a boondoggle, you take that money, you can help every state do what tennessee is already doing. tennessee is making communicative -- trinity college is free for the first two years and what that does is it helps young people who may not right now want to get a four-year college education but know the -- technical training or they want to get an associates degree. , they know they can get their education for free as long as they are working hard. for those who are thinking about a four-year college education, they can get their first two years at the community college then transfer those credits to a four-year college and they just cut their overall college costs in half so it would be good for everybody. whether you're going for two years or four years.

if we can get that done we can start building from there. in the meantime, i do want to make sure that everybody understands what we're talking about. you have to fill out this form. we're making it easier for you to do. you have no excuse, parents who are here, even if you did not go nag youre, you need to kids to make sure that this form gets filled out so people -- so that you know the student aid you might be entitled to. my grandma, she did not go to college. even though she was the smartest person i knew. that you had to go to college and you had to fill out this form. so i want everybody here to make sure you stay focused on that because there is more help already than a lot of people are aware of.

the college scorecard we talked about, collegescorecard.ed.gov, what that does is it allows you to look at the schools to find out do they graduate students, how much debt do they have, are they getting a job after they graduate? we are not just ranking the most prestigious school. we are getting your news you can use in evaluating whether the schools you are applying to actually deliver on their commitment because a lot of times students who get big student loans, debt after they graduate, it is because they did not think through where they should go, what they should be studying, what resources are available. we want you on the front end to have as much information as possible in order to make a good choice. arne, anything to add? secretary duncan: how much do we give out each year in grants?

president obama: you notice i did not test you. duncan: $30,000? total. how much? $30 billion. any other guesses? we give out $150 billion in grants and loans each year. the president said we have a lot the best long way to go and do more to make college free. we don't care whether your family has money or not, you work hard, $150 billion. it is the only form you will ever fill out in your life that will give you access to $150 billion.

i want to emphasize this. you have got to fill it out. president obama: got to fill it out. all right. this gentleman back here. i don't want to neglect the folks in the back. >> how are you doing, mr. president? my name is rudolph dawson. my concern is the historically black schools, a lot of pressure is put on them in terms of not getting the budget they need to continue to educate people like myself. they are not getting programs they need to attract students that want higher pay. what can you do, what can your administration or the next administration due to right the wrong done in the past and continues to be done to these universities? it is also a land-grant college. they have not been getting all the money they need for agriculture, like the university of georgia.

i would like to see some changes there. president obama: we've got a lot of young people here. to give you a little bit of history, the historically black colleges and universities arose at a time when a lot of schools were segregated. african american students could not attend a lot of the traditional state colleges and universities. many of them went on to become incredible educational institutions that produced some of our greatest thinkers. morehouse college, howard, spellman. all across the country, particularly in the south, a lot of these historically black colleges and universities were the nurturer of an african

american middle class. many of whom went on to become the civil rights pioneers that helped lead to dr. king, and the civil rights movent, and all the history i think you are aware of. a lot of those schools are still doing well. some of them have gotten smaller and are struggling, partly because of good news, university of georgia is not segregated anymore. it is good african american students or latino students have more diverse options. but they still serve an important role. working with people like congressman bobby scott others,

we have continued to provide support to those schools. but one thing arne and i have been doing is saying to these historically black colleges and universities, you have also got to step up your game in terms of graduation rates because there are some of the schools who taken a lot of students but don't always graduate those students. those students end up being stuck with debt, and it is not a good deal for them. we have a task force and commission devoted to working with the school's to make sure they have the resources they need to continue to perform an important function. but they are also stepping up their game so kids who attend these universities and colleges are graduating on time and are able to pursue the kind of careers they need. anything you want to add? let's see. it is a young lady's turn now. i need to go up top. that young lady in the striped

shirt i can barely see. this is what happens when you get older, young people. first time i came to iowa, i had no gray hair. i didn't. look at me now. >> i'm currently a junior at lincoln high school on the south side of des moines. i know you don't want to get involved with the presidential race at the moment. but a candidate has said they want to cut government spending to politically biased colleges. i was wondering if that would hurt the education system for those who depend on that or what it better education as a whole? president obama: first of all, i did not hear this candidate say that. i have no idea what that means.

[laughter] president obama: i suspect he does not either. [laughter] [applause] president obama: look, the purpose of college is not just, as i said before, to transmit skills. it is also to widen your horizons, to make you a better citizen, to help you evaluate information, to help you make your way through the world, to help you be more creative. the way to do that is to create a space where a lot of ideas are presented and collide.

and people are having arguments. and people are testing each other's theories. and over time, people learn from each other because they are getting out of their own narrow point of view and having a broader point of view. so, arne i'm sure has the same expense i did. -- experience i did. when i went to college, suddenly there were folks that did not think at all like me. if i had an opinion, they would look at me and say that is stupid. then they would describe how they saw the world. they might have had different sets of politics or they might have a different view about poverty or a different perspective on race. sometimes their views would be infuriating to me, but it was because there was this space where you could interact with people who did not agree with

you and had different backgrounds that i started testing my own assumptions. and sometimes, i changed my mind. sometimes i realized maybe i have been too narrow-minded. maybe i did not take this into account. maybe i should see this person's perspective. so, that is what college in part is all about. the idea you would have somebody in government making a decision about what you should think ahead of time or what you should be taught, and if it is not the right thought or idea or philosophy that they would not get funding, runs contry to everything we believe about education. [applause]

president obama: i guess that might work in the soviet union. but it does not work here. that is not who we are. that is not what we are about. one thing i do want to point out is it is not just sometimes folks who are mad that colleges are too liberal that have a problem. sometimes there are folks on college campuses who are liberal and maybe agree with me on a bunch of issues who sometimes are not listening to the other side. that is a problem, too. i was talking to a friend about this. i've heard of some college campuses where they don't want to have a guest speaker who is too conservative, or they don't

want to read a book if it has language that is offensive to african americans or somehow sends a demeaning signal towards women. you know, i've got to tell you, i don't agree with that either. i don't agree you, when you become students at colleges, have to be coddled and protected from different points of view. [applause] [laughter] president obama: anybody who comes to speak to you and you disagree with, you should have an argument with them. but you should not silence them by saying you can't come because i am too sensitive to hear what you have to say. that is not the way we learn either.

what do you think, arne? secretary duncan: [indiscernible] president obama: he said amen. ok. let's see. i think it is a guy's turn. this gentleman in the tie, you had your hand up a couple of times. i did not want you to feel neglected. you almost gave up. i wanted to call on you. wait for the microphone. >> thank you. my name is james quinn, this is my wife, and our daughter. we have been saving for her college education for 10 years. over that time, the federal deductibility of 529 contributions has gone away even though we can still get the deduction from iowa income taxes. it would be nice to see a reward for saving rather than just making borrowing money easier. [applause] president obama: i'm going to let arne hit this one because he is an expert on our various

savings programs. secretary duncan: as a parent with two kids, my wife and i are putting money in 529's and getting the government to encourage that would be fantastic. this is something where we have to work with congress to do the right thing. some families starting kindergarten are saving each year to help their kids go to college. we need to incentivize that. great point. president obama: there was a time when the deductibility of student loans was more significant than it is today. whenever you make something tax-deductible, that means there's less money going into the treasury. that means either somebody has got to pay for it with other taxes or the deficit grows or we spend less on something else. this is part of why this debate

right now in congress about lifting the sequester is so important. it is a washington term. i hate the term. essentially what congress did is it said we are going to lop off spending at this level for the next decade. the problem is the population is going up. the economy is growing. even though the deficit right now has been cut by 2/3 since i came into office, which is -- [applause] president obama: you would not know that listening to some candidates, but it has. if sequester stays in place, not only our ability to spend for education or help families with student loans, but also things

like early childhood education, head start programs, pell grants, all those things can be adversely affected. this is one thing i would ask everybody to consider. when you hear budget debates, i know your eyes glaze over. but the federal budget is where we express our values. a lot of times, people say we should just cut government spending because there is all this waste. but in fact, the vast majority of government spending is for social security. it is for medicare, medicaid. it is for helping vulnerable populations, and it is for defense. and not a lot is left over for

helping middle-class families send their kids to college or to save. if you have this ceiling, this artificial cap, without taking into account the growing population and more young people going to college, you end up with a situation in which fewer people are getting help. that is why it is important for us to lift this artificial cap. it is also why it is important for us to close some of these tax loopholes going to either the very wealthy or the corporations that really don't need them because they are doing just fine and not having a problem financing their college educations, their kids' college educations. [applause] president obama: all right. it is a young lady's turn. all right. i'm going to go with this young lady. originally, i called on her first but we got mixed up.

go ahead. >> i go to roosevelt high school. hopefully, my question is not too difficult. what is your best advice for malia as she goes off to college? president obama: my best advice to malia? this is assuming she listens to my advice. [laughter] president obama: she is very much like her mother at this point. [laughter] president obama: she has got her own mind. one piece of advice i have given her is not to stress too much about having to get into one particular college. there are a lot of good colleges and universities. it is important for everybody here to understand, you can find

a college or university that gives you a great education and just because it is not some name brand, famous, fancy school does not mean you're not going to get a great education. one is, lower the stress levels in terms of having to get into one particular school. i think that is important. the second piece of advice i have is keep your grades up until you get in. after that, make sure you pass because it is important you run through the tape in your senior year and not start feeling slack. i don't worry about that with her. she is a hard worker. the third thing is the advice i already mentioned, which is be open to new experiences when you go to college.

don't go to college just to duplicate the same experience you had in high school. don't make your decision based on where my friends are going so i can do the exact same things with the same friends i did in high school. the whole point is for you to push yourself out of your comfort level, meet people you have not met before, take classes you had not thought of before. stretch yourself because this is the time to do it when you are young. seek out new experiences because when you do that, you may discover you may think you wanted to do one thing, it may turn out you want to do something completely different and you have an amazing talent for something different but you have not been exposed to it yet.

you have to know what it is that is out there, and that requires you to do some things differently than you have in high school. arne, anything you want to add? secretary duncan: particularly for seniors, please don't apply to one school. apply to five or six. it is amazing how many just apply to one school. it might be the best fit, but keep your options open. apply to a bunch of places. finally to emphasize, the goal is not to go to college. the goal is to graduate. figure out where you are going to go and graduate. it might take you three years or five. the big thing is we need you not to just attend but to walk across the stage with a diploma in your hand. [applause] president obama: the gentleman

right here. you can use my mic. >> thanks, mr. president. i am elementary school principal. one of the things we value is the diversity we have in our community. i'm curious to hear from you and secretary duncan the value you see diversity brings to a young person's education. president obama: that is a great question. how long have you been a principal? five years? that is outstanding. we are getting old, man, because i thought he was a student. [laughter] president obama: he is not just a teacher. he is a principal. thank you for the great work you are doing. to some degree, i have already answered this question. the value of diversity is getting to know and understand people who are different from you because that is the world

you will be living in and working in. it is really interesting. they have been showing through a variety of studies that people who can understand and connect with a wide range of people, that ends up being as important if not more important a skill than anything else in terms of your career success. whatever the field. it also is part of what makes our democracy work. i was having a discussion about this earlier today. our democracy is premised on an assution that even if somebody is not just like me, that they are a good person and a generous

person, that we have things in common, and that we can work things out. and if we have a disagreement, we can have an argument based on facts and evidence. i might sometimes lose the argument. i don't persuade as many people. that is how voting works. majorities are formed and change. that is how our democracy is supposed to work. that starts early because when you have diversity in schools, you are less likely as an adult to start thinking that person, they are not like me, or those persons don't have the same values or don't care as much about their kids. and then democracy starts breaking down because then everything is a fight to the

death because there is no sense we can bridge our differences and disagree without being disagreeable and find common ground. it is not only good for your career, but it is also good for our country. the same holds true as part of diversity. studies show organizations that have women in decision-making positions function better than those who don't. [applause] president obama: and so, seriously. if you look at corporate boards, you can correlate their performance with the number of women they have got on those

boards. it also is valuable for us to make sure not only is there diversity, but that in leadership positions different voices are heard. arne, anything you want to add? so, keep it up. the young lady right there. yeah, you. i'm sorry. i will call on you first and get back to you. the mic is already there. >> hi. i am a junior here at north high school. i have two questions. one is for my friend. he is shy. we are part of a group called upward bound, and we work through simpson college. there have been stories of our

budget being cut. we want to know if the government can work with us for that. my other question is, in your professional opinion, how much is visual arts important to our school and how will you save it? [applause] president obama: ok. i will take the first -- i will take the question on visual arts. secretary duncan: it goes back to what the president talked about. it is not just upward bound at risk. it is pell grants at risk. early childhood education, folks in congress want to zero that out of the budget. we need to hold folks in washington accountable for investing in education. we want to make sure we are getting results. there are lots of things in our budget, upward bound being a piece of it, in danger. the president is fighting hard.

there are some backing us. others see this as extras. it is important that your voices be heard. he cannot by himself prevent these cuts. that is not how democracy works. hold us accountable. we will continue to push hard. but we need voters voices being heard saying we need upward bound programs. we need early childhood. we need afterschool programs. we need arts. you can talk about arts as well. president obama: the arts are what make life worthwhile, right? [applause] president obama: you know, you need food and shelter and all that good stuff. but the things that make you laugh, cry, connect, love, so

much of that is communicated through the arts. i don't want our young people to think that the arts are just something you sit there passively and what's on the tv screen. i want everybody to have the experience of making art, and have the experience of making music, because that is part of what makes for a well-rounded education. we also know young people learn better if they are not just looking at a textbook and multiple test quizzes all day long. it breaks up the monotony and

gives expression to different sides of themselves. that is good for the overall educational experience. i think visual arts, music, it is all important. and we should not be depriving young people of those experiences. they are not extras. they are central to who we are. part of what makes us human is our ability to make art, to represent what is inside of us in ways that surprise and delight people. and i don't want us to start thinking that is somehow something we can push aside. now, i want you to be able to read and be able to do algebra. but i don't know where we got

the idea we have got to choose between those things. we've got to be able to do them all. it used to be standard practice. there was no debate, even in the smallest town in a poor community or a world community, there was always the art teacher and a music teacher. nobody assumed that was an extr that was part of it, just like having a sports program was part of it. that is part of what a well-rounded education is all about. but it does cost some money. that is something i want to emphasize. you can't do all this stuff on the cheap all the time. how many more questions? how much more time? only one? i'm going to take two. [laughter] president obama: i'm going to get to you. don't worry. i promised. it is a guy's turn.

this guy right there. all right. [applause] >> alright, ok. president obama: what is your name? >> my name is marcus carter. i am a senior. out of all the schools in iowa, why did you come here? and after this, can i get a picture with you? [laughter] [applause] president obama: now, marcus, i'm going to answer your first question. [laughter] president obama: second question, if i start taking pictures with you, look at this crowd. we would be taking a lot of selfies, so i am imposing the no selfie rule although i will try to shake as many hands as possible.

we came here because some really good work is being done here. i think your teachers, principal, and the superintendent, deserve credit for the improvements made. [applause] president obama: i want arne to address this because arne travels to schools across the country. sometimes we get so focused on what is not working that we forget to lift up what is working. and when a school is doing a good job, i'm sure the teachers feel they want to do even

better, but when we have made progress, we have to acknowledge that because it makes us feel hopeful we can continue to make more strides. secretary duncan: a couple of quick things. it is not a coincidence we are here. this is a school that struggled, had some hard times. new leadership, new expectations, the president talked about technology, a better sense of culture, different ways of discipline. i think a couple of years ago, you had two a.p. classes. and now you have 15. [applause] secretary duncan: to go from two to 15 is a big deal. what i say is the students here are not seven times as smart as four years ago. it is just higher expectations. a different belief about what is possible. we try to highlight places that have not always been successful but are moving in the right direction. no one is satisfied. you are trying to get better, but that is real progress.

that is adults saying and people deserve the opportunity to take college class in high school, deserve technology. i think there are lots of lessons other schools could learn from the progress you are making at north high school. [applause] president obama: i promised i was going to call on this young lady last. go ahead. what is your name? >> my name is tonya montoya. if you legalize free two-year college, is everyone including illegal students with a good g.p.a. able to get this? president obama: this is an important question. i know this is a debate taking place among presidential candidates. right now, the way the federal student loan programs work is that undocumented students are

not eligible for these loan programs. that is how the law is currently. it is my view -- well, two things i want to say. first, if you fall in that category, you should still fill out the fafsa because states or universities or colleges may have private scholarships or other mechanisms. so it does not automatically mean you may not qualify for some benefits. it is still important for you. that is a standard form used by everybody. but this raises the broader question i have been talking about now for a couple of years. and that is that for young people who came here, their parents may have brought them

here, and they are now america'' kids by every other criteria except for a piece of paper. they may be your classmates, your friends, your neighbors. the notion that somehow we would not welcome their desire to be full-fledged parts of this community and country and to contribute and serve makes absolutely no sense. [applause] president obama: you know, this whole anti-immigrant sentiment in our politics right now is contrary to who we are. [applause]

president obama: because unless you are a native american -- [applause] president obama: your family came from someplace else. [applause] president obama: and although we are a nation of laws and we want people to follow the law, and i have been pushing congress to make sure we have strong borders and we are keeping everybody moving through legal processes, don't pretend that somehow 100 years ago the immigration process was smooth and strict. that is not how it worked. there are a bunch of folks who came here from all over europe, all throughout asia, all throughout central america, and certainly who came from africa.

it was not some orderly process where all the rules applied and everything was strict, and i came the right way. that is not how it worked. so the notion that now one generation or even four or five generations removed, that suddenly we are treating new immigrants as if they are the problem when your grandparents were treated like the problem or your great-grandparents were treated like the problem or were considered unworthy, uneducated, or unwashed -- no, that is not who we are. that is not who we are. we can have a legitimate debate about how to set up an immigration system that is fair and orderly and lawful.

i think the people who came here illegally should have the consequences of paying a fine and getting registered, and all kinds of steps they should have to take in order to get right with the law. but when i hear folks talking as if somehow these kids are different from my kids or less worthy in the eyes of god? that somehow they are less worthy of our respect and consideration and care? i think that is un-american. i do not believe that. i think it is wrong. [applause] president obama: and i think we should do better because that is how america was made, by us caring about all of our kids.

thank you, everybody. i love you. [applause] ♪ >> grover norquist on the various tax plans put forward by republican presidential candidates. then the associate director of hungry discusses u.s. households that currently have problems getting access to adequate food due to a lack of money or resources. looks att, rachel day the hillary clinton e-mail probe and what it means for her presidential campaign. phonet will take your calls, facebook comments, and tweets. >> this weekend, the senate

returns. they will take another procedural vote on a measure disapproving the iran nuclear agreement. they return at 1:00 a.m. eastern and the vote is scheduled for 6 p.m.. later in the week they are expected to discuss a bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks. house returns wednesday when they take up a number of bills, including one directing the tsa to enhance airport security. thursday, members turned to legislation that would ban all federal funding of planned parenthood unless the organization agrees to stop performing or funding abortions. live coverage of the u.s. house all we care on c-span. >> setting the stage for c-span's new upcoming series, "landmark cases: historic supreme court decisions." we host a live discussion in philadelphia wednesday on the same cases we selected for the series, exploring the human

stories behind these historic decisions. distinguished panelists from you law school and a former acting general. -- a former solicitor general. it is moderated by jeffrey rosen, a national constitution center president and ceo. that is live wednesday starting at 7:00 p.m. eastern on c-span3. >> next, a house intelligence hearing on cyber security. james comey and cia director john brennan were among those who testified. this is an hour and 45 minutes.

>> i want to thank director clapper. i guess the witnesses are not here yet. but i would still like to thank director clapper. [laughter] to hold this meeting on worldwide cyber threats. we know that all of the witnesses' time is very valuable and we want to take advantage of that today. i will keep my comments brief. this committee has traditionally hosted an open world hearing to better educate the public on current dangers we face, as well as to showcase how the intelligence community is working to combat these threats. the focus of this hearing is cyber security, or given the current state of affairs, cyber insecurity. over the last several years, cyber attacks have become commonplace in the west -- best buy, j.p. morgan chase, and other companies, just name a few have been subject to attacks, resulting in become eyes of personal information of employees and customers alike. these are just the breaches we hear about in the news. there are others, both large and small current across the nation. the u.s. government is a certainly not immune. opm, irs, the pentagon's joint chief of staff, and just this

morning, we learned the department of energy was successfully hacked hundred 59 times. these high-profile assaults are even confident in our governments ability to counter the threat. i share the public's concern. in fact, i recently learned that the very apparatus that the homeland department of security uses to share cyber threat indicators with the government, has not had a security audit since 2006. this raises serious questions about an agency that many government representatives believe should be at the heart of our cyber security strategy. i want to place the intelligence community on notice that we will be requesting information regarding your cyber security practices and procedures in the

coming months. the government should not even think to impose standards on the private sector before it can maintain the security of its own systems. as congress continues to debate information sharing legislation, we much ensure the government involved in the sharing process is a secure. especially if we allow the private sector to share cyber threats with just one government entity, such as dhs. in closing, i call upon the senate to take upon cyber security legislation -- the time is come to put politics aside and give our government the tools it needs to defend ourselves from these malicious attacks. i will yielded to the ranking member. rep. schiff: thank you so much for your service to the country. i am pleased that we are holding this meeting in open session. these meetings have been focused on the challenge of securing our networks and related issues of encryption and terrorist used of social media, they are among the

most pressing challenges that we face. the threat to our public and private networks is all too apparent. in the past year alone, we have seen highly publicized hacks of sony pictures, not far from my district, intrusions into health insurance providers like anthem, and the devastating attack into the office of personnel management. these attacks took context in the -- these attacks took place in the context of other countless attacks. there are no simple answers to these problems. in fact, some of the steps we can take to better secure our data and our privacy can have unintended consequences. a good example of largely welcome efforts to make our networks more private and more secure by using pervasive encryption so that even if hackers steal the data, it would be gibberish without the key to encode it. even open to indications on the internet pose a challenge. social media has proven a democratizing force throughout the world. it is now increasingly being used by groups like isis to spread messages like hate, repression, and violence.

the question is, what can we do about cyber security? the unintended come to quintess of encrypted and the use of social media to radicalize. these are immensely challenging and inextricably linked problems. i don't know the answers, nor should anyone in washington. but i want to lay out several principles that should write out our response. last week, i went to silicon valley where i held a very productive series of sessions with a number of leading tech companies. i will continue to have these conversations and encourage others to have them as well. in d.c., we have to work with them and others to find the best mix of incentives, standards,

and technological solutions. in these discussions, we in government must also recognize the economic considerations are tech sector in the work that they already do voluntarily addressing some of these issues. at the same time, we have to recognize the legitimate need of the populace for privacy, the legitimate need for law enforcement and intelligence personnel to keep us safe, and the industry's legitimate need to protect intellectual property from hackers. this cooperation should take place on a technical level. i'm pleased to see agencies like dhs continue to partner with universities and cyber challenges to develop safer and more secure technologies and to keep in this country's cyber literacy. we need to do more of this academic and technical collaboration. second, government and the private sector must take joint ownership of the problem of cyber security.

no longer for senior government officials were corporate leaders to call in leaders to tech support. we must attract the best, the brightest, and the most creative to work on the nation's security. the digital revolution was made possible through the marriage of little savvy, technology, art and science. those that can identify the need and those that can fill it. we must keep these in mind as we build our bench of cyber experts. in the wake of the attack on sony, north korea must face tangible, and meaningful as apprentice, and others must know the consequences of future attacks or offensive cyber action. fifth, we need to advance legislation that capitalizes solutions. our cyber information sharing bill protecting cyber networks act would do exactly that. this would crowd source

solutions to cyber threats by allowing private industry, the government to share malware in order to understand it and create solutions to defend against it. already there are private cyber information sharing arrangements, which are proving invaluable the of the defense industrial base of the energy department cyber security risk in permission sharing program, or among the private sector in a facebook exchange. this is passed to the house and is awaiting action in the senate. ultimately, the threat of a cyber attack presents no easy solutions. offense is cheap and relatively easy, while the defense is expensive and far more complex. means of communications that secure our privacy can be used by security and social networks designed to bring us together can be used to try and tell us apart. these complex challenges are not an excuse to throw up our hands. i believe that close collaboration will allow us to take better steps to save lives and jobs. i look forward to hearing from

our witnesses about how we can do just that. i thank you mr. chairman and yield back. >> a we created an nsa cyber committee. the chairman i would like to recognize for an opening statement. >> i appreciate eyewitnesses taking the time out of their busy schedules today to comment testify. as the chairman of the nsa and cyber subcommittee i have had an opportunity to see cyber security from a unique position. i witnessed the amazing talent and tireless work undertaken i certain elements of our government. presented here today, and particularly by the nsa's

ability to identify and defend against cyber threats. at the same time, i witnessed the shocking incompetence of other elemen in our government, which have resulted in unprecedented privacy breaches and threatened our national security. it is essential that everyone understand the gravity of this situation. we are under attack right now in the u.s. every second, every day, there are attacks occurring somewhere in this country. some appear relatively harmless, others are clearly a threat to our economy, our privacy, and our national security. in recent years, we have witnessed the theft of our nation's industrial secrets, attacks on our financial institutions, and much more. while it is important to keep sensitive programs classified, these types of over hearings provide much-needed education to the public. i want to commend the chairman for having this open hearing. we are only as a strong as our weakest link, and the security of her networks is all of our responsibilities. again, i would like to thank the witnesses for coming today, taking your timeout, but also the part that you play in protecting our national security. i look forward to hearing your testimony and working together which each and every one of you to make sure that our nation's

safe against any cyberattacks. thank you. >> the judgment yields back. ranking member of the nsa cyber community for an opening statement. rep himes: i know we won't you're quite a lot about the risks, costs, and players associated with cyberattacks on her country, attacks we all too often see on the front page of the newspaper. we should do all we can. i think the chairman and ranking member have laid out a whole variety of things we should be doing. what i don't hear, and what i want to spend a couple minutes on this morning -- because i think it is really critical and essential -- that we commit

ourselves as a country to force and lead the establishment of some rules of the road internationally on how warfare and crime is conducted in the cyber realm. we don't know, today, what constitutes an act of war. we don't know what an appropriate response is. we don't know where the line is drawn between crime and warfare. this is something we should be leading on. something that perhaps is analogous to the geneva accords, which have existed for about 150 years. there is currently no comparable effort to set something like that treaty up so that we all understand the rules of the road. admiral rogers, we had a brief exchange on this a couple months ago. you assured me that this, was in fact, was something on all of your minds. i just don't hear much. why is this important? again, the questions don't have ready answers. is stealing classified information from us an act of war or is it just an active espionage that we do to each other? maybe we even be admire those who plot that kind of espionage.

but what if that leads to a death of a source, or the death of 100 sources? what that leads to the death of americans? at what point does it become an act of war? what point is it an act of work that is responded in and out of the cyber realm? i don't know if we know the answers to this questions. this is something that we can achieve. our global geostrategic foes, whether you are thinking of the iranians, chinese, or the russians, they have a common interest in us, with us in understanding what the rules are

and how we might react, and perhaps they should react in a variety of situations. if we do this, we will isolate nonstate actors. this is a realm that a lot of today will focus on -- asymmetry. this is a realm in which i suspect asymmetry is particularly a challenge for us. my guess is that coding phds in a basement somewhere can create a real threat for us. i fear that if we don't do this, we will be on a continual technological treadmill. we will always be a little bit ahead on that treadmill, but always looking over our shoulder as others develop the technological and engineering capability to get through our defenses. doing this successfully, i don't think results in this problem going away any more than the ginger -- and the geneva convention eliminated war. but if you look at it, it has done some essential things for the world collectively. it is up to us as numbers of congress to push this. but i ask that we discuss it somewhat today, to give your thoughts and update whether we are making any progress in this area. thank you, i yield back the balance of my time. >> director clapper, i said some

really nice things about you before you walked in. you will have to watch the replay on c-span to see those nice comments. it is really a pleasure and an honor to have you and your team here to testify in public before this committee. we have your statement for the record, but we like to give you an opportunity to express what is in your statement that you provided to the committee. you are recognized for five minutes. director clapper: thank you members of the committee. i'm testifying on a worldwide threat assessment at the end of february, cyber threats led our annual report. this was the third year in a row that it is done so. my colleagues are here to update you on threats that face the nation and its national security implications, much of which you have discussed. we may not be able to discuss some of this is fully in an open televised hearing. i do want to think some time to thank members of the committee who are engaged on this issue and have spoken about it publicly, as you have your this morning.

in the interest of time, this will be the only formal opening statement. we will open for your questions. >> director clapper, i didn't realize, but we're are going to give you 10 minutes. don't feel like you are on the clock. director clapper: alright, thanks sir. i can get this done in 10 minutes. my colleagues and i will be open for your questions afterwards. before i begin, i want to note -- and forgive the commercial -- but the events of the last few months have reinforced my belief for the need of an intelligent integration center. cyber threats to u.s. national and economic security are increasing in frequency, scale,

sophistication, and severity of impact. although we must be prepared for a large armageddon-scale strike that would debilitate the entire u.s. infrastructure, it's not our belief that that is the most likely scenario. rather, our primary concerns are the low-moderate level cyber that will continue and probably expand. this supposes increasing cost, as you indicate, to our businesses and our national security. because of our heavy independence on the internet, nearly all information communications technology and i.t. networks and systems would be perpetually at risk. these weaknesses provide a way of possibilities for nefarious activities by cyber threat doctors -- cyber threat actors. these cyber threats, from a range of cyber actors, including nationstates, which fall into two broad categories -- those with highly sophisticated cyber programs, mostly russia and

china, and those with lesser technical capabilities, but more nefarious intent, such as iran and north korea. with respect to non-nationstate entities, criminals motivated by profit, hackers, or extremists motivated by ideology are included in this threat. profit motivated cyber committal's rely on loosely networked online marketplaces, often referred to as the dark web, that provide a forum for the merchandising of illicit tools, services, and infrastructure, and stolen personal information and financial data. the largest threats come from a relatively small subset of actors, facilitators, and

criminal forum. terrorist groups will continue to experiment with hacking, which can serve as the basis of more dangerous attacks. cyber espionage undermines the confidentiality. cyber threats and acotrs, particularly criminal and terrorist tities undermine data confidentiality. denial of service operations and data deletion attacks undermined availability. in the future, i believe we will see more cyber operations that will change or manipulate electronic information to compromise its integrity, in other words, it's accuracy and reliability. rather than simply deleting or denying access to it. as illustrated so dramatically with the opm breaches,

counterintelligence risks are inherent when foreign agencies receive access to an identity. foreign agencies could target the individuals, family numbers, coworkers and neighbors using a variety of physical and electronic methods for extortion or recording purposes. while speaking to the opm breaches, let me say a couple words about attribution, which is not a simple process and involves at least three related but distinct terminations. the geographic point of origin, the identity of the perpetrator during the keystrokes, and the responsibility of the attack. we have varying degrees of confidence for each of these elements. of late, unauthorized disclosures and foreign defensive improvements have cost technical accesses.

in incidents caused by foreign actors, we are drawing new valuable insights and new means of activating and processing big data. in summary, the cyber threats to the nation have become increasingly diverse and horrible. the entities that work these cyber problem, some of which are revisited here with me -- dhs, nsa, and other law enforcement agencies and sectors like the department of treasury and agency. now we have reached the point where we believe it is time to knit together all of the separate activities of intelligences to defend their networks. while they are defending against different networks, they are defending against the same

threats. that is one reason the president directed me to form this organization. we are pleased to see that your shown support for the center in your authorization bills. we look forward to working with the committee to enable the intelligence community in general to support our nation in this federal area. with that, i will stop and open up for your questions. >> director, thank you very much. we are anxiously awaiting on the senate to pass the cyber legislation so that we can get to a conference. we were hopeful that they would get done before we broke for august. now it looks like we're looking into october. i want to give all of you a broad question and give you plenty of time to answer. being that we are out in the public for everyone to see, i think it's a great time not only to discuss what each of your agencies do, but also talk about the points particular to your agency that you see as the biggest threats, biggest concerns, and the issues that

you are all working on in each of your individual agencies. we will start with you, director clapper. dir. clapper: from my standpoint, over watching the entire enterprise of u.s. intelligence -- as i have said every year that a testified for 5 years now, in my 50+ years in the intelligence business, i don't recall a time when we were beset by a greater variety of challenges and crises around the world. both regionally and functionally. the challenge for me as i lead the community is addressing this wide diversity of threats.

in the face of, and i have to bring this up, very uncertain budgeting environment. we are now approaching our fourth-fifth year of uncertainty about the size and shape of our budget. that poses challenges for us, certainly with respect to systems acquisition and the uncertainty it creates in the workforce. i will stop there with that general overview. i will turn first to john brennan. dir. brennan: we want to make sure we have a good grasp of the intentions of our adversaries around the world, making sure

that we have insight and intelligence that will give us a better sense of what is coming at us. that is part of our mission. given that this is a very dynamic environment in terms of what the various tools and capabilities that various actors have, we need to make sure we are on the top of our game. we need to make sure that our systems are going to be as secure as they can be so that we can fulfill our responsibilities to share information as we need to. make sure that people who are going to be able to operate and act on these informations are able to do that securely and reliably. we have initiated a number of actions within the agency to

ensure that in light of some recent experiences, that we are doubling down insecurity. i rely very heavily on my colleagues here on that front. third, since cia is supposedly operating clandestinely secretly and globally, we need to understand the digital domain of that cyber environment has in terms of both challenges and opportunities. that is one of the reasons why us at the cia have set up a new directed -- a new directorate on innovation to develop the capabilities that we need to carry out our missions. we need to know what we are dealing with when we fulfill our responsible is round the world in an increasingly digitized environment. we need to be my fault of how that will impact our intelligence activities and operations. >> from an nsa perspective, we use our foreign intelligence mission to generate insight as to what cyber actors,

nationstates, groups, individuals are doing. ensuring that their efforts against the u.s., their allies, and their interests -- we are responsible for developing the standards for all classified systems within of the purpose of the fence. we also apply technical capabilities, partnering with others within the dod to generate a technical standards to ensure the security of all of our classified systems within the department. we apply our information assurance expertise more broadly, partnering with the fbi and dhs, both to support more broadly within the federal government and in the private sector. those are our goals. in terms of what concerns me, number one is ensuring our own networks can execute operations in a secure manner. also ensuring that we partner with others to ensure the defense of the dod, and more broadly the .gov domain. i would argue three things as i focused towards the future --

maintain u.s. interceptor, are we going to see a shift from the trend of outright theft of information, but a focus on manipulation or changing of data once someone is able to gain access to a system? we start to question the validity of what we are looking at. finally, in the counter terrorism end, we see groups using the web as a weapon system, is not just as a way to recruit and spread ideology. they see very open and public conversations about that now. >> thank you mr. chairman for having me here today. the fbi's mission in the u.s. is to detect and respond to all of the threats that come at us through the internet, through cyberspace, which is

increasingly every threat we are responsible for, whether that is counterterrorism, counterintelligence. at the top of our threat stack, it comes to nation state actors, both their intelligence activities and theft activities in the u.s. to steal our innovation, ouideas, our energy. in response to that, my permit concerns that we have the folks in liquid and deployment -- the folks, equipment, and deployment to deal with those threats. >> our primary responsible he is to understand the military abilities of our adversaries. this space, your particularly -- we are particularly interested in how they use the environment to control forces so that we can counter these abilities in this space. we are focused not just in non-kinetic capabilities that could bring against an adversary, but also the kinetic.

we're looking at this from a broad spectrum. how to drop the bombs to destroy, or how we can be disruptive in that capability. two concerns for us, we spent a good bit of time looking at the construct of her defense so that we can defend not just the network, but the data within that network. the second concern is whether i have enough resources and expertise to do the first part of our charge in this space, understanding our adversary's capabilities. that is an area we need additional investment. we need to move some resources around. we need to look at the threat landscape. we need additional investment in

this area. >> i thank you all for being here. i will yield to the ranking member for the purpose of questioning. >> i have two questions, when dealing with the encryption issue and one with our response to cyberattacks and intrusions. on the encryption issue, there is the technological question -- can we or silicon valley design a technological solution? there is the desirability question -- even if they could, is it desirable? do we gain more from having encrypted indications immune from -- encrypted communications immune from adversaries? what is the desirability of the solution if we can acquire it technologically? and then there is the economic or commit. some have offered an encrypted platform that some have migrated

to. what do we achieve apart from harming our economic interests by insisting on a key? i wonder if you can address those arguments that we hear from industry about this. how do you evaluate it? and on the technological issue, 20 years ago, the national academy of sciences did an analysis of a related encryption issue. the clipper chip. they came up with a neutral and thoughtful analysis. would it be worthwhile to have them take a look at this question? is there somewhere we can go for an objective answer to this technological question that is held distinct from the economic interests at stake? is it worthwhile pursuing the kind of mutual analysis? i would be -- that kind of neutral analysis?

on the cyber front, it seems to be there are two very different kinds of cyber issues we are confronting. there are the cyberattacks --cyber attacks like sony, meant to do damage. cyber threats to our infrastructure would be in that category. there are cyber thefts, economic espionage for the purpose of benefiting foreign corporations. then there are foreign intelligence gathering efforts. to me, for many of our adversaries in this realm, like the chinese, there is an advantage to blurring the distinction's between these. if they can blur the dissension between economic theft and foreign intelligence gathering, they can justify anything they do. it is in our interest to draw clear lines between foreign

intelligence gathering and economic theft. and yet, when i hear the discussion sometimes involving opm and other things, i hear us in the ic blurring those lines. i wish you could address that. shouldn't we make clear what the rules of the road are? that we don't engage in espionage and others don't engage in that kind of that. and whether there are no rules of the road, but keep those questions distinct. >> i will turn to two of our panel. i will turn to director comey and then commander rogers. dir. comey: i appreciate the dialogue we have had with companies.

this is a problem that will require industry, academia, and the government. i hope we can start from a place where we agree there is a problem and we share the same values. people talk about crypto wars, it throws me. wars are fought between people with different values. i think we all share the same values. we all value in security on the internet. i'm a fan of strong encryption. we all care about public safety. the problem we have is that there is an intention and a lot of our work, increasingly in counterintelligence and criminal work -- given that we care about the same things, i hope we can agree we can come together to solve that problem. i have heard from a lot of folks that it is too hard. my reaction to that is, really? have we really tried?