school dropout rate from 2008 until 2012. we will take your calls and join the conversation on facebook and twitter. "washington journal," is not. host: the current death toll from the terrorist attack in paris is at least 100 toys other people, according to the new source reuters. the french president is oflaring a three-day period mourning in a country, and united states security is in place in major cities such as new york, philadelphia, and washington, d.c. in our next hour, your calls in response to yesterday's attack in paris. two lines for you to call on. for those of you in the eastern central time zone, (202) 748-8000. for those of you in the mountain and pacific time zones, (202) 748-8001.

if you want to post on our facebook page, you can do so at @cspanwj. if you want to post on our -- @cspanwj is our twitter page. facebook, facebook.com/cspan. if you want to send us an e-mail on this, you can do so at journal@c-span.org. it was just a few hours ago that the french president talked about his plan for the next few days, as far as his reaction, also talking about the to the attacks that took place yesterday. here is the french president from yesterday. [video clip] >> violently. unbreakable in face of these attacks. message -- method will be taken possible. work alongside our

allies. in this most unhappy time an uncertain time in this country, andll for unity, encourage i will adjust the parliament -- united at their site on monday to work out how to battle this. francis strong, and even if she is wounded, she will get up always, and nothing will hold her down, even if we are feeling the grief now. france is solid. she is vigilant, and she will tr triumph. remembered. be

willar compatriots, we defend ourselves. it is our country, and much more than that. france will take its responsibility, and everyone long-livedber -- france. host: reuters is reporting that it is also m the islamic state taking responsibility for the attack yesterday. host: on the phone right now, ,oining us is jonathan who covers international issues for reuters. give us your take on the issues yesterday. what does it mean for national security, not only for france,

but also for the united states? guest: this is obviously going anbe the top priority in international summit this president turkey that obama will attend. it is the g 20. the type in paris will now go to the top of the agenda, so the united states will be consulting their western allies, and other members of the g 20 on a response. we have already seen some statements in the united states about increased security in some american cities. the president spoke -- president obama spoke with president night toof france last offer the united states' condolences. we will seaway what happens. i think we will see some kind of

concerted response, and theseational response, to thi awful attacks and parents. host: response in terms of sharing intelligence or investigative efforts? what kind of response? guest: i think it will go beyond that this time. the united is already doing that. france is part of the coalition that has been attacking the fall mcstay in syria and iraq -- attacking the islamic state in syria and iraq. the purported claim of responsibility looks to be genuine, but has not been confirmed yet by u.s. officials. i think it will go beyond that. where it will go, it is hard to say. we know there has been reluctant by both the u.s. administration and other members of the coalition to put any kind

of boots on the ground in syria. we had a decision by president 50ma to send 50 -- about special forces into syria to help coordinate and advise moderate opposition groups fighting in northern syria. beyond that, we have not seen that,nd of move beyond and airstrikes. it is going to be a very difficult decision, i think, given the fact that the american people, the majority of the american people, at least before the attacks in paris, had been opposed to anything beyond airstrikes against the islamic state. host: you spoke about those increased security concerns in cities across the united states. others reporting the same. is this because of direct information we getting, or just an active precaution on these

cities? guest: i think it is just an act of precaution, standard operating procedure after a massive terrorist attack on a '.s. ally -- the united states oldest ally, and member of nato. that is something else to keep it might also. don't forget that the united states and france are members of nato. nato has an agreement that an attack on one is an attack on all. the so-called article five that .re referred to it was, in fact, cited by the united states following the 9/11 attack. we could see some kind of response by nato. i'm not suggesting that there will be some kind of nato military upgrade or intervention in the terrible civil war in syria, and the war going on against the islamic state in

iraq. i think we will see some kind of stepped-up nato coordination and involvement of some kind. host: there discussions, not only in europe, but in the united states of migration of people from syria coming over. does this event change those conversations in your mind? already has.k it it is pretty awful that you has. we started seeing references to this terrible, very tragic immigrant problem, illegal immigrant problem going on. people fleeing the wars and oppression throughout the middle east, and other parts of south in hundredsriving of thousands in europe. we saw references to that, even reale anybody knew the details of what happened in paris, and now we have claims by the islamic state that they were responsible. we have president hollande saying that this was planned

outside -- this attack was outside. i have no doubt that we will see a reaction, particularly on the right here in the united states. callsind of increased against president obama's decision to accept thousands of syrian refugees, on what basis, no basis at all because i think it will turn out that there were no refugees and ball in this attack at all. what we are seeing, at least based on the preliminary evidence, is that this was carried out by french nationals who went to syria, joined the islamic state, and went back to carry out this attack. from jonathan landay reuters joining us on the phone. thank you for your time this morning. again, your calls on events yesterday in paris. refer to mr. landay

some national security concerns. you can give us your thoughts. for eastern and central time zones, (202) 748-8000. for mountain and pacific time zones (202) 748-8001. on twitter, @cspanwj. on facebook, facebook.com/cspan. here go ahead. -- go ahead. caller: this was not a terrorist attack. this is basically a response to what america is doing. america is bombing these countries. when you do that, you're going to make enemies. the united states looks like they are totally innocent. the only way these people can respond to this -- they do not have military nuclear weapons, or whatever. thet they will do is -- south africans in apartheid, they threw rocks. these people actually believe

they are going to paradise because they are fighting against oppressors. attacking america. the only americans killed by isis are the ones who are over there. they did not attack nothing concerning america. the people over there should fight their own wars. why are these men leaving these countries -- they should take of the barrel for their own country. america should not be the policeman of america. if you stay out, you will have no reason to continue to attack. ok.: we will go to chicago. this is jim. .aller: good morning, pedro what happened yesterday in paris, i blame barack obama. he stated earlier, about a month isis, they are on

the run. you remember when the magazine agency was attacked about a year ago, what did he do? leaders went to demonstrate the killing. he stayed at home to watch a football game on that sunday. he refused to go. he has been in denial. not only denial, but he is complicit. back in 2009, it was his a isisistration that trained , the king of jordan said that. president obama, you have blood on your hands. host: maryland, good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. i really appreciate c-span. what happened is very sad. they need to find a way to train .hem

these people need to be trained and take back syria. all this problem is coming from syria. that is my suggestion. host: reuters reporting this morning, and paul responded to this event says they cannot poland migrants -- responded to this event saying they cannot accept migrants under eu quotas. from twitter, saying, as long as we meddle in their affairs, all non-muslims will be at risk. hank, you are on. he is gone. go ahead, you are on. caller: yes. i just want to respond to the two gentlemen that went on

earlier. they want to say that this is a united states issue, and the united states created all this. that is totally wrong. they are trying to say this is not a terrorist attack. beentv have these guys looking at? i beg to differ strongly. the united states has helped more of these countries than any other country in the world. these gentlemen who went on earlier and stated that the united states has is why these attacks came about, they need to look at what is wrong. i do disagree with allowing a lot of syrians to come to this country. i think we need to be very careful with that. they don't have papers. know who thesely people are. we do have compassion for that kind of thing, but we need to be real careful about who is coming in.

we need to screen them, as in bringing in the fbi, is what i am talking about. we need to be real careful. they could walk in, no papers, and then they could set up and wait for their directions. we need to be real careful. the president needs to look at the policy and terms of emigration. i totally disagree with them on immigration. i understand we need to have compassion as well. that is pretty much my point. host: here is bernie from florida. during world war ii, we had the underground in various countries that disrupted all kinds of things -- transportation, bridges, blowing up all sorts of things to help the war effort. isis is at war with the entire world. they are going to have an underground. we have to be vigilant and fight this underground. they do not have a major army

behind them coming. we did. we were successful. they will not be successful. if you expect these underground groups to disappear, you are out of your mind. they will exist. , theve to root them out best we can, and get rid of them. host: how far does that go as far as routing them out is concerned? is this a direct military effort, or what does this involve? caller: it does not have to be a direct military effort. whatever is going on is going on. we have to use all our forces to stop it. took to theesident cameras last night in response to the attacks. here he is. [video clip] >> we have seen an outrageous attempt to terrorize innocent civilians. this is not just an attack on paris, not just on people onnce, but this is an attack

all of humanity and the universal values that we share. ready toprepared and provide whatever assistance the government of the people france need to respond. oldest ally. the french people have stood shoulder to shoulder with the united states time and again, and we want to be sure to stand together with them in the fight against terrorism and extremism. thes itself represents values of human progress. those who think they can terrorize the people of france or the values that they stand are wrong.ong -- the united states people draw strength from the french people's commitment to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. we are reminded in this time of

ofgedy that the bonds and freedom are values that we share. those values will go far beyond any act of terrorism or hateful vision of those who perpetrated the crimes this evening. we will do whatever it takes to work with the french people and nations around the world to bring these terrors to justice and go after any terrorist networks that go after our people. host: the british prime minister david cameron taking to cameras live. the fear bit of what he has to say. [video clip] attacks suggest a new degree of planning and coordination. we must recognize that however strong we are, however much we

u.k., face, in the the same threat. that is why we continue to encourage the public to remain vigilant. we will do all we can to support our police and intelligence agencies with the resources and capabilities that they need. ' aim is clear. it is to divide us and destroy our way of life. more than ever, we must come together and stand united, and carry on with the way of life that we love and know. i hope to speak to later today.lande your values are our values. your pain is our pain. your fight is our fight. together, we will defeat these terrorists. thank you. that is the british prime

minister david cameron expressing his thoughts on yesterday's events in paris. again, (202) 748-8000 for the eastern and central time zones. (202) 748-8001 for the mountain and pacific time zones. let's go to marcia in pennsylvania. caller: my thoughts and prayers are with all the people of paris. your second caller was blaming obama already, and i would urge the american people to not only learn their recent history of that it was bush's invasion of iraq that started this, but also the world history. united we stand, divided we fall. now is not the time to be attacking any world leader that is standing against terrorism.

our president 110%. he leads the free world. he leads our troops. god bless america. host: here is john from north carolina. caller: good morning. when i sawdistressed it last night, and read about it in this morning's paper. the thing that concern me this morning is i have a military background. antiterrorism for this day, working with military organizations in the state government. the fact that there was not an immediate response, which tends to be an american reaction to threats, the paper said this morning that there was a two hour delay between the police attacking the theater, where they lost 100 folks, or so, versus going get immediately. here, the standard is you have 3-4 officers together going get weather are -- where there are

gunners. a real distress. i think we have taken a good move here and america. we saw that on the train with the military guy and his two friends, i guess it was two months ago, three month ago. that response is probably more appropriate to saving lives around the world. not just in america, but france, which is a wonderful place. a few yearsed there back, i'm really distressed for the french. thank you for the presentations you are making to the world. host: the state department putting out a tweet, a number where they can call if they have relatives or people they know in france that they are looking to paris, specifically. the number is on the screen. that number is set out by the

state department to locate folks in paris. dan is from california. you are next. caller: good morning to you. thank you for c-span. my condolences go out to the families of the affected in france. is a few my comments months ago we saw the mass migration of immigrants coming in from syria and iraq. anytime you have a mess like that, who knows what the percentages of people of their will. the reason i call this morning polish, they arelling going to close their borders. our government said we would taken tens of thousands. i hope our government is going to think twice about that. i know there are a lot of good people trying to escape a bad man, but the same time, you have criminals, and people willing to

blow themselves up who have no record whatsoever, and kenexa come in and do us harm. god bless america. host: maverick off of twitter says, this will exacerbate the policies ingration europe. ruth says, why do we always make it about us? the european website, politico.eu says, it allowed public authorities to impose protection zones, for bid public gatherings, authorities are also granted the right to take all measures to control the press and publishing. a state of emergency is limited by law to a maximum of 12 days.

jackson, go ahead. authorities are ng theserouble idi terrorists. maybe they should escalate and everybody and suspect populations. i think we should also dna test and have a database of their family history. host: barry lives in tennessee. caller: good morning. it is a sad day for what happened in france. at the same time, we have to look at the history of the last 100 years. killed a million and a half christians, armenians, greeks. we do not recognize that. we need to recognize what is going on in africa and the

middle east. that is the only way we will be .ble to fight those islamists and whatys take over, good experience they had in this. syria used to be a christian country one time, lebanon. we need to recognize those and try to understand the history, and fight back so we can have freedom and democracy. inc. you very much. off of twitter, you can europeanllection of papers. we will go to our next call, dorsey in ohio. caller: what i want to talk about is first, i don't think we should taken any refugees from the middle east while we are

in the war in iraq and syria. in paris, they were talking from how they had had help probably nationals that go over to syria and iraq, and then come plot theseet these -- attacks. anybody, what we are involved in a war over there, everybody that from europe orto europ here, and go to iraq, we should not let them come back, let them stay there. bombs, andropping then you want to come back, you should not come back. we should let you stay there, or take away your citizenship. first of all, we don't know who is coming here. although i have passion for the

refugees, people are angry that they have to leave their homes, destroyed by bonds, and come here. after a while, when they have come in these countries, they are bitter, they can turn into terrorists. they are influenced over what they can see on the tv screens. they are flooding to destroy us. i think that is one thing we should do. anybody that goes into a war , you should have your passport taken. host: david from virginia, your next, talking about the events in paris yesterday. good morning. caller: thank you so much for taking my call. my condolences, my heartfelt sympathy goes out for our great in france.d france -- this is truly a very, very terrible experience for them.

similar to our experience ourselves. i just have a couple of comments about prevention. an earlier caller didn't mention this, and the previous caller, to me, did mention this. those people who we have com coming back to our country, or wishing to enter our country, we need to take a real good look at their background. we need to tighten up who we allow into this country. at all of our ports of entry. from northur friends and south. noted that, i have there are, supposedly, training established throughout the united states for terrorist activities. i do not know this for a fact, ifever, i believe that

the u.s. government is sitting on something like this, immediate action should be taken to close these things down. we need to really get on top of this now. not later. now. i'm not talking about restricting the rights of law-abiding american citizens through martial law, or anything of that nature. this would be a very good excuse for somebody who wishes to stop our election process, or something like that. that would truly be a great, great, great disaster for this country. we do need to really get our handle on this. that's all. host: that is david and pennsylvania. yesterday's event in paris garnering responses from the presidential candidates. ted cruz, republican from texas saying, america must stand with

our allies against the scourge of radical islamic terrorism. also, donald trump tweeting out yesterday, my prayers are with the victims and hostages of the attacks. bernie sanders saying, horrified by the attacks in paris tonight. saying, praying es ofhe city and famili the victims. the debate tonight, still scheduled to go on. you can listen to the on c-span radio. that starts at 9:00 this evening. from "new york times" talking about how the nature of the debate tonight will change. cbs news significantly reworked its plans for the democratic

debate. the executive editor of cbs news in an interview late friday said he was in a rehearsal when the news broke, the team immediately shifted gears and change questions to make them more attack. related to the he said it is important to go on because the world list of u.s. leadership in the wake of crises . also, it could possibly come up inh republicans as they meet florida live today. six of them scheduled to speak at the sunshine summit. you can watch that live at 10:00. robert from maryland, go ahead please. caller: how are you doing this morning? look, i agree with the lady from pennsylvania about the history. .'m a vietnam vet one of the things that i really like about our government is all

of our presidents who have actually served in war that ifod the wisdom you do onto others what you do not want to be done to you, you will create a problem. we have done horrible things to people over in the far east. we made them believe, cry, and we heard those people -- hurt those people. now, they are giving us a taste of what we did to them. we are going to have to learn to respect each other on this earth in order to live comfortably with each other. all of the horrible things we did over there, destabilizing that place, now it is coming back to haunt us. we have to remember, those

people have feelings, just like we do. that is what vietnam taught me. host: richard up next from ohio. , c-span, fors taking my call. this is what you have when you have unlimited immigration into your country. i know france has let all the people from the middle east come freely into their country. it's only going to be a matter of time until you see the same thing happened to germany. we are letting these people come over to our country. we will start seeing more and more of this happening on our land. they need to take a real close let, into ourey country. this will only get worse. it is time to declare all out war on these people, and kill all these people.

they do not care about us. is time to take care of business. host: in vienna, a meeting of the world leaders talking about the event in syria, and how those discussions will be affected by the attacks in paris. the agency saying, multiple increase attacks pressure on some 20 countries and organizations meeting in vienna. the vienna talks, involving key suffer., as rebels saudi arabia's foreign minister are the heinous attacks violation of all ethics and morals. the king of saudi arabia has long called for intensified efforts. johnsecretary of state kerry, who met with leaders on friday, as well as the un's vessel o envoy warned that a

quick way through was unlikely. secretary of state kerry also adding that these are heinous, evil, vile acts. those of us who can muster everything in our power to fight only beinst what can considered an assault on our common humanity. our embassy in paris is making every effort to account for american citizens in the city. next from chicago, illinois. go ahead please. caller: i just had a comments. lives in paris. she is really afraid. she was telling me how the population -- well, the country has been transformed because there are so many muslims and arab people there.

i'm really terrified with barack obama because i do not think he is taking things seriously. i do not think he is up for the job, actually. i'm from chicago, calling from chicago. he is from chicago. i voted for him twice. .'m really feeling unsafe i think i'm going to vote for a republican this time around for president because i think they take control of things. " border. close the border. that is what we have to do. who is to maintain coming into this country. or else, we are cooked. that's it. that's all i have to say. host: the bbc reporting this morning, at the french border, officers are being asked to check people, backs, and vehicles leaving and entering , orce by road, train, sea

plane. from virginia, here is paul. go ahead. caller: good morning. yes. i want all these news programs on tv, and every time they show these muslim countries, all these guys are just standing around. all these young christians and muslims are running away. i think the united states government should give them the arms that they need to fight and take their country back. host: do think it will change the situation? caller: yes, i think it would. let them fight for their own homes. if that happened in america, you know that this country would fight. everyone would fight. from this is peg twitter who says, isil is not going away, some are right here on us now, they have never left.

have taken extra security measures in light of yesterday, saying, officials in philadelphia received no intelligence indicating any threats, but were stepping up patrols and taking other security precautions. in philadelphia, the police he wasioner said that adding additional patrols the city transportation centers and historic sites. he said, the actions are being taken as for caution, i'm sure other cities are doing the same thing, we are doing we can. because of basketball at the and football, security measures they are taking in light of yesterday's event. we are getting your response to attacks in paris. the french president earlier toay linked these attacks isis. reuters and others also

linking these attacks to isis. (202) 748-8000 for the eastern and central time zones. (202) 748-8001 for the about none pacific time zones. ine world leaders weighing as well. angela merkel says they will to help everything france. david cameron, who we heard from earlier, said he will be chairing a meeting this morning following the attacks in paris. the newly elected french-canadian prime minister saying, i'm shocked and saddened that so may have been killed and injured in violent attacks in paris, canada stands with france. massachusetts, here is dan, as you a look at pictures from yesterday's attack. go ahead. caller: thank you for having me on this morning. i think we are getting a little too crazy here.

we're not holding on to our ,evalues of freedom, justice the american way. we are falling victim to these terrorist attacks by trying to get more security. the founders of this nation said , if you're looking for security over freedom, you should have e neither. this is difficult for me to say, but western countries and western banks, central banks, are failing. central banks have spent our money over and over and over again into the future. i think, if we cannot think about these things logically, and we just watch the tv, and we

use the tv as a tool to tell us what happens in the world -- host: go ahead, finish your thought. flailinge are really as a citizenry in this country when our role as americans is to stand up and question things that happened. ok.: rick from florida, you are next. first, i want to send all my condolences to the folks in paris. what has really bothered me this i've heard so many people who rush to blame our president for what happened over there. whatve to remember that

happened over there is because people are in greek. they are fed up. they don't know what to do. nose in otherour .ountries business we went over and invaded iraq after 9/11 when we knew, through intelligence, that they came, came fromists saudi arabia. we go over and stir up all this mess over there, and then we wonder why there is retaliation back here. in my opinion, if we want to start things in the right direction, we have to start identifying who the troublemakers are. we will find out that it is less than 1% of any religion. we have to stop saying, "those

people," because we are all people. host: the senate intelligence chairman, republican of north carolina, putting out a tweet yesterday, saying, praying for those affected by the paris attacks, n know that the american people stand with you. dianne feinstein putting out a statement yesterday. corker putting out a statement talking about their is.port for par he is on the senate foreign service committee. then cars also putting out a statement yesterday. he adds, with a heavy heart, i offer my condolences. bob in washington, d.c., hello there. go ahead. caller: thanks for taking my

call. i think it is pretty obvious that most likely -- the most likely perpetrators of this is isis. we should be supporting syria and russia when they are targeting this great enemy of everyone. you should know that syria is a secular country. they have never had problems in christians,ween the the sunnis, and the shiite. instead of us thinking about supporting the so-called , we shouldrrorists stop that, assist syria, russia, and if i might say one last thing, we, here at home, must througha power, power discipline. there is a fellow that has a website called powerthroughd

iscipline.com. up ander buff prepared for this. we must be prepared. that is the old boy scout motto. i think we should assist russia and syria. host: the country of belgium reacting to yesterday's events saying they have imposed frontier controls on air, road, and rail. premier would convene his security at 9:00 today. the spokesman stressed that belgium was not closing its frontiers, but would step up

spotchecks on travelers. we have shown you pictures from world monuments across the united states, the eiffel tower being one of them, going dark at paris.nt to mourn with you can see their on the television screen. for the next 15 minutes or so, your thoughts on the terrorist attacks on paris. (202) 748-8000 for the eastern and central time zones. (202) 748-8001 for the pacific and mountain time zones. al is up next from california. say that would like to i read a lot of stuff on the internet, and it seems like people are going crazy. this is basically -- you cannot wipe out whole civilizations. there is just a small percentage of people. if we would not have got over to iraq and all these other countries, and all the people .hat were there are gone

it is a big mess. we have to support the world. we have the support all the people in the world. this is not something about one versus another. we could carry that out forever. what will that do? it will just get more violent and violent. we better work to a solution. that is the only way we will get anywhere. that is my thought. host: what is the solution? to workthe solution is with the people and try to solve the problem. that is all you can ever do. you cannot keep killing people. they have civil wars where tens of thousands have died. there is a lot of meddling. there always has been by certain le with otheredd groups. in the 1950's, people could travel overseas. people were sort of balance. it has become unbalanced. it has to become balanced again. you cannot exclude people from countries that are refugees.

you have to work and try to solve the problem. that is the only thing you can do. stay positive. happening overks the course of yesterday afternoon,ate afte u.s. time. 126 estimated dead. a map of the locations thas of the attacks that took place yesterday in paris. james from mississippi, you are up next. hello. caller: good morning. host: go ahead, you are on. caller: i just want to say that i believe today, when you hear people in america -- politicians, or whoever -- continue to tear this country down, to say that america is , america has no hope until we get a republican in there or another democrat in their, that gives people over there and

initiative to say, you know what, we must make sure we strike america. anytime you terror your own leader doubt, you are asking for trouble. another thing, mr. pedro, if you look around, how many attacks has this country, have people in america been attacked? we have not been attacked like that. if you look around, mr. pedro, when the iraq war started -- you all showed it -- millions of people putting their guns down, and walking back into iraq. i'm talking about the army of .addam hussein they let them go back to iraq. this is where you get isis from.

it is a shame to sit up. and talk about this president, -- in the long run, appreciate you, let's pray for everybody. host: speaker paul ryan saying, our first thoughts tonight are for those risking the lives to save others. we are united and unbowed in our support for the french people. it will take time to grasp the scale of this war, but there is one thing we already know, terrible not prevail, we will. virginia, joe, go ahead. caller: i think the first thing the american people need to alwaysand is islam has been a problem. now, it has been exacerbated, and it is coming to a head

because of the failed policy of barack obama and hillary clinton. i will give you examples. they said that yemen was a success story. they decided they wanted to lebanon is a now hotbed. for isisnow a hotbed and terrorism. they decided they wanted to pull out of iraq, and now iraq is controlled largely by isis and is a hotbed for terrorism. i think the american people need to acknowledge that islam is a problem and the obama administration and hillary clinton as secretary of the was a failure. number two, we have to realize that we have to aggressively go iter radical islam wherever sprouts out. yes, that will mean boots on the

ground. the most important thing is protect our country and the american citizenry. the way we do that is, i believe, we need to place a temporary ban on all islamic immigration in america. we will be facing these kinds of thecks on our streets in future. it is necessary. the defense of the american people come first, before anything, even the feelings of another group of people. from beverlyear and virginia. caller: i am saddened, and i understand the pain that the are sufferinge now. i was in the pentagon on 9/11. again, i understand their pain. my complaint is bush. if you had not sent the troops over there because of the werens that he thought there, we would not be in this

kind of a problem. i also believe we should close our borders to any people coming from that part of the country. that is all i have to say. thank you. host: "the guardian" newspaper out of london has on its front page a banner saying that the islamic state says killings were in syria.o strikes you can go to the website to find out more information. as we continue discussions and your thoughts on the terrorist attacks yesterday. (202) 748-8000 for the central and eastern time zones. (202) 748-8001 for the pacific and mountain time zones. joe from south carolina. you are next. caller: i pray for them. i'm a christian. i even pray for the enemies that they have a change of heart. i know that they claim this is a response to the strikes in

syria, but these people want to kill you if you do not believe like them. they have made that clear. we are the infidels. unfortunately, we are fighting an enemy without borders. fortunately, we have borders. unfortunately, again, our borders to the north and the urous.are very po the leaders in washington don't care. they have this head in the sand policy. we think we are secure, we are not. i hate to get political, but i tell you what, democrats better take notes, hillary clinton. passionatemost candidate about securing our borders? everyone can tell you the answer. of his.even a fan it's gary smith, this open door

on in, everybody will be fast, happy, unicorns, rainbows, butterflies. it does not work like that. they want to kill us just because of who we are. i know we help destabilize the region, but a ghost beyond that. we have to secure our borders. the person who stands up and says they are passionate about it, that is the guy that will get the attention. likely toattacks most come up during political conversations happening in des moines, iowa and florida today. moines, democratic president of candidates will debate tonight. that takes place out of des moines. in florida, starting at 10:00 this morning, which you can watch live on c-span, the sunshine summit, featuring six presidential candidates. you can hear their thoughts, should they expressed them, about these events that took

place yesterday. you can see that starting at 10:00. from twitter, a viewer says, there are no answers to the -- no usa military answer to the middle east crisis. johnny in georgia. you are next. caller: i was just calling because it never fails to amaze me the way the american people's daytude changes from day to . the people who authorized the attack and the people who obamaed out the attack -- is not responsible, hillary clinton is not responsible, the french are not responsible. borders, closing our and pulling the covers over our heads, and saying, they cannot see us now, i have news for you, they can see you, there's no such thing as 100% to curate we

should be doing everything we can to get rid of isil. we have to get rid of isil at their root. getting rid of isil here in america, in france, is not going to do it. we have to go to the note east qaedat rid of isil and al right there. host: the vatican saying that pope francis calls these attacks part of the piecemeal third world war. saying, i'm close to the people offrance, to the families the victims, and am praying for all of them. david from texas. go ahead. pedro, people are always talking about how barack obama is responsible for things.

guaranteed for our soldiers to not be prosecuted under what they are so-called afraid of -- whatever that law is. it is just a terrible situation. i'm going to go back to what the bible said to let you enjoy the morning. if you want to treat people the way you would like to be treated, believe in god, and do that. thank you. you'll enjoy the morning -- all enjoy the morning. host: one must call on this topic from florida. caller: my heart goes out to the people in france for the bombing. i really picked up the phone to 4-5 calls someone into someone who won

revised history. george bush went in and started that. the reason barack obama had to move the troops back was due to an agreement due to the status of forces that george barack obama had no choice in that. i think he might have been from texas. that is where most of these types of calls come from. was just totally wrong. he gave a litany of what had happened since iraq, but he didn't start off with what started the whole mess with george bush. he brought it in at the end and tried to blame it on obama for bringing the troops out. he was locked in with that agreement that george bush signed. host: ellis in fort walton beach, florida. we will take this topic up shortly in about a half hours time. first, switching gears to talk about ads that you will see

online in this 2016 political campaign, only will we talk about how these ads work but how difficult they are to track us were spending is entered. melissa jager from the semi-foundation joins us next on, we hear from charlie savage from the new york times on security issues. he is also the author of a new book which looks at the obama administration's national security policy. but comes up as washington journal continues after this. ♪ >> and baker says to him, i want to be a congressman. i think you are just using this as a steppingstone to the senate.

i am notw. bush says using this is a steppingstone, i want to be president. is 1965. he is 41 years old. he has yet to win a race except to be the harris county chairman. he had a sense of destiny. works tonight at 10 ago p.m. eastern on c-span2 booktv. the conversation between pulitzer prize-winning winter john meacham and george w. bush about the life of the president's father, george herbert walker bush. rouge, linda levine and her book run, don't walk. and adam roffman and his book beyond freedoms reach. sunday night at 9:00 on afterwards, former congressman after kennedy shares his personal journey with mental is -- illness and substance abuse -- patrick kennedy. >> i was really convinced that

no one could pick up on the fact ,hat i was sweaty, perspiring moving around in an agitated way. i totally thought no one knew. >> he is interviewed by democratic representative jim mcdermott from washington state. booktv, television for salaries -- serious readers. >> c-span has the best access to congress. watch live coverage of the house on c-span and the senate on c-span2. watch us online or on your phone at www.c-span.org. the sunlight anytime on our c-span radio app -- listen live anytime. get from behind the scenes by following c-span on twitter. stay with c-span, c-span radio, and www.c-span.org for your best access to congress. >> washington journal continues.

host: joining us now is melissa yeager with the sunlight foundation. she is there senior staff writer. we are talking about campaign spending in 2016, particularly online campaign spending. as far as this topic, what do we know about what candidates spent online? guest: we know it is quite a bit different than what they spend on television. television is the juggernaut. we see millions spent on them. we are seeing an increasing amount spent online. the significance of that is you get a lot more bang for your buck with online advertising. advertising,nline but as people start migrating to the web, it is something we start paying attention to. host: you say bang for your buck -- what do you mean by that? guest: if you think about a television ad, i know the jeb bush this week spent $6.6 million to run ads on fox news. amount,latively low

$.21 per person you are reaching, you can spend $210,000 and reach a million voters. your reach is quite large, there is still a lot out there about who you are reaching and whether ad blockers stop that or what, but we are moving into an age where we are more and more online and it is something we should pay attention to. host: speaking of jeb bush, the right to rise usa had that we just referenced, you can look at it, find it online, but here it is. jeb bush: you have to be all in, it isn't about talking, it is about doing. i know how to do this because i was proven to serve in florida for eight years. we turned the system upside down and we are working. 1.3 million new jobs were created. we cut taxes every year. income rose in people's pockets. people were lifted out of poverty. judgment started to learn. as president of the states, i pledge to you i will solve problems. melissa yeager, what is

right to rise? guest: that is the super pac associated with jeb bush's campaign. when we talk about super pac's, we are talking about independent expenditure committees. what they are is they are supposed to be separate from the candidate and they make independent expenditures on their behalf. the good thing about super pac's is that we know who their donors are. they are required to disclose those to the fcc. the part that comes in a controversy is they are able to raise unlimited amounts of funds due to the citizen united decision. the good part being we know who is getting to these campaigns and who is behind them, the that are being they have a tremendous amount of money. we don't know specifically how much exactly right to rise has right now, but at the last report midyear they were at about $103 million. host: joining us and the conversation about online advertising, democrats,

202-748-8000, 202-748-8001 republicans, and 202-748-8002 for independents. you had mentioned independent expenditure. what is that? guest: that is a competitor advocating for or against the candidate that is made not in coordination with the campaign. they are not supposed to be able to coordinate with the candidate or the candidate committee, yet they are doing advertising, direct mail, a variety of things on behalf of either supporting that candidate in the case of or other super pac's and maybe a candidate. it can go either way. host: is there a difference in the bottom line to contribute with a super pac directly to the campaign? is there a difference to how much i can get to either entity? guest: you are capped at $2700 when you get to the actual candidates campaign. when you talk about the super pac, it is unlimited. as much as you want. we have seen contributions of

$11 million. anything in between. there is a vast difference between what those can raise. host: one of the terms we here in this conversation is ominous called dark money. what is that? guest: this is where things get confusing between super pac's and people using the terms interchangeably. when we talk about dark money, we are talking about these social welfare groups, etc. under the irs 501(c) code, more specifically, the 501(c) four which is a social welfare organization which is allowed to campaign for a candidate providing that that is not a majority of their activity. the typical number of people rest on is about 49% of their activity is campaigning, 51% is doing other things. ,hen we talk about campaigning that means specifically for a candidate. when we are talking about -- you see some of these issue ads that are right to senator, whatever,

and tell him that is not necessarily advocating for a specific candidate, it gets worrisome there. the difference is they don't have to disclose their donors. they are overseen by the irs. -- we don't get to see what they are spending on our who they are donating two. if they disclose it, they are not required to intel may be a year or two after the election is over. host: if i see an ad with the tagline united americans concerned, would that be a clue as far as dark money, a super pac's, how does that work? guest: it is difficult to say. they will say the name, but you may never be able to find out who the donor is. writes forsa yeager the sunlight foundation about these issues. tell us about your organization. nonprofit,re a nonpartisan group that looks in to open government, transparency in government, and open data, specifically with the election

coming up, we look at the role of money in politics. we would like to see more transparency and accountability. we would like to see real-time disclosure of who is donating to campaigns. that is the wheelhouse where in right now. campaign spending in online campaign advertising are the topics. you're up for us our guest, david in washington, -- washington, d.c., independent line, go ahead. caller: i am trying to understand whether the problem is getting worse or whether we just know more about it because of the technology. i am familiar with the sunlight foundation. i think it is a great foundation. familiar with tools and big data. i would like you to comments -- and money have been a problem for a long time. i can't get a sense of whether the problem is getting worse or we just know about it. guest: there are two things. we have had two major court decisions, mccutchen and citizens united that have

changed the election process. i think you have a tremendous good luck at the fcc. the sec was founded after watergate to provide regulation -- fcc was founded after watergate to provide regulation for elections. they haven't been able to get much done in terms of regulation lately. i know the chairman was on the daily show lamenting the art dysfunctional. things have changed due to those different parts and they mesh together into creating the situation we have now. host: talk to us about when it comes to online ads, what is the strategy that candidates generally employ? who did a target, what did a target, how do they use it? guest: we don't really know. we know that facebook, twitter, and google all have pages set up right now trying to help campaign to figure out how to best reach people. they certainly are a grassroots effort. in the campaigns we see spending

a lot of not surprising. bernie sanders in the third quarter spent 2.5 million dollars on online ads. that doesn't surprise anybody given the demographic of his backing her. that is one of the blind spots is do we know who they are targeting? that is in our them for twitter and facebook to determine with the candidates. there are certainly a lot of questions to be answered about online ads. host: if i am searching a website, shopping, will they just pop up? is there a science to that? think there is, and their marketing groups that specialize in them. we see them pop up on news ads, .laces you watch shows online i have had them in my facebook feed lately. i think there are demographic

agribusiness -- out rhythms the candidates work with with the agencies involved, the organizations involved. we don't really know a lot about who they are targeting and how they do that. host: 202-748-8000's outline for democrats, 202-748-8001 is our line for republicans, 202-748-8002 is our line for independents. melissa yeager of the sunlight foundation joining us to talk about on an advertising and campaign spending. you mentioned super pac's. there is one supporting marco rubio called baby got pac. they put out an ad supporting mr. rubio just to show the folks at home, here is the ad. rubio: the world has gotten out of control and getting worse. a shaky economy leaves millions behind while those at d.c. are doing just fine. they wonder why we are angry.

when we started to make this ad, we had to decide which conservative candidate for president to support. ted cruz? the bold and brilliant conservative mind? donald trump? the leader in business and media. ben carson, world renowned now certain and faithful conservative. it is a tough choice. do you know who we asked? hillary clinton and the democrats. for once, they told the truth. they admitted there is one candidate who scares every clinton, and that is marco rubio. democrats say he is the one they don't want to face. no clinton even calls him the biggest threat. when the media and the democrats tell the republicans who they are afraid to run against, that is all we need to know. the times also says it is backed by john jordan, a multimillionaire and republican donor. he is formally backing senator rubio. that ad never says from marco rubio. got pac isbaby

interesting because we know this person because they have gone for the but as filing fcc, they haven't had to yet, so we don't know how much is in that account and whatnot. this is an interesting ad, as will. host: a super pac could be a single person self funding and holding. guest: ted cruz has six or seven super pac's, three of them with their own million a donor. i don't quite understand the strategy behind that. some people say it is because you have different donors with different agendas. the people might not like negative attack ads and separated so they don't see their money going in ways they don't want it spent. host: michigan, republican line, you're on with our guest. caller: hello. i want to know are you tracking hillary clinton's money? i don't see anything about it on your website or anything else? why is that?

guest: we are certainly keeping track of all the candidates. we are a nonpartisan group. we are looking at her. she has raised quite a bit of money in our own campaign fund. usa. a bit and priorities there is a dark money group, questions running a record -- surrounding her record that they don't believe are holding to the court nation rules because they are correcting the record. there is debate about that. certainly, we are looking into the gamut attic candidates. this is bipartisan. -- into the democratic candidates. how expensive are they and is there a way to skirt the rules? guest: the rules, and it certainly are quite a few examples are now, the one that stands out to me is the super pac that is supporting carly

fiorina called carly for our america. you are not supposed to have a name for your super pac with the candidates name. the fcc warned them. now, it is an acronym, citizens -- i can't remember the entire acronym right now. there are a variety of reasons that is happening right now. i think the major point is the gridlock in the sec is what complaints come before them, they can come to an agreement about how to handle them. can super pac's were other groups be managed or operated by people with direct connections to the candidates? guest: host: they are not supposed to. a while ago, we went through stephen colbert's super pac as a good example of how this can happen. when he has the super pac, all of the people who work concerns on his payroll or people on his staff at the show. a lighthat is kind of

version of this, but it points out something very important. there is likely someone who understands how the campaign works, understand the mindset of the campaign. host: iowa is where gary is, good morning. these super pac's are all putting their money in the wrong places. whether it is democrat, republican, or independent. there is a simple way to stop isis. that is to decapitate every single one of them that we get a hold of. they can go to heaven if they are decapitated. host: i think you are calling for the last segment. if you watch tv are surfing the internet, how many ads are you seeing when it comes to presidential ads? caller: quite a few of them. there is only one of them that is self-funded. he wants to cut the head off of isis. one that hasy mentioned decapitation.

if you decapitate one of them, they can go to heaven. host: as far as ads targeting iowa being one place, new hampshire being another, that is the same for online? guest: it is hard to tell. we don't get those disclosures. this is an important point. the television ads, television stations are required to report that information to the federal communications commission. we see those reports made public online. we can keep an eye on which campaigns are running adware. ads,it comes to the online the only disclosure is through the fcc. a lot of times, what we are seeing -- some candidates are great. they say we spent this at facebook, this at google, this at -- some of them just list the marketing company that is helping them place the ad. perhaps it is because they don't know exactly where the market group is placing the ad.

the fcc disclosure is very important. it gives us a lot of information about who is behind the ad, how much they are spending. we are certainly seeing a lot of money spent right now in iowa. new hampshire, south carolina. host: is there information that tells us how much is being spent online from four years ago? guest: we can parse that from the fcc documents. we don't know a comparison so far because we are only partially through. there are certainly large numbers popping up. as i said, bernie sanders with $2.5 million, hillary clinton was at $2.6 million, and i know right to rise had a line item of $745,000. it certainly is an interesting issue to watch and see how it plays out over the next year. melissa yeager,

cheryl from new hampshire, independent line, hi. a question about the citizens equality act and what melissa things about that. wouldn't that solve the campaign finance issue? and give citizens more control over their elected officials? it is my understanding that that congress could pass that act now if they wanted to. host: before you go, cheryl, two questions, first, an expiration about citizens equality act. -- an excavation about -- -- explanation caller: it deals with gerrymandering and helps get rid of the campaign finance issue where super pac's and unlimited funds can be used to elect our officials. host: the second question is being and new hampshire, how many ads are you seeing as you watch television or surf the internet? caller: too many. i am very concerned about my

wmur, local news channel, and the amount of money being thrown at them for ads and how that is affecting their media bias. guest: that is an interesting question. certainly, the ability to get things passed in congress, we all know, is gridlock. getting change their has been very difficult. we are certainly seeing states start taking action. maine -- alaska have a provision that requires a disclosure of the three top donors on and add. wraps, this is the way things will change. states will start taking action and say they want something to change. maybe, congress will follow.

right now, i think we all know that the gridlock is a lot to overcome. host: connecticut, hello. caller: my name is fred. i want to say if you want a comment about making elections fair, if you want to make elections fair, you should try to think about what happened with the irs. the shutdown of many peoples because the actions irs targeted many groups that were opposed to barack obama. no one has been prosecuted. it is outrageous that this should happen. if you recall, president nixon had to resign from office because of a break in and the democratic party session.

he was just trying to find a strategy of the democrats in the election. campaign byrganized the government itself, the irs. no one has been found accountable. perspective,his in compared to the nixon event, this is horrendous. guest: there is certainly debate about and controversy over the way the irs went after these s, but the result is that they don't seem willing to touch these groups as a whole. certainly groups on both sides of the aisle supporting a variety of candidates who are using this intosion of the 501(c) getting money into elections. some are using more than that .9%

the irs at this point, because of the controversy, seems unwilling to reopen the issue. host: 202-748-8000 four democrats, 202-748-8001 for republicans, and for independents, 202-748-8002. let's look in another ad from priorities usa, a super pac for hillary clinton. >> social security -- these programs actually weaken us. hillary clinton: i don't thing you can be credibly saying everyone has a right to rise and then say you are phasing out medicare or repealing obamacare. people can't rise if they can't afford health care. [applause] give us your analysis. guest: the one reaction i would say is the use of the candidates images, that is certainly a

debate and has been something ,he fcc was reviewing this week of what role their images play and these super pac ads. especially ones that they have recorded things ahead of time. they came to know agreement. like i said, there are a lot of issues that come before the fcc and there are no decisions. host: that is because candidates on their images? guest: we have seen what happens is before they declared becoming a candidate, they will take something -- there was a question asked this week by a democrat lawyer representing a democrat super pac -- can we have people take these before they declare for a candidate? at what point do they become a candidate? there was no decision made there. --t: we hear about the fcc who makes up the fcc? what is their stuff like? -- staff like?

guest: we have three republicans and three democrats. i believe they are all passed to their terms right now. that is where you get this gridlock much like in congress. some want to take action on different issues, others don't. they end up in this ideological gridlock. from maryland, robert, democratic line, melissa yeager. go ahead. ms. yeager.o, [inaudible] host: caller, say that one more time. i think the connection is lost. he was asking about donald trump. he made issues about super pac's. guest: he has been very vocal about this. we encourage all of the candidates to talk about this issue and what their plans would be.

donald trump is self funding his campaign. in the third quarter, we saw more people donating to his campaign. up until that point, he was pretty much -- all of his money -- as his popularity has grown, some people have been willing to put his money -- their money behind him. he has certainly been very vocal about the role of super pac's and dark money and how it affects how politicians operate in washington. we have heard from a few other candidates, obviously, bernie sanders. we would like to hear a lot more debate on what they would do, what their plans are, how they think this influences elections. of --hey see the rule role of these last two court decisions. we have a list of all the decisions we think should be asked not just of the candidates, but we think this should be talked about in the debate, as well. there is one tonight. i think the american people deserve to know the role that

money will continue to play in elections. host: one more call, fred, from texas. hello. good morning. caller: how are you? think the only country, i , that doesn't have public finance. the ones that don't have big deficits don't have public finance -- have public finance. deficits are made by merely to report contributors because they won't raise taxes. they do run deficit. people don't realize what is happening. say theyheard people -- we have these back,pac's like two years

with the president, $4 million. host: thanks. guest: it is interesting when you compare us to other countries. i know after the canadian whereons, they reporters like this is the longest month ever. we giggled about that. weeds't get into the about what exactly needs to be done, but we think there should be a conversation about this. it should certainly be open to them credit conversation and debate. a sense of the information folks can find out about if they go to the sunlight foundation website. guest: we have a variety of interesting tools we have available for people to use. we try to make us relatable, a real-time influence explorer that gives people real-time information about what is being filed with the fcc. ithave another website, tells people about what has been

.iled with the fcc you can get information about what is being wild and your television market which is really interesting. the last one is a fun when we do. where we party time keep track of fundraisers that are going on so that you can see what kind of creative fundraisers are happening for political parties. bipartisan support of taylor swift, a lot of fundraisers there. it is an interesting website to explore where your local candidates are fund raising. talkinglissa yeager about ads and the agencies a fund them. thanks a lot. our next guest has put out a new book taking a look at the obama administration's foreign policy and national security. he will also talk of the issues that took place yesterday, charlie savage with the new york times who joined us next. later on, the rate of high school dropouts is dropping.

-- wise will be online for with the alliance for excellent education will be next with washington journal. ♪ >> these trials were not held according to what we would consider to be modern law. anderson till proven guilty had not been in place. there were no lawyers. the courtroom is an extremely unruly place. also, we don't happen to believe in witchcraft or prosecute witchcraft today. >> sunday on q and a, author stacy schiff talks about her --k the witches, salem 19

1692. >> the interesting part about the accusations, especially with the way we think of salem, is that wealthy merchants were accused of being witches, sea captains were accused of being witches, homeless, five-year-old which is where accused. this is not an incident where all of the victims are female, five victims including a minister. we didn't burn the witches, we hung them. there was so much encrusted myth and so much misunderstanding that i thought it was important to dispel. host: sunday night at 8:00 eastern and pacific on c-span's q&a. >> c-span present landmark cases, the book. a guide to our van marchesa series which explores 12 distort supreme court decisions -- a guide to our supreme court

series which explores 12 distinct supreme court decisions. landmark cases, the book, features introductions, backgrounds, highlights, and the impact of each case. written by veteran supreme court journalist tony mauro and published by c-span in cooperation with cq press, an imprint of sage publications incorporated. landmark cases is available for a dollars $.95 plus shipping. get your copy today at www.c-span.org/landmarkcases. -- >> "washington journal continues. next guest is with the new york times, charlie savage joining us. also the author of a new book, power wars inside of barack obama's post-9/11 presidency. what are the takeaways, especially from what you write

about about national security issues? guest: we see this cycle where there is a period of calm and people are grappling with -- they know the threats, they are trained to deal with the threats, how are we going to deal with issues like surveillance at home? then there is a terrible attack and a great convulsion of fear and anger that rippled across the home front. besties department in that policies get pardoned in that period, like a ratcheting effect. there is another law and policies remain and there's another attack. thehe book, i open with reconstruction of the christmas, 2009 attempted bombing by in underwear bomber of a detroit bound airliner in which the hundred people were almost killed. it was only sure luck that the bombs did not explode. the rippling affect of that experience had both inside the obama administration and

politically in making it clear a successful was attack, something like we just saw in paris, unfortunately, in the united states, the young president obama's watch, the recognition that it would destroy his presidency. everything they were trying to do, whether it was to get away from major land wars and the unique -- middle east, repudiate torture, or even unrelated things to national security like expand health insurance, would be totally reversed. he would be a failed, one term president. that experience which i call obama's 9/11, in a thought experiment by people like his counterterrorism advisor to our today grappling with what is happening with paris, imagining what would've happened had it succeeded, what the president in paris is dealing with now. as i argue in this book, a major affect on the obama demonstration and counterterrorism policies and

is a contributing factor as to why obama continues many policies that he inherited by george w. bush despite the expectations created by his campaign rhetoric. host: when it comes to policies concerning isis, that is under his demonstration. there is a period of rippling and heartening when it comes to isis. guest: maybe so that your viewers are not familiar, this book is based on a couple years of interviewing more than 150 current and former government the obama mostly in administration, some republicans, some on the hill, as well, and some in the thesury -- judiciary, about recurring issues a happen in the 21st century in trying to deal with al qaeda and now the islamic state. tension, surveillance, drum strikes, guantanamo, tortures, interrogation, secrecy, leaks,

these things are continuing. what are the recurrent issues that fly -- the fly on the wall, taking you in the room as these officials deal with these events like the last night in paris. out what theure right policies should be, what the law permits them to do, what they ought to do, whether or not the law permits it. trying to answer big picture questions like why do things turn out the way they do? i just mentioned about the underwear attack in 2009 was a major moment. another one is the rise of iso-, isis in 2014. it was clear both externally and from a internal research that it was president obama's ambition starting his second term to wind .own the war against al qaeda he really wanted to be in a position to, by the end of his

presidency in 2017, the clarity were over, osama bin laden was dead -- declare the war was over -- pulling out of iraq and afghanistan. off of the suburban war footing we have been on since 2001 and getting back to normal where there will always be some terrorism and you deal with it, you look for it, but you are not in a state of perpetual emergency. then, the islamic state arises and breaks away from al qaeda and suites out of syria across northern iraq. suddenly, he is in the position where he wants to start doing things that he things as necessary like bombing them and returning to military action from the air. first any rock and then in syria -- in the rack. q. irawq can't wind it down. he is considering this part of the war against al qaeda, part of the armed conflict commerce

authorized after 9/11. he doesn't do that because he doesn't think that congress is functional enough to pass new military authorization. they had totally failed to grapple with this issue and have acquiesced that this is part of the work and al qaeda even of the islamic state and al qaeda are currently at of those with each other. it is clear that his presidency will and with the countries still on the war footing. in syria and the middle east, it is escorting rather than winding down. this terrible event in paris last night, assuming it is the islamic state, the president francis said that we don't know what intelligence he has based on a, so far, the united states government is not accepted the claim. it doesn't mean they are not rejecting it, it means they are just not prepared to verify it. i believe the islamic state has through social media taken credit for it. on the other hand, their wasement has nothing that

not already reported. what we don't know is what surveillance and human intelligence behind the scenes is showing now that these attackers have been identified. we are looking through their travel, their e-mail, their phone calls to see who they have been in contact with an where they have gone and who they are. are they actually islamic state or are they nearly -- merely inspired by? host: the associated press putting out a story saying that the islamic state group on lenders want to go before attacks on paris that killed 127 people. france would remain at the top of its targets. guest: that is damon i'm talking about. they are saying they did it -- that is the statement i'm talking about. i could have written a statement. they probably did it, but we don't have independent corporation of that yet --

corroboration of that. there was always stuff floating around on twitter that may or may not beach or as the dust -- may or a ornate may not be true. the fact that the president of france is believing it is the islamic state is a strong sign. i assure he is basing that on more than what people are saying on twitter. host: charlie savage is joining us with the new york times. a washington correspondent. we will talk about themes in his book. 202-748-8000 four democrats, 202-748-8001 for republicans, 202-748-8002 for independents. given the history of how his team approaches isis, from what you write about, what does this suggest about the paris attacks? what do you think the administration is doing as far as the next step? crises that i the

am accounting behind the scenes are because i'm interested in the obama era of presidency, crises that happen here. the underwear bombing, he attended bombing in times square, that would be a place where the u.s. government is taking the lead -- attempted bombing. finding out who these people are, searching through databases , identifying who they have been in contact with, where the have traveled, who else might be out there through hidden associates. this is a crisis in france. the french government is taking the lead on that. with the united states, i am sure they are offering whatever they can. one aspect of that, i suspect has already happened is that the national security agency is going through everything that got. they sucked in vast amounts of , records showing who is

in contact with whom and not what they have said. in some cases, bulk collection of content that is not necessarily get looked at and less there is a reason. -- unless there is a reason. there is a host of legal and practical individual rights questions around the nsa's abilities and practices. after the snowden leaks, some are furious about the revelations of that agency. right now, that is not the sort of question europe has about the nsa. it is what do you have about these people? can you search for the name or e-mail account? what have you picked up? especially, the metadata. if you go back through five or 10 years of these people, whoever the attackers are, their phone calls, e-mails, and the people that those people have been in contact with. you build a social network so cameyou can see where this

from, are they native french people? are there other people they were hanging out with? i am sure police are knocking on their door right now. what are their travel habits? who might have traveled with them? that is how the investigation on full. host: first call from you -- for you comes from john in ohio, charlie savage, go ahead. ohio, let'swood, move on to brian in illinois. good morning, gentlemen. pleasure to speak with you both. unfortunately, i don't have enough time to read the new york times, but what concerns me about terrorism and isis is there is not enough coverage of the black box in the middle east, saudi arabia. it seems like there is a dearth .f coverage of the saudi's

neither major political party wants to talk about saudi arabia or they do as little as possible. it is because all three of these groups are afraid of saudi money. commentlike to hear you about the influence of saudi arabia on the u.s. security establishment. people that read know that the saudi's and the gulf arabs are part of the problem of fundamentalist islam. they are funding a lot of these groups. that is very disturbing. on the other hand, they are supposedly our allies. i want to hear more talk from you and your brother from the new york times about saudi arabia and the gulf state arabs. guest: the caller is pointing out a recurring problem or dilemma that people have been focused on, especially since 9/11. support for a extreme purist version of sunni islam, the lobby strain -- associated

with al qaeda, the islamic state. .unni extremism there is another kind of islamic extremism that derives from the who the saudi torture is violently against. -- culture is violently against it is not saudi government which enemy --ened by the and is the enemy of these movements, but it is the wealthy people. has been an attempt in saudi arabia to crack down on and dry up the financing. the caller is correct. this is something of continuing concern. they are always watching for money flows and trying to clamp down on them. host: george, jacksonville,

florida, good morning. caller: i am a christian, a descendent of the night couplers -- knight templars. i lived and worked in three muslim countries including saudi arabia. most americans, and even patient -- people in washington are naive about the five steps of islamic on quest which are taught to every muslim child. it was the life of mohammed. we are dealing and france with the fifth step, violence. there are four steps. withed to address and deal intensely. the first is one-sided diplomacy. we see the iranians on their way to getting nuclear weapons. rancid immigration into targeted countries to turn of islamic. the third step is conquest using save labor. that is profitable and the money can be used for conquest and oil.

the fourth step is political correctness. the fifth step is violence. at every step, politicians are indirectly paid off. i know plenty of muslim people that would not fit that model at all. obviously, the world is facing the problems in the middle east along extremists strains of islam. it is what it is. it is important in these harrowing moments not to paint everyone with a broad brush and assume all people are the same. that is not the road that the united states stands for. host: because he brought up the migration issue, does that combo kate the administration's efforts, especially taking in those from syria? guest: the biggest issue for the

migrants flowing out of syria and that part of the world is not the united states because there is an ocean between us. the biggest issue is europe. europe has been trying to deal with this crisis. i was in budapest last summer when the train station crisis or not i was there with my family on vacation. it was a terrible thing to say. -- c. these are people who are flying extremism thatd is destroying their country. they are trying to get away from it. there is going to be fear of who is coming with them or just a nativism. the incoming leader of poland today said we are not want to live with these quotas that the eu is trying to impose on us in terms of how many reviews you take. europe should not be taking in muslims of any stripe. -- how many refugees you take.

these poor people with their kids were trying to get away and survive, this was the worst possible thing that could happen . paris is talking about closing its borders. what they mean is they are looking at who is going and i now. they are not saying we're not when to take in migrants, -- who is going in and out. and resonate with what i am sure is going to be -- host: virginia, mary judith, hello. caller: thank you so much for taking my call. it is time for the obama administration to stop trying to be so friendly to the islamic community in general. most of them are peaceful. guy inblem is that the your town that owns the laundromat that has bought out several convenience stores can one a son who is radicalized the web.

as americans, we seem to recoil from profiling. we recoil from anything we see is a threat to our civil liberties and our privacy. and our gun rights which is the one place we have to stand strong. and italian great grandma on the way to the vatican. get over it. we have to start profiling people. we have to take a strong stand against islam in general. what one of your previous dollars said. -- callers said. stop -- we have to --t playing the policy diplomacy because diplomacy means nothing when you have nutcase is willing to die and do this kind of thing. host: thanks. hearing the passion in

, in somer, the emotion ways, it is playing into what isis wants is a war between the west and islam in general. it would be a disaster. scene that i of a recount going back in this book, and power wars, the situation 2010 in theary of aftermath of the failed underwear bombing attack. president obama had spent several hours going through what membersng with the top of his national security team. how did the cia fail? how to the fbi fail? how did the state department fail? that allowed this suicide bomber to come so close, to get on the

plane with a bomb that failed to go off. after going through those operational problems, he asked them to go through an experiment of how the world would be different if the bomb had gone off. how political opinion and public opinion -- everything they were trying to do -- trying to close the door on torture, trying to close the door on major ground occupation land wars in the middle east, trying to get away from that post 9/11 crisis and problem. how the political system would sweep all of that away. even though the attack failed, it still resulted, as a recount in chapter three, in the worst month of the obama administration presidency for national security issues where

his effort to close one, no completely collapses because he is imposing a moratorium on sending any more low levels but still detainees back to yemen because the attack originated in yemen. most of the detainees that are left are from yemen. if you don't send people back to yemen, you're not going to close guantanamo. thee are attempts to bring detainees accused of aiding the 9/11 attack to new york for a regular trial in the seven district of new york federal court. it collapses because there is a wave of fear that sweeps through democrats in new york, not unlike what we are hearing from these callers and across france. a sense that we can't have a trial, what would that mean? even though there have been terrorism trials all the time without problems. we decided boston, for example,

a noble trial, it happened fine. there was no problem. there is a sense of fear that is out there. extreme, undeniable thing the of ministration does is a hardened approach to terrorism out of that moment is the decision that it will use drones and target and kill if they can find them. which they eventually do. the american citizen who the underwear bomber told interrogators was behind the attack or was part of the group of al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. the great dilemma was this is an american citizen. he is not in our custody. he has not received a trial. do you kill someone -- does the u.s. government kill an american citizen without a trial? which shows who he really is that the cia decided he is.

we don't have trials in absentia , so if he is not in custody, what will you do? they finally decide it would be lawful, he is part of al qaeda, a senior leader, his capture is not feasible, but we can take a shot from the air. from a civil liberties for sect of, that -- perspective, that is an extreme thing that establishes a precedent that changes the balance between the power of the government and the power of individual american citizens. on the other hand, it was a terrible dilemma. what do you do in a situation like that? if he indeed was who they said he was? becomes part of the fraud record and the internal wrestling that i am very interested in in recounting behind the scenes in this book. course, there was the second order question which was how much are we going to tell the

public about this? the legal reasoning? the scope and limits of this power in light of these dilemmas? and also, the evidence that we cited. they were extremely secretive about these matters. they took years to acknowledge this even happened even though this -- everyone knew from day one that it happened. it took a lawsuit by myself and a colleague and a separate one by the aclu to make them cough up the abstract legal reasoning about the power of the government to kill american citizens teams to beat terrorist. we haven't seen all of the evidence. the emotion and fear and sense of anger and challenge that poses to fundamental american , constitutional values, human rights, civil liberties, rule of law in these moments of is something that in the government they were wrestling with over and over even as they

were being criticized by the outside over and over. host: highlighting the book post wars, inside obama's 9/11 presidency, our guest, charlie savage of the new york times joining us for this discussion. michigan, go ahead. caller: i live in detroit. the plane the unabomber flew over my apartment building, my question is, i think your work is fascinating. have you explored the wasibility that the bomber left on the plane by officials? there's video on the internet and interview from people from detroit that road on that plane. banker,er, a wealthy had tried to let authorities know that his son was very troubled and was trying to get them back home. he knew he was engaged in troubling activities. i talked with some reporters in detroit about the trial which

didn't take place. they said the unabomber's was someonethat he who was working with the someone working with the was thent and that defense and he did not go to trial. were you able to uncover anything through videos or the information that shows he was purposely left on even though the person questioning his paper , or the misspelling of his name? guest: i think you meant to say underwear bomber. evidence that he was deliberately let on the plane. it was incompetence. and ms. spellings of names and you are right, the story was that his father, a wealthy edge year in banker had come into the

-- a wealthy nigerian banker had spoken to a cia station chief about his son. who have become this radicalized person and seemed to be involved in yemen and that led to the name beingomber's put on a terror watch list but was not added to the no-fly list, a more extreme subset to the terror watch list. one of the many ways the system failed. the cia wrote up a report and it biography of him, but they had not distributed it widely, another way the system failed. the sorts of things president obama was going over with his national security team, john brennan, now the cia director. i recount where he says if this

ever happens again people will be fired. this is a new day, since eric holder two people inside the justice department and the policies about the ballots had to be rethought. even though there had been a lot compromises and turbulence in the first year of obama's presidency and they already encountered and made the decision to keep for detainees at guantánamo that seem to be an releasable the tool of indefinite decision -- detention without tribal -- trial even though they would keep military commissions and would not walk away from the authorities or renounce them. they embrace the idea that this was war. say one of thed insights from the book was is that, when obama is criticized

from the left, the aclu will say he continued -- he acted like bush and continued these policies. the right says he has not gone far enough. he does not have the cia torturing people. they do not say torture but that is what they mean. he is stuck in between. part, a core-wing premise from which a lot of the it is clearows is that obama and the people around him really believe this is war. the supreme court and congress says it is a war. on the left, some and in the international human rights community do not think it is a war. they do not think an armed conflict and exist involving a nonstate actor scattered around the world and a better way of thinking about it is al qaeda is a band of pirates or a criminal

gang. an extremely dangerous one. some tools only available when it is war, especially away from a place there is sustained ground combat, like yemen or somalia. the ability to kill an enemy when there is not an imminent threat posed by that enemy. something you can do in work but not when there is no war. the fact that the obama administration accepts that it is war and the tools remain available even if it is a last resort. fascinating to understanding why things turned out the way they did and what does it mean when people, you hear recurring criticism that obama acts like bush, what does it mean to act like bush? what is easier to see now that at the time, was that, during the bush years, the

post-9/11 crisis time that unfolded, revelations about warrantless wiretapping and torture and through the end of the first term and in the second term. there were two very different strands of criticism of bush. older together and it was harder to see the time when they were distinct here one was a civil liberties critique and one was a rule of law critique. the civil liberties critique is these polities -- policies are wrong, the government should not have this power, it is un-american. the rule of law critique is agnostic about whether the policies make sense in light of the dilemmas posed by 21st century terrorism. they said the problem was that president bush was breaking the law by putting them into place. the bush administration in secret said that the commander-in-chief cannot be bound by federal law, by

treaties, so if he thinks something is necessary for national security, warrantless surveillance, he can put that in place. the will of our critique says no, if the law does not permit something necessary the president has to go to congress and get them to change it. the difference between these two, the civil liberties critique says that is correct, but it can only be fixed by changing the policy. the rule of law critique can be cured by having congress change the law. any second term of the bush demonstration congress passes a law -- statute that brings the laws into the alignment with what the bush administration had been doing unilaterally. behind closed doors, the nation secret intelligence court was issuing rulings that brought legal authority and oversight around surveillance programs that had been in place unilaterally. the rule of law critique has largely been text by 2009.

when president obama is senator obama running for the democratic primary against hillary clinton, he is not making clear which of these critiques he is making when he criticizes bush and that you can parse it now, he is a lawyer and a work clearly making the rule of law critique but in hindsight we see that is what they were saying the problem was. host: kilgore, texas, lewis. caller: good morning. i think their deep historical foundations in the paris attacks. in the united states, we like to believe that our system was radical change from great century.in the 18th fathers were aristocrats. they established our own brand

of imperialism. from the munro doctrine on up to supportingtiatives the bretton woods institutions, the international monetary fund and the world bank. alivemperialism has been and well since our beginning. we see it now in the multitude of the u.s. military bases and the imf policies of austerity and developing countries. host: what would you like our guest to address? caller: i would like for him to military andw our benefit aic systems very small percentage of people. the 1%, the global shareholders of the transnational,

international, investment banks and corporations. that, i will not address that is outside what i am here to talk about. point in a room next door. i had -- i spoke last week to glenn greenwald, a primary exchanges -- we had an that was interesting. he was raising the question of whether the united states constitution and the country envisioned when the founders created it in 1776 or 1789 when the constitution took place. it links to what the u.s. has been since the middle of the 20th century especially, or did we get away from that and become a -- an imperial presidency.

my work, in this book and my previous book, is about executive power during the bush administration and any post the a non-arab. -- and the post vietnam war era. the power of the president. understand where a lot of this comes from, you have to understand what author stress and your says the impact -- states beginsed to play the moderate role with military bases around the world. part of my point in that conversation that i will raise here, there is two issues when you talk about america and the imperial presidency. the country as the whole and the president. the constitution is a framework for deciding how we will make

decisions. who gets to make the decision? who is the final authority? it is true that the country was not founded to play the role -- not envision to play the role it is playing since world war ii when, usually when there was a war, there would be a large army and extra tools. when the war was over, the army would be decommissioned and the powers would go away. after world war ii, that did not happen because it went into the cold war. the world was a mess. we kept military bases around the world and assumed this role of the world's policeman. there was not this downscaling of power. presidency under truman, eisenhower, kennedy, johnson, and it in, -- next and,

that with thers constant threat of nuclear war under the soviet empire. they claimed greater power for themselves. power to do things without congress. the point i was making that i want to separate, the extent that congress goes along with that and funds and is all for it , that is not an imperial presidency. that may be an imperial country and there is a separate issue, when the president acts unilaterally without congress or the courts or in defiance of them, which is an internal question, how does a country were, who makes the decision, how much power -- how much unreviewable power, exclusive power that exist whether or not congress authorizes it should united states president have?

we have struggled with that through these national security issues since world war ii. it was renewed after 9/11 and remains a tremendous interest. host: what to do about guantánamo, the stories of possibility of using executive powers to close it. guest: i am totally fascinated with this issue and towards the end of the book i have a section about it. guantanamo.to close he said he would do it during the campaign when he was running for president. an executive order directing the administration to close it. within a year which obviously failed. in that first year, things get complicated, he makes the decision to keep indefinite detention without trial for this group which turned out to be larger than some of them thought it would be, they could not try them and it was too dangerous to release them, 48 of them.

he makes the decision to keep military commissions but does not use them very often. once you make that decision to keep them, you cannot make the argument that guantánamo has to be closed to restore the law. take the policies that made one-time moke controversial and move them somewhere else. his plan for closing guantánamo is to take the same people doing held without trial there and put them somewhere else. the super max at florence in colorado or the military grade in charleston or the army barracks in leavenworth. if the same legal authorities is being used to hold these people somewhere else, the reason to" taught him all has to be something else. it costnother argument, 100 times as much to house them in guantánamo that it does at florence. and it makes our allies less willing to work with us.

in orangeictims jumpsuits. he does not have that restore the rule of law argument anymore. he does not move quickly enough on guantánamo because they are encountering problems like the underwear bombing. imposes inmes in and january of 2011, a law that says you may not bring any guantánamo detainees into the united states for any purpose, not for release or prosecution or continued detention elsewhere. that is a democratic-controlled congress. he signed it because it is part of a bigger law that has this other stuff. he complains and says he will work with congress to get a revoked by congress is not interested in revoking it. they are interested in extending it. force the end of his presidency now, a box is unchecked. he is thinking about the history

books, are they going to say he promised to close gitmo and failed or say he got it done. he is driving it more than anyone else inside his administration. if congress is not going to revoke that statute and clearly not going to revoke that statute -- and they are not going to revoke that statute. he is going to be faced with two league options -- bleak options. one is policy failure. the other is, what if he makes a claim that he's the commander-in-chief and congress, under the constitution, has no authority to tell him where it is best to hold wartime prisoners during a war. the lawyers call that an article to override. he has clearly gotten more aggressive on using executive power and it has shifted from

not wanting to be like bush and cheney to trying to get things done this fight the republicans in congress. host: christopher from georgia, hello. caller: how are you doing? fork you charlie savage letting me on. this will take 20 seconds. as far as the paris and u.s. it will security, happen again if we do not do something about isis. that is all i have to say. one of the fingerprints taken from one of the suspects inside of a french -- is a french national. guest: i am not surprised to hear that. the islamic state has been calling on people in the west already and might be radicalized and share their ideology but have not been to syria and are not part of that war.

instead of trying to get to them and join them there, considering attacking where they are. the fact that these attacks were at very symbolic locations in paris that resonate with french culture and french identity. they were not just random but carefully chosen and selected. chosen suggest familiarity with french culture and the french community. not as someone random who showed up yesterday and wondered down the street to that street. i would not at all be surprised to learn that most or all of these attackers had spent significant amounts of their lives in france. host: marianne, pittsburgh, pennsylvania. caller: can you hear me? host: go ahead. don't: as a reporter, why

-- why didn't you check out but maybe you did and did not report it, the lies. president is supposed to be a president for the people and he has done everything in his power to try to destroy our country. another thing is, with benghazi, him and clinton, why did you not press harder for the e-mails, as a reporter you are supposed to tell the truth. there were guns and missiles missing. stevens know if mr. knew that he was with an offshoot of al qaeda in that one video that it was al qaeda. guest: got to love c-span callers. got another one? host: as far as the book is concerned, what was surprising to you as you look at the

relationship between this administration and how they handle national security issues and the last one? guest: i dove or arching question of the book is -- an overarching question of the book, behind the scenes story and who was yelling at who and who disagreed with who, a clash of ideas. people on the same team. ideological insync yet they disagree with so much and why is that with all of these problems in the 21st century where the rules are ambiguous, the rules were not written for the situations. the -- what that adds up to is this big picture question -- why did so little change as a policy matter between the end of the bush administration and the obama administration on so many counterterrorism policies? where did that come from? a disagreement over the issue

for bush, the civil liberties critique or the rule of law critique? this has been the most lawyerly administration, obama and biden are lawyers. overwhelmingly prone to see the bush -- the problem as a rule of law with bush. the courts get involved and congress changes statutes to permit instead of forbid policies, they thought the problem was solved. when you have a tax like the underwear bombing -- a tax like the underwear bombing and the rise of the islamic state they see the world as it is. the large surveillance is surveillance -- is necessary to prevent administration destroying event, like an attack in paris here. they keep these policies and that is where the disconnect between the expectations created by senator obama campaign rhetoric and how president obama has governed. host: all laid out in power wars: inside obama's post-9/11

presidency. charlie savage talking about that and the attacks in paris. we will talk about high school graduates, improvement in getting a diploma. joining us will be bob wise. our newsmakers program tomorrow , new:00 in the evening hampshire has the nation's first primary and newsmakers talks with its republican and democratic party chairs about whether the primary can remain relevant when candidates are paying more attention to the national polls and the advise ys involved.ad bus >> the idea behind new hampshire is that it gives everyone an evening -- even playing field, carly fiorina, for example, who does not have the big dollars can come to new hampshire that is very accessible and talk to thousands of voters.

and start to get that notice. do not forget, the media plays an important role in this to combine with what we are doing in -- on the ground in new hampshire and all of america can watch. they come into our living rooms and our backyards and our diners and our town halls. >> we struggle and we will continue to struggle and we will stay on top of it because we believe it is an important ingredient on getting elected president. going living room to living room and down the main streets of new hampshire, iowa, south carolina, the bottom, makes a difference -- nevada, makes a difference. if it is who is the largest liberty, what is the point -- largest celebrity, what is the point? one of the first things i talked to candidates when they think

about running about is, i know your governor or senator or sitting vice president or whatever position you have are treated a certain way or do not come to new hampshire acting like that, acting like you are running for the school board in your local town accustomed that is how the people in -- that is what the people in new hampshire and south carolina expect. they expect to ask you to have questions and you look them in the eye. you ask any president who has gone through this process and they say it makes them a better president. >> "washington journal" continues. host: our last guess is -- guest is bob wise. tell usat does research about the nature of high school dropouts in the united states? guest: we can celebrate some success but have work to do. high school graduation rates for

the first time in 40 years are beginning to increase, good news . we have gone from having roughly over one million dropouts per 2012 when we had 250,000 more graduates, 750,000 dropouts. progress is being made. 73%,gone from a chronic, 74% high school graduation rate to an 81%. those numbers are trending up. we still have challenges because there are pockets. we have identified as 1200 high schools in this country that graduate less than -- a third or more of the students will drop out. great cost to a them and our country economically and in other ways. host: what causes a people -- a person to leave school and what is reversing those trends? guest: to leave, the outside

environment, but students tend to drop off most -- you can tell -- often by the sixth grade, but by the eighth grade you know because if they do not have the skills they need going into high school, read comprehensively at their grade level. do math and solve problems. they get in the ninth grade and get frustrated. often they are held back and when they are held back, that decreases -- increases the frustration level and the ofhest net -- highest number dropout rates are the first two years of high school. now is pulling kids back in , a lot more savvy and educators are working hard, the three d's, design, you redesign high schools in order to meet this challenge. the third is using data.

what we call off track indicators, sixth grade you not --kids are absenteeism increases and discipline problems increases and the grade point average decreases, all early warning indicators, if you intervene and you can often keep the child in school. host: our guest talking about the graduation rates and the dropout rates here to talk to him, you see the numbers. about one million not graduating in 2008, now about 750,000 in 2012. for parents, 202-748-8000. teachers, 202-748-8001. all others, 202-748-8002. governor bob wise joining us, president of the alliance for -- tell us about your organization. guest: we are nonprofits based

here in washington, d.c. new . all students should graduate ready for college. this is seminal to us. the diploma is your license to hunt or drive. it does not mean you will be a success but without it you will not go anywhere. that is the reality. age, the demands we have for higher skill levels, that is why this is so critical. high school diploma does not indicate success but it indicates you are on the track, whereas without it, it is a tougher road. guest: you talk about -- the admin's ration talks about ambitious graduation goals here -- the administration talks about ambitious graduation goals. , we show our report

this country achieved a 90% graduation rate for one class of kids, the seniors right now, you create -- they would be working into their adult years and they would be spending more, $11 billion a more, 65,000 jobs would be created and billions of dollars with increased tax revenue. that is just one class. we conclude is that the high school diploma is the best education development program we can have. get them into the high school diploma and they will begin tracking to other post-secondaries. host: the math included in this report is different colors, what are we seeing? high schoolis the graduation rates. related, there is

1235 high schools in this country that graduate a third or more of -- a third or more of their students dropout. that is where they are by caller -- color. the dark blue had the highest number of the high schools. we also observe that these high schools have a disproportionate number of children of color and low income. example,ou an african-americans are 15% of the population of our public schools. they are 40% of the population of these high schools. the number of dropout factories where only 60% or less were graduating, that number has been cut in half in about 10 years. we know where the high schools are, we know what works, and that we can focus on them. a lot of teachers, a lot of educators, a lot of