look at all of that. i'm going to come to this lady and then right behind you. hear you. icouldn't at this point, we're still reconstructing all of that. as you can imagine, the ballistics experts are going through the club and have gathered a great deal of evidence.

i believe he expressed an interest in joining law enforcement and we're tracking that down. tast been reported, again, we are following every lead. i'm going to go to this gentleman here. >> . [ inaudible ] . >> i don't have that information for you, sorry. ultimately, we're trying to obtain the autopsy reports for anyone who lost their life.

and ultimately, his and depending upon the information there, we will see if we can release those. [ inaudible ] >> you know, whenever you look at someone's motivation or intent, whether they're living or dead, you look at their actions or activities surrounding the event. you look at what they said, you look at what they did. and come up with the interpretation. we do feel as we continue to build a time line and chronology and build his life we'll be able to determine this. i can't tell you if we'll be able to narrow it down to one motivation. this was clearly an act of terror and act of hate.

i'm going to go to someone who has not asked a question and come back to you. we are looking at everything. i can tell you that. right now. i don't know the answer to that. i believe she was going to travel but do not know her location now. there's a lady who has not asked a question and a gentleman who has not asked a question. we are still involved in reconstructing where all of the bullets traveled and also how all of the victims died.

it will be part of the information that will be made available to you. >> we have spoken about our concerns about home grown extremists for sometime now. and all sorts of reasons for expressing certain views. we are asking people who know individuals to alert us to concerns they may have. in many of the cases we investigate of home grown

extremists, we find when we look back over the entire investigation someone had a concern and noticed something. we also have to think about how do we deal with the fact that because we do have a free and open society and we have to have that, that violent jihadist ideology is easily consumed by individuals who are led down a path to take certain actions. how do we interject some point there that leads them to a different path. how do we connect with those individuals? and we're looking at those things. i'm sorry for those who didn't -- i think we covered. i was trying to get everyone who didn't ask a question. i'm sorry for those of you that didn't. >> we've expressed the department's support, in

particular, for the feinstein amendment that would give the department two very important tools. the ability to stop the sale of a gun to someone on the no-fly list as well as the ability should the person challenge that because they would have that right, as well, to litigate that matter in a way that protects our sensitive, secure and classified information. so those are the two concerns we've always had with that. and we're grateful that congress is looking at addressing those concerns and trying to close this particular loophole for terrorists. thank you. >> thank you for joining us today. have a great day. >> c-span's "washington journal" live every day. coming up this morning,

california democratic congressman mike thompson will join us to discuss the legislative strategy in the house to push gun control legislation in the wake of the orlando shooting. jason russell looks at current issues in the donald trump campaign, including fund raising and recent staff changes. and christina marcos, reporter for "the hill," previews the meetings between hillary clinton and house democrats. it's their first meeting since she became the presumptive democratic nominee. be sure to watch "washington journal" 7:00 a.m. eastern this morning and join the discussion. >> on thursday, voters in the united kingdom will decide if they should stay or leave the union. daved cameron and jeremy corbin want to remain a member of the eu. but some members of the prime minister's party and the uk independence party are part of

the push, advocating for the uk to split from the european union. watch the live simulcast on c-span 2 and c-span.org. >> three assistant secretaries of state talked about u.s. efforts to combat terrorism around the globe and what the u.s. is doing to resettle refugees at home and abroad. hosted by the women's foreign policy group, this is a little over an hour. >> good afternoon, everyone. welcome back to those attending the luncheon, and a welcome to those joining us via c-span. i'm patricia ellis, president of the women's foreign policy group, which promotes women's leadership and voices on pressing international issues of the day. for those of you new to the

wfpg, we encourage you to go to our website or follow us on twitter at wfpg to learn more about our work and our program. now, the exciting part of the celebration of women leaders begins as we have an extremely timely program in store for you on combatting terrorism, regional conflicts, and migration challenges in the middle east and africa. with three outstanding women leaders, assistant secretaries of state whose bureaus cover these issues. anne patterson, linda thomas greenefield and anne richard, and karen d. young, our moderator will introduce them shortly. it's now my great pleasure to introduce a good friend of the women's foreign policy group, karen d. young.

the senior national security correspondent and associate editor of the "washington post," who has been a regular speaker and moderator for the wspg. and we really appreciate that. thank you so much, karen. she's previously served as bureau chief in latin america and london, correspondent covering the white house, covering foreign policy and the intelligence community, as well as assistant managing editor for national news, national editor and foreign editor. she's also the recipient of numerous journalists awards for her coverage of international affairs. please join me in welcoming karen d. young. >> thank you, pat.

good afternoon. i'm so happy to be back here at such a great occasion and such a great turnout. as pat says, we have a title that covers a whole lot of territory today. combatting terrorism, regional conflict, and migration challenges in the middle east and africa. i hope we can do justice to it. but in the effort, i don't think we could have a better panel. i'm always struck every time i walk down the sixth floor corridor past the regional assistant secretary's offices because most of them are women. and today, we have three of the most senior and experienced diplomats, men or women to take us through some of the most pressing national security issues of our time. i'll just briefly introduce them, anne patterson to my left, a current diplomat who currently serves as secretary of state for

middle east affairs, and many of you have known her for years, she was embassador for some of the world's most challenging assignments, egypt, pakistan, colombia, el salvador and the u.s. mission to the united nations. ambassador patterson was promoted to career ambassador, the highest rank in the foreign service. in it will middle, linda thomas greenefield is also a foreign service officer who serves as assistant secretary for the bureau of african affairs. previously, she was director of the foreign service, director of human resources, ambassador to liberia. and in the bureau of population, refugees and migration. in 2000, she received the warren christopher award and has also received the presidential service award. and last but not least, anne richard has been assistant

secretary for the bureau of population refugees and migration. i don't think there could be anyone as qualified for that job. she previously was vice president of government relations and advocacy for the international rescue committee that you all know an international aid agency that helps refugees internally displace people and other victims of conflict. before that, she has a number of government and diplomatic jobs, including deputy chief financial officer at the peace corps. i'm going to ask each of you to start with a brief overview of the issues in your area that are of the most concern to the administration. what it is, you spend most of your time on these days. and then, we can have a discussion among ourselves. i'll ask an initial round of questions and then we'll incorporate the questions that you write on the cards that are on your table. i hope you'll feel free to turn it into a real discussion and interrupt each other and add comments to what each other says. i'm going to start with the

islamic state of extremism because i think that's an issue that to one degree or another concerns all three of you. anne patterson, the foreign minister of saudi arabia, one of our leading allies for a political transition in syria said in a press conference her's absolute support. that document called for a more assertive u.s. role in syria based on the standoff of air weapons that would driving more hard and focused u.s. diplomatic process leveraging the international serious support ofup to end the mass killing civilians and egregious mass killing of human rights reality that myself right now because i want to ask each of you to give introductory comments. [laughter] now you know what the first

question is. a thank yout me do for that introduction. and pat ellis. i think she has worked tirelessly to promote this intercession -- organization. let's give her a hand. [applause] this is a very sophisticated audience. you know that there will not be easy answers in this part of the world. the problems we see are a lack of political intimacy. for conflict. particularly conflict between >> particularly, conflict between shia and sunni. they're now feeding on each other in a toxic way, aggravated by the upheavals of the arab spring. first, throughout the region, governments lacked political legitimacy, so ordinary people can have their voices heard. a corollary is the lack of

institutional structures, which was most apparent in libya after the fall of gadhafi when there was just nothing through but hundreds of tribal and militia groups. in yemen, long standing grievances that led to four wars in ten years, but it was iranian assistance to the them that led to a more protracted contract. it isn't the lack of civilian institution we've seen. throughout the region and despite decades of u.s. assistance in some cases, we see militaries that can't fight either with a couple of notable exceptions. it has led to a refugee crisis, which we'll discuss today. again, greatly aggravated by conflict between shia and sunni. i'd like to recognize the ambassador. with its long tradition of labor

unions and long political parties that seem to be the exception of this trend. we must support with assistance and investment. most middle eastern countries have fundamentally weakened economies even when they have enormous petroleum revenues. here are the staggering demographics of the region run smack into the failure of economic growth. there was a major driver of the arab spring. subsidies, lack of transparent regulation and inadequately trained workforce, lowered oil prices, all discourage investment and job creation. in the middle east and north africa, 60% of the population is under 25 and youth unemployment hovers around 25%.

a sense of grievance among young people has been aggravated by the substandard higher education, which raises expectations, but doesn't prepare students for the modern labor force. the situation is even more dire for girls with growing female participation in schools, but even lower employment rates. in the gulf, for instance, now, there are more women in school than men and they perform better. but opportunities continue to be limited. we have seen tunisia and morocco and several of the gulf countries push through important economic reforms. the deputy crowned prince of saudi arabia was here last week promoting a new economic vision for his country to diversify away from oil, which will be key to the region. third, no one who has worked in the middle east for the past 50 years has witnessed such intense sectarian conflict between sunni and shia, increasingly played out in dispute between iran and

saudi arabia, and neighboring south asia. and then, finally, violent extremism, the aspect of the middle east is certainly getting the most attention in our country. the bulk of the under 30 generation in this region is coming of age in societies dominated by political leadership that they cannot change in underperforming economies. the causes of islamic extremism are many and varied. but without prospects, many of these young men and a few women are inspired by those who encourage alienation and violence. with religion used as a dark cover. but it isn't all bleak. there has been very considerable progress against isil in syria and iraq and now even libya. losses of territory, money and recruits. there's no question that this most recent, if more brutal manifestation of a sunni terrorist group will be beaten on the battlefield with the

65-member coalition or raid against it. the administration has also tried to sure up the traditional allies by reassuring the friends in the gulf that the nuclear deal with iran does not mean a zero sum game for relationships with the united states. in recent months, there has been progress in reducing violence in libya and yemen and international efforts led by secretary kerry have led to a very fragile cease-fire and improved humanitarian access in syria. we have tried to alter and reform our assistance programs to promote empowerment and job training for men and women. but all of this will take years and years. and the next administration will have to focus on supporting economic and political transformation in the region, which ultimately will have to be led and nurtured by the people of the region themselves. >> thank you.

>> let me also start by thanking the women's foreign policy group for inviting us here today. you are an important advocate for the voices of women around the world. and i'm really honored to be here with the two annes to speak to you. today's topic is of central importance for africa and to africans in the coming decade. and i noted that i have some of our african ambassadors here today. and i'll claim tunisia, as well, because he claims me. how we address the problems both in africa and globally will determine the trajectory that africa will move forward on in the future. our goal is to partner with africa to promote democracy, to promote peace, and to promote prosperity. and if we're successful, issues

of terrorism, conflict and migration will be less of a concern. while africa faces some major security and political challenges, i firmly believe that we're making progress. that will allow for the continent to prosper and for it to take its rightful places as a leader in the next decade. africa's challenges seem daunting. if we depend on the media. and what we're needing. boca haram has a devastating impact on nigeria and the neighbors. and we read that in the press. al qaeda in the islamic magrav. conflicts in places like south sudan, and i saw the ambassador here and economic growth, and robbing young africans for an

opportunity for an education and better life. some leaders have shown a propensity to stay in power a bit longer than their constitution allow or they don't have constitutional limits. human rights issues and freedom and fair and transparent elections continue to be issues. and then, if that's not enough, we have diseases such as ebola, yellow fever, malaria and the effects of el nino. migration issues, which i know will be addressed by many colleague continues to rise on the continent of africa. added to that is a youth bulge with population figures as high as 78%. how do we respond to all of these challenges and stay focused on a positive agenda?

we know we must have a multifacetted response. we know it must be one that addresses the challenges but allows us to take advantage of the multitude of opportunities in this resource-rich continent. we know that the response can't just focus on peace and security, but it must focus on root causes. and we also know that africans must be part of the solution. going back to the goals of partnering with africa to promote democracy, peace and security, we have focused on supporting free, fair and transparent elections with over 17 elections this year alone. we're supporting regular democratic transitions in power. supporting free and fair and transparent elections and peaceful elections. and we're supporting civil society and human rights. strengthening these elements will help lead to long-term

stability. elections in nigeria last year were historic. and they show what the possibilities are on the continent of africa. democracy and stability are closely connected. on the peace and security front, we're working with partners regionally and internationally to respond to the threat of terrorism and insecurity. the au is a key partner. we're working to bolster the peace keeping capacity by not only providing equipment, but we're providing essential training to african troops who make up the largest numbers of peace keepers around the globe. last year, we trained more than 27,000 troops in support of un and au missions, and we're supported about -- trained about 250,000 since our program started. our special envoy has worked around the clock to get a peace deal agreed to and signed. and continues to work to ensure

it's fully implemented for the people of south sudan. our prosperity agenda is equally important. we must help african nations create opportunities for the next generation if they are not invested in, they are prime targets for recruitment. all across africa, we're working with governments to get urgent economic reforms due to the slow of global growth. and we're working with the private sector to promote investment and entrepreneurship because we also know that's the key to success. the entrepreneurship summit has over 100 african companies participating. and we're also hosting a second business forum in new york in september to encourage the private sector. initiatives such as power africa is mobilizing billions of

dollars in investments to add 60 million new electricity connections in the next two years. and this is also key to africa's economics and key to opportunity. we're empowering women and youth through our peace and security initiative. we support women's full participation and peace keeping and reconstruction processes in conflict as well as in post conflict environments. and we also support a network of women entrepreneurs through the african women's entrepreneurship program and the entrepreneurship centers that we have currently in kenya and zambia. but the initiative i think will be a game-changer for africa in the future is the president's young african leaders initiative, which this week is bringing a thousand young africans to the united states for academic and leadership training. this is the third iteration of yali. we brought 500 in 2014 and 500

in 2015 and they're already making a difference on the continent. it is these kinds of efforts that boost economic growth and creates opportunity. and this is what is required to create peace throughout the continent of africa. and this is what is needed to alleviate refugee crisis and mass migrations from the continent. there's much more i would like to discuss with you, but i think it's time for me to stop, and i look forward to hearing your questions. >> thank you. >> yeah. thank you. it's quite an honor for me to be here. i appreciate the women's foreign policy group, of course. because i've known them for a long time. but i also appreciate the chance to have lunch with my colleagues, which doesn't happen very often. and anne stock is here, who is a former colleague. the other anne of the state department. but when secretary kerry started, he would come in the room and go, anne, and i had to train myself not to jump. more often than not, it was this

anne. that may have altered a bit lately. but initially, it was you. today is world refugee day. i'm sure you know that already. you all greeted each other when you saw each other today. it's actually a moment to stop and think of the refugees and think of their plight and to salute those who are survivors who hang in there, restart their lives and make a difference in the places that they go. and the serious news today is that the un refugee agency has announced there are now 65 million people who are refugees and displaced around the world. 3 million people who are seeking asylum in the countries to which they have fled. over 20 million who are refugees because they've crossed an international border and are looking for help. and then, more than nearly 41

million who are displaced inside their own countries. they have yet to cross an international border. and they're looking to their own governments for help, sometimes they get that, often times they don't. and so, this is record-setting number. and so, a very serious moment. and there are three things i want you to take away from my belief remarks this morning. one is that this is a global phenomenon. there's been a lot of attention to europe, and we're talking today with colleagues who are focused on the middle east and africa. but we could also pull in colleagues who cover southeast asia, asia, central america, where we see people are on the move, are fleeing persecution or fleeing dangerous places. the second is that refugees are not the same as terrorists. refugees are the victims -- of terrorism.

i knew this was the right group to come talk to today. but this is a very important difference. and refugees, you know, especially i meet refugees, their families, three generations trying to figure out how to survive a very, very difficult situation. and they're concerned about the future of their family's education for their children. thirdly, i want you to know that the u.s. is a leader in responding to these crisis around the world. we are the top humanitarian donor. and we are the top destination for unhcr, refugee agencies programs to resettle refugees. so if you look around the world, my colleagues have already mentioned some of the places people are fleeing syria, yemen, nigeria, boea boko haram.

but there's also protracted situations that haven't been resolved. somalis, afghans, burmese, who some of them may be able to finally go home, again, but some who feel quite still persecuted. in may of last year, you'll remember there were boats that were abandoned in southeast asia. and people were left on board. there were a mix of migrants from bangladesh, people seeking economic opportunity and refugees from burma. the u.s. has traditionally led the world in aid. the international red cross, and usaid funds the world food program. and this is something that most americans can take pride in. and we collectively, then, with

all of this funding, we kind of form the backbone of the international humanitarian system. if the u.s. funding wasn't there, my contention is the entire un apparatus and the ngos that are out there, many of them, would collapse. and this is something that i think is sort of taken for granted. but it's a very important thing. and the credit goes year in and year out to congress. because for years, we've had bipartisan support for really strong international humanitarian support coming from the united states. one of my chief concerns right now is that we could lose that bipartisan support that has built us into this leader in terms of humanitarian assistance around the world. we are number one in aid to syria.

and we are finding that in terms of helping europe, we really have a bit of a dilemma. there, it's not a matter of money, there it's a matter of political will and europe coming together to be decisive and decide how to do what they should in terms of helping legitimate refugees and stopping the flow, the dangerous flow across the mediterranean that is taking so many lives. our boss secretary kerry is constantly on the go. and he is, you know, and doing so in pursuit of peace. but we also take our points about what's needed on the humanitarian side and linda will have those discussions when she travels or anne will have discussions with middle east leaders when she travels. and so will their deputies and

our bosses and the white house. when they're having a conversation about u.s. foreign policy, one aspect of that will be asking other governments to do more to help respond to these crises or to take steps to treat people better in their own countries. and, like i say, we lead in resettlement of refugees. the numbers, of course, pale to the large migrations we see overseas. but we have been for many, many years, the leader of running a program that takes the most vulnerable refugees from around the world, bring them to the united states where they can restart their lives. we took 70,000 refugees over each of the last three years and this year, we are seeking to bring 85,000 refugees. an increase. and also, to bring 10,000 syrian refugees.

i get criticized from the right and left on this one. friends on one direction say that's not enough, you should bring many more. and friends on the other side say we're worried you'll let terrorists sneak into this program. so this is the most heavily vetted program of any traveler to the united states. and also, it's ramping up very sharply. and we are right now, we have over 40% of the syrian refugees who want to bring this year coming and we'll see larger numbers over the coming days. stay tuned. we've done a lot to try to meet the president's targets. i mentioned central america. we have a new program there to try to reunite children whose parents, one or both parents are lawfully present in the united states. bring their kids who have been left behind with the grandparents safely to the united states so they don't have

to make the dangerous trek. and the numbers of that are starting to increase, too. the biggest thing in our bureau after world refugee day is looking ahead to september when the president will have a leader summit on refugees. and he is seeking other countries to chip in. for those countries that can afford it to provide more assistance for any humanitarian operation around the world, for countries who haven't in the past resettled refugees or taken a certain number they do more. or they give them scholarships, or work visas or some sort of pathway to safety in their country. and the third piece of that is that countries have for years hosted refugees that in light of everything going on in the world that they do more, too, they let refugees work and support themselves and they allow more children to go to school. the three things i wanted to

make sure you knew, refugees are not terrorists and the u.s. leads. thank you. >> well, now, since i've given anne patterson a whole lot of time to think about this question, i'm not going to ask it, first. i'm going to follow on with anne richard, some of what you said. you noted that the high commissioner made a very elm passioned statement today and gave new numbers for refugees. but also said that against this backdrop, divisive political rhetoric on asylum and migration issues and disturbing levels of zenphobia. instead of burden sharing, with see borders clothing. instead of political will, there's political paralysis. and humanitarian organizations

like mine are left to deal with the consequences while at the same time struggling to save lives on limited budgets. what do you think is the -- is this, like, the perfect storm of issues driving this problem? both in terms of the number of refugees and the reluctance to take them in? is it a question? is it terrorism? is it money? is it this -- the pure volume? and i'll add on to that two questions that have come to the floor. one is -- and you touched on this a bit in your remark. what's the best thing that concerned citizens can do to make a difference? and second, how do you get all of these countries that have pledged lots of money. and then, when we look at the amount of money that has actually come across, it's not there? >> well, what we saw was that the countries that were the traditional donors to

humanitarian efforts were western europeans, japan, korea, australia, new zealand. and canada, u.s. and it was very clear as the numbers climbed in recent years because of conflicts, new conflicts, but also conflicts that are not being resolved. that's definitely part of the answer, karen, is that conflicts -- we're not able to bring peace to certain parts of the world because the leaders don't seem intent on peace. they seem to be -- continuing sort of a blood thirsty continuation of fighting. that the same donors were the ones leading year in and year out. we decided, we have to get more donors to the table. we have to get more giving, given the scale of what's going on. and we haven't succeeded in doing that. we see that some of the gulf states have become donors to

humanitarian causes, but they're not yet fully invested in sort of the system that we have or the ecosystem that we have so they'll give a lot to one crisis at one point, but maybe not routinely year in and year out the way the u.s. does. and we also are looking for other major world powers to, you know, serve on the security council or part of the g-20 to put funding forward. so we haven't seen new donors emerge from -- other than the list i just put out. so europeans, now, because of the arrival of all of this mixed flow of migrants and refugees into their countries are putting a lot more aid in. but, of course, the needs have increased. and definitely the concerns about right wing political parties is driving some of the

immediate actions that europeans are taking. where they're really focused on trying to stop the flow rather than the stepping back, the way you could in the calm period and say, what kind of legal migration might we set up? or what can we be doing in peace conferences to prevent this kind of flow? instead, we're doing things after these large numbers of people have shown up in europe. so the major donors are themselves involved and are reacting rather than acting proactively. >> well, just in terms of africa, economic versus, what do we call it, fleeing refugees. i know that it's not popular to talk about nation building anymore. we talk about capacity building. and i wonder if you could look at the situation in africa where obviously there have initially

been a huge flow of -- and as you try to address these problems, particularly in countries where both exist, how do you prioritize in terms of where scarce resources are going to go? >> part of the problem is the resources are so earmarked that you can't prioritize the resources. if i had control over that, i would put more toward democracy and governance because the key, to me, is having a stable country that takes care of its people. and if you have that, you don't have people fleeing for economic reasons or political reasons.

i would put more in that direction. we tend to focus a lot of our funding on peace and security. we focus a lot of our funding on initiatives that have either been earmarked by congress or other types of initiatives that are all good, that contribute in some way to our ultimate goals. but they may not contribute as directly as we would -- we would want them to. for example, if you look at our funding charts, a lot of money goes to health. well, who would argue against supporting health programs? given with ebola, malaria and hiv/aid but those issues, as well, are related to building strong institutions, ensuring that countries are stable, that they're governed well so that funding can go to the places and areas that it's required. so we focus a lot of attention

on root causes. we know we have to take this approach that's not just security, but also ensuring that governments take care of their people. that they are concerned about the fact that they have thousands if not tens of thousands of people who are displaced and who are not able to take care of their basic needs on a daily basis. >> one of the sort of pending crises is -- is kenya's saying they're going to close the camp where, i believe, it's 400,000, mostly somalia refugees are. is that how likely to happen is that? and what's going to happen to those people? not only in terms of their own welfare. but what will happen if they get sent back to somalia where you have an extremely precarious security situation.

>> i'd love to turn that question over to anne. but we both work on that issue. my challenge is to encourage the kenyans to stay the course in being a credible, refugees honoring their commitments under the geneva convention. and we have pushed that agenda very hard with the kennians. and i think through the efforts of unhcr and others, the kenyans are less vehement about insisting that refugees go home immediately. i was the refugee coordinator in kenya from 1993 to '96. i used to work for anne when she wasn't there. during that period, the kenyans threatened to send refugees home. no different than when countries start to have problems.

kenya's having serious, serious security issues. we blame those who are the most vulnerable. and so they're blaming refugees. so, i think, with unchr and the help of other partners, we are looking at ways to address kenya's concerns and at the same time, try to prepare the situation in somalia. so these refugees can go home. they've been living in kenya for more than 20 years. they're a whole generation of children have been born and grown up in the refugee camps. and none of us see those camps as being permanent, yet they are. >> that's what i was going to add on. our goal should not be to have the best refugee camps. our goal should be that people don't have to live in refugee camps for very long. that they get to go home, again, would be the best outcome. somalia is a very tricky place right now. there's been some people have gone back voluntarily, but it's very much an experimental

progress, i think. and then, that people be allowed to resettle in a new country, like some who come here. but usually, that's only a fraction of the world's refugees. another option is that people be allowed to stay in the places to which they've fled. and the numbers are so big right now, i think just saying that probably is a message that a lot of countries don't want to hear. so what i like about linda's answer is it shows you the tricky balancing act that is diplomacy that somebody who has worked on refugee issues for a long, long time. and i learned from, and, you know, has been in very tricky situations before. linda was in a bit of a legend for our folks, even though she's not old enough to be a legend. >> you'd be surprised. >> because she keeps going back to these tough assignments the

tricky balancing act is to say to kenya, no, we're not intent on having to stay forever as a major city of refugees, but at the same time, don't make any artificial deadlines and work with us in terms of looking at solutions for people. >> your turn. >> and i think the whole conversation about refugees leads us directly into the middle east. as we all know, the figure's 400,000 people dead, half the population of syria displaced or fled the country. this has been an issue for a long time that has been the subject of debate, political debate in this country. you have some people very strongly saying, not only should we now intervene militarily, but we should've done it a long time

ago. anything ranging from air strikes to troops on the ground. you have other people saying, and i won't mention any names. it's not our problem. we shouldn't be in there vis-a-vis assad, we should be directing our attention to the islamic state. this is 51 state department officials many of whom work on this issue saying, look it was the humanitarian situation saying this is completely unacceptable. we need to do something else. we need to take military action and get bashar al assad to come to the table and negotiate his own exit. so from the administration's perspective, how likely is that to happen? how likely is a policy shift? whether that or something half way there or something.

there are 70,000 people sitting in no man's land now. in jordan, the safe haven for isil. but what i -- and dissent has a long history in the state department going back many years. but let me assure you and assure people in this audience that these issues are grappled with at the very highest level of the administration every single day. and there aren't really any good answers in syria. it's not just to go -- excuse me, there are conflicts. legal issues, complex issues of

u.s. military deployments. there are a whole range of complications that result from this. one of the issues i think it's important to focus on secretary kerry's efforts in this respect. despite the short comings and there are many has enabled humanitarian access to get through to 700,000 people who didn't have it before and to impose the cease-fire and cessations of hostility in part of the country. there's an international effort underway under the u.n. and this is extremely fragile and obviously insufficient. but it's really the only way forward, i think, to solve the situation in syria. i wouldn't anticipate a change in policy. i think these issues are reviewed and struggled with every single day. but i think to go down this path

that the secretary's laid out, diplomatic path is really the only prospect i see right now. >> one of the central parts of the administration's counterterrorism policy is working through partners on the ground -- a disagreement with some i mission earlier that saudi arabia has been vocal about his disagreement of some aspects of the policy. there are other disagreements, not only with the saudi's but with turkey and other countries in the region. how long can the coalition hold together, as other countries believe that something else needs to be done? is there some danger, particularly, it would not be likely to happen this year, but if you see a new administration coming in and the opportunity for them to start going along, how important are these partnerships and how do we keep this together amid a lot of disagreement? anne p.: i think the counter

isil coalition will hold satisfactorily because nothing breeds success like success. many others in the administration, how military -- let me stress that. that is a different issue. but how militarily vulnerable isil has proven to be. in most cases, there has not been a direct confrontation with isil. it has melted away and a lot of simultaneous pressure has been put on isil. both in syria and iraq and frankly, now in libya. fairlyturned out to be a -- if not easy, at least manageable military target. i think what you may be asking though is about syria and how long can the differences of view hold together? if anything, it has gotten better.going their own way and

supporting their own proxies. that has gotten better. there have been a number of efforts in the administration and the secretary's efforts is one of them but there are others to bring these countries together. it is not perfect. as you heard there are many , disagreements that persist. i think there is still a more thaned policy view then -- there was a couple of years ago. karen: this is a question from the audience that i think applies to what all of you do, especially as terrorism and capacity building belong together. -- glom together. i will just read it. it has been observed that the geographic

it's been observed that the geographic combatant commanders act as super ambassadors with a regional area of responsibility and they have, obviously, a lot more resources than the state department has. what's your relationship? what's your level of interaction with the regional commanders? how often do you talk to them? do you feel like your planning process is fully integrated? any of you that would like to -- >> why don't i start? because the newest of the commands. and i started with africom at the very beginning, back in 2006 when it was created. in the africa bureau and worked with the od on the development of africa command. and i have seen that from birth to now, constantly improve. i speak on the phone with the

current commander once a month. it's a scheduled phone call. but we also talk to each other probably as often or more often than that when there are issues that come up. i don't feel they are acting as super ambassadors, but they do have tremendous resources that we don't have. and that is something that i wish we could correct. because the resources give them entry into many areas where it's probably not appropriate for the military to be involved, but they have the money. and it's hard to say no when we see the need. but we do coordinate with them very closely. we have an annual strategic planning meeting, both anne and i -- some of the africon countries are her countries, as well. the two of us will meet with him on occasion together so we can discuss issues of mutual

concern. again, i think the area where we have the most concern is on the funding side. >> so we see these -- i do both africom and centcom and we talk to them all the time. not a day that goes by that we don't have constant contact with them. and i don't think they want to be super ambassadors, because i think not surprisingly, you don't get to be a general in the u.s. by being -- by not realizing how this process has to work. so that works surprisingly well. i'm more envious of the money than the people. they have lots and lots of people. i think the state department budget is 4% of dod's budget. and so, they can throw people at an issue. it's a question of scale that we can't match. and when you get into these enormously complex insurgent situation or post insurgent situation, even more so

regrettably sometimes it's only going to be dod that has the resources to bring to bear on the situation because it's a question of scale. i wish it were otherwise, but it's not going to be otherwise in our lifetime. so we have to adjust to this. but the personal relations and the institutional relations are fine. >> do you find that with refugees? i know we're at the 25th anniversary of operation provide comfort. i remember covering the balkans when the refugees were coming out and there was a lot of tension between the military and civilian sides in terms of who was in charge, who could get organized more quickly. do you see that now on refugee increase? >> a lot of time during the course of the year with colleagues at the u.s. agency for office of foreign disaster assistance to brief military colleagues and foreign service colleagues who were going to go out to work for the combatant

commanders as their policy advisers. to brief them about what to do when a crisis erupts so they understand that you only bring -- break the glass and bring the u.s. military in a quick way if the crisis is of such a magnitude that it -- and if it's a natural disaster where there's nobody shooting at each other, such a magnitude that only the u.s. military has the capacity to get a lot of things there very quickly. they're not the low-cost option. they're not the option that should be used without thinking very carefully in those few hours before you deploy them. but they are the best in the world of being able to project across the globe very, very quickly. and in peacetime, that can be

life saving peace. but most of the time, we have civilian response mechanisms. we have my bureau at the state department, u.s. office of foreign disaster assistance at a.i.d. it has established relationships with the international organizations that are manned by civilians that know what to do. and with the world's best nongovernmental organizations. and so, we work very closely with the u.n. leadership and with others who respond to crises to make sure that there is a strong civilian response so that the military doesn't have to be called upon to get involved. >> two audience questions that have to do with the islamic state. one is what additional steps is the state department taking in terms of social media to counter the successful use of it?

and second, and i'm just assuming this one is about islamic state and syria, has russia been of assistance or an obstacle? >> at state, we have a new office, and we've also -- we have a new office that's handling social media. it has roughly 100 people and it's on its way to expansion now. and there's been a lot of analysis. and frankly, people like anne know false starts and the social media countering violent extremism. but there have been -- efforts have improved. we've also very importantly, in my view, set up joint centers in some of the countries because we can't really message muslims as effectively as people who live in the region. we've got a very good one with the uae. i think we're going to do one in tunisia and other countries where you can get the word out to mostly young men who can be attracted to this ideology.

and the second question, the relationship with russia has been very complex. >> very diplomatic. >> and not to beat around the bush about it, russia is a player in syria. russia went in there to preserve their interests and, at least, to preserve bashar al assad temporarily. but also, the russians are going to be key in moving him out at a certain time. we have in constant contact with the russians. we have channels in aman, geneva, and people talk to them every single day about the cease-fire in very extended and detailed conversations. our intelligence people work with them to resolve issues of fact. it's challenging at times, very challenging at times. but, again, i think it's fair to say that the cease-fire, the cessations of hostilities as we

call it has been held in areas of the country and always being negotiated in other parts of the country, too. it's a work in progress, believe me, secretary kerry has been the first to say he's -- he's -- what's the right word? certainly not going to be taken in by this. and the proof is going to be in the results. but we're working hard to work with the russians and with, for that matter, the rest of the international community and the support group to advance the cease-fire. >> do you think they've been saying things in recent days with the assad government about moving in, moving toward rocco, the islamic state headquarters? and this is major objective of the force that the americans have trained. do you -- is everybody going to come together and either shoot at each other or sing kumbayah. >> i think the american

leadership would say it's unlikely that the syrian regime could reach that. but certainly, for us and our coalition, eliminating the islamic state is very important because it's really the headquarters of isil. and not only are the people there under enormous and brutal conditions, so to free them would be a humanitarian step. but it's also anticipated it would be a huge intelligence trove, but there are a lot of records about foreign fighters and such. it's very important that be freed. but, again, i think the military success against isil has been very significant. >> that tells me we only have three more minutes. i wanted to ask you, anne, about you mentioned the syrian refugees while we're on the subject of syria and the administration, what's going to

take 10,000. correct me if i'm wrong, i think it was within the fiscal year, which would be by the end of september. >> right. >> now they've taken, i believe, around 3,000. >> 4,300. >> are they going to make it? who is counting? right? >> yeah, we're going to make it. >> you're going to make it by the end of september? 10,000? good. and here's a really good question about nigeria. which is, what keeps a nigerian army with the aid it gets from the united states and others from hunting down and destroying boko haram? i heard that the terrorists are integrated into village communities in northern nigeria. is this part of the problem in defeating them? >> i think there's no one answer to that. i think if we look back a couple of years, it was a lack of

capacity, believe it or not, in nigeria in the army, the army had been starved for a number of years in terms of training and equipment and morale. that has changed. but it doesn't change overnight. the president is focusing on making sure the army is committed. but has the capacity to respond. working with the neighbors and other partners to improve the response against boko haram. but it's not an easy task. it's an organization that continually marks itself. they are fighting on many different fronts. and some of them are in communities, making it very, very hard to figure out who is who. and where they are. but i think with all of our efforts, working with the multinational task force,

working with the eu, working with the neighbors who have suffered a recent attack. the ambassador and i were just talking about that. it's going to take even more effort to deal with this issue. and of course, we're concerned about the impact that isil may be having on this group. and in terms of what capacity they're giving the group. so it's going to take some time. and i think that's the answer. >> thank you. we have time for one more. >> okay. this is -- i'm personally interested in this. and it's a good question. it's about egypt. so going forward, what do you see as the best way to balance between support for egypt's military government given the security threats they're combatting and support for human rights, civil rights and economic development. >> that's a really good question. and that's another question we struggle with almost every day

in the department. there is no question that the situation in sinai is more unsettled now. you're seeing pockets of isil. not very large ones, but with the population largely alienated from the government. it has potential to become a problem. you're seeing a human rights situation that's extremely disturbing and repressing. but you're also in this, the real long-term, you're seeing an economy that simply hasn't been able to adjust to the 800,000 jobs that egypt needs to create every single year. so it's important with 90 million people that we maintain contact with egypt. we encourage to improve their human rights situation, and improve capacity on the military side and we try to balance our objectives there, which are several, security of israel being one of them, an important

one with the human rights situation and encourage political development. >> thank you all so much. great contribution. i wish we could go further. i have a lot more questions. thank you. and thank you all so much for coming. >> and let's give -- let's thank ambassador patterson, and anne richards for a wonderful, thought-provoking discussion and for being exceptional role models for women and girls worldwide. >> and karen, you asked the most probing questions, we loved them. thank you and come back soon.

>> federal reserve chair janet yellen will be on capitol hill for her second day in a row this morning. this time, to update members of the house financial services committee on the current status of the economy and what monetary policy is doing to sustain the recovery. yesterday, she briefed members of the senate banking committee. watch her testimony today at 10:00 a.m. eastern live on c-span 3. social security administrator steve goss will be on capitol hill today before the house ways and means subcommittee on social security. he'll deliver the annual board of trustees report on the program, which is being released today, nearly 80 days past the deadline set by congress. you can see it live at 2:00 p.m. eastern on our companion network c-span 3.

democratic party officials talk about the planning for their national convention next month in philadelphia. we'll hear from mayor jim kenny and convention ceo leah daughtry. this is about 45 minutes. >> good afternoon. my name is thomas burr, i'm the washington correspondent for the salt lake tribune. we are now 34 days from the democratic national convention, 34, right? >> 34. >> she's counting down. >> in philadelphia. >> it's been a long road here. especially for a certain presumptive nominee for the party who may not have expected

such a fight. today, we're happy to welcome to the press club philadelphia mayor jim kenny, along with leah daughtry, and philadelphia 2016 host committee executive director. given the four-day extravaganza that will draw an estimated 50,000 people or more, it seems like a good time to talk to these folks here about what we'll expect. by way of quick introductions, jim kenny became philadelphia's mayor in january of this year. prior to his election, he served as councilman at large where he worked to bring the convention to philadelphia. the mayor also served on the council when the city hosted the 2000 republican convention. the reverend is the chief executive officer of the 2016 democratic national convention. daughtry is the first person to manage -- is the first person to manage a democratic convention for a second time. previously, she had served as a ceo for the 2008 convention in denver where president obama received his party's nomination. kevin waso serves as executive

director of the 2016 host committee for the democratic national convention and we're seeing all aspects of the host committee including the operations, fund raising, community outreach and strategic partnerships. he assumed this role after having coordinated philadelphia's successful bid to host the dnc. they will each offer short remarks and we'll take some questions. mr. mayor, i'd like to start with you. >> well, good afternoon, and thank you. it's an honor to be in this prestigious and well-known place here in washington. and it's also an honor to be the new mayor of philadelphia since january of 2016. and also an honor to have the dnc choose philadelphia as the place to make history in our country, which will be made in the end of july here in -- not here in philadelphia, there in philadelphia. and we're -- we've been doing big events in philly for quite some time. again, the 2000rnc went very well. we just had the pope, which was

a huge, huge, unbelievably difficult to manage event, which we did. and we've had made in america for a number of years now on the parkway. our fourth of july ceremonies and concerts on the parkway are large events. looking for 50,000 people or so. the pope had much, much more than that. and we want to make sure that people are safe, that our delegates are safe, the press is safe. that everyone that comes and our visitors are safe. we want to make sure that people have an opportunity to experience the fun. this is a participatory event. it'll be free for folks. events all around the city that are free. and we want people to stay in philadelphia, not to leave town as they did for the papal visit, but stay in philly and enjoy it. and make sure people have an opportunity to express their first amendment rights as loud and as long as they'd like and make sure everyone is kept safe in that process also. we look forward to hosting the world, actually, because we know

there's so much national, international attention to this particular event. and we're very proud to put our best foot forward and show the world a good time and we're happy when you come here to philadelphia, you'll have a good time and we'll see you there. so thank you. >> good afternoon. thank you for inviting me today. the role of the media is critical to our convention. and it is incumbent upon us and we understand the importance of giving you as much information as you need to help us get our message out about what we propose to do as a party should the american people trust us with their vote. putting on a convention is like putting together a puzzle. and if you know anything about me, you know that i love puzzles. so this is the perfect job for

me. every piece has a specific purpose and fits in a specific place. and the puzzle cannot be complete until all the pieces are in their places. and for months, and for people like kevin on the host committee and me, our work has been going on for years and the puzzle is very near completion. we are thrilled to be in philadelphia, the city of brotherly love and sisterly affection. and we believe there's no better place for us to host our convention than in the birthplace of american democracy. in just 34 days, when democrats assemble in philadelphia, they will encounter a convention that looks like our party and that looks like our nation. although the convention schedule has not been set yet, viewers and attendees can expect that the first evening we will accomplish our party's business, adopting the rules and the platform and the convention officers, and then we will move into the meat of the convention,

culminating, of course, in the nomination of our vice presidential and presidential candidates for president. in the midst of all of the excitement, we cannot forget that the delegates are coming to philadelphia to do the business of our party. having served in this role in 2008 and having worked on every convention since 1992, i started when i was 3. i am uniquely aware of what's at stake for the convention and ultimately for this election. while the convention doesn't kickoff until july, we've already begun the important work through the drafting process. our party's platform is our mission, a statement of our principles and identity as democrats. in an unprecedented, open process, we have asked democrats to make their voices heard and to participate in the drafting process by submitting written

testimony, by submitting video testimony, by giving us their comments online, and we've been thrilled with the overwhelming response we've received across the country. our first drafting hearing was held last week, a week before last in washington, d.c. where we focused on issues around the economy, foreign policy, education and equality. this past weekend we were in phoenix, arizona, to discuss health and safety, the environment and energy and expanding and protecting our american democracy. we have seen a productive and in-depth process and exchange of views through this platform. and we are looking forward to sharing with our convention a document, a statement of principles that embodies all of who we are as democrats. as we celebrate these ideals,

the adeals that make us a party, that unite us as a party, i'm mindful of a distinct opportunity we have to juxtapose our conventions to the republican convention. what i like to call the chaos in cleveland that will occur the week before. our convention will display a vision for a brighter future. theirs will be rhetoric that plays to the least admirable aspects of human nature. fear, selfishness, hatred and exclusion. it is our job to show the world why our party offers a better vision. in fact, as far as i'm concerned, the only vision to move the american people forward. one that will continue to put our country on the path toward the future. our team is in high gear. it takes a lot to put together a convention that feels good and looks good for our 6,000 delegates and alternates and for the 20,000 or so friends in the

media. 400 buses, 12,000 square feet of media workplace and the list goes on we've been fortunate to have the input of mayors, senators, members of congress and the community as we have set our plans. and we are expecting more than 500 dignitaries from around the world. who will be part of the national democratic institute's program this year. we know that the world is watching. and we are committed to building a convention that is reflective of america. and on july 25th, that is exactly what you will see. we look forward to your questions and seeing you in philadelphia where we will make history, again. thank you. >> it's great to be here, on behalf of the host committee, i was thinking about this the last

time i was here it was 21 years ago when i was a sophomore. hard to believe that we're going to be given an update. it's an honor to be here. before we make remarks, i want to thank mayor kenya for his leadership. a huge proponent for the campaign. and his time has been fantastic and it's going to be a success. and to say that the host committee has a good working relationship, it would be an understatement. and we're all focused on making sure that the city -- to shadow off the amenities we have to offer. i've been on this project for 3 1/2 years and we're down to 34 days.

it'll be a great opportunity for the city. you can't put a price on the coverage that we're going to get. and if you haven't been to philadelphia in the last five years, you haven't been to philadelphia. if you walk the streets, you can see the vibrancy, the young people moving in. you can check out the restaurants we have. it's really, in many ways, second to none. and something we're excited to show off. in hindsight, and the mayor mentioned this, we hosted the holy father for the world meeting of families. and that was something that where the world meeting decided to come to philadelphia. but if you think about it, the convention is something the city had to decide to go after and go after really hard because it was a competition. and it would have been very easy for the leadership in the corporate community and the government to say we're going to take a pass for the 2016 convention and maybe look to the future. i think it's a real testament to the mayor's leadership or the host committee's leadership to say we're going to take on this

big event and challenge on the heels of the world meeting, and i think we're rising to the challenge and i think over the next four to five weeks, people that come into the city are going to see a great city and something we're proud of. outside of all of the things we're going to show off about the city in terms of keeping people in and some of the problematic work, this is an opportunity to work with some of our sponsors to make sure they get to work on some of the things they care about, too. and one example are summer youth employment, something that the mayor champions on a daily basis. governor rendell and i were in new york city a year and a half ago raising funds. but raising money in new york, and we sat down with executives from jpmorgan. and they said, our biggest philanthropic program is employment. we know philadelphia has a strong record. so what if we teamed up with the host committee in the city to find a good vehicle for that?

and about a year ago, it's hard to believe it's been a year ago. we teamed up with jpmorgan and philadelphia youth network to fund 100 slots for summer youth to make sure they have jobs in the city of philadelphia over the summers. those are the things we're talking about talking about the convention. obviously what people see on tv is going to be fantastic. and the work is second to none. but there's a lot of ancillary benefits i don't think people get to see on a daily basis so we've been trying to highlight. and finally, the last thing in terms of a story. one of the things in 2000 when we hosted the republican convention was an event called political fest. everyone doesn't get a chance to go into the hall and see a lot of the convention festivities, but what we can do is build -- bring some of the festivities to the general public. and we've teamed up with our convention center and friends at harvard and c-span and a whole host of other throughout the country. we're going to bring an interactive political museum to philadelphia. so we could have philadelphians that want a taste of the

experience to experience it where they can. the events you can't put a price on. but i want to close to say if you look over the last 40 or 50 years, there's only been two cities that have hosted both major conventions. i'll sit down so we can take some questions. >> thank you very much, kevin. just a note, for the audience, the press club tries to be nonpartisan, we have invited the mayor and gop officials, as well, to speak. if you are listening online, you may, as well, send questions. if you're a news organization, to questions@press.org. and let me start off with a

question myself. we go to conventions, what you see on tv is not what you see at a convention. looks like a fortress. how prepared are you for handling civil protests and also tamping down or stopping before it starts any riots or protests that might turn violent? >> go right ahead. >> well, the r-word is not something we use. we're prepared, we have a specific site for protests, which is right across the street from the wells fargo center. a lot of this has to do with the secret service and at the site. that's where the dignitaries they have to protect will be. we have not had a final report for them or asked from them as to what we need to do. but, again, in 2000, we had people in who were protesting in center city, there were

impromptu protests, some tossing over of trash cans and planners alike. you do your best to keep the peace. and we are prepared and done big events before. and we are not being restrictive to permits. we would like people to ask for permits because then we know where they are, what time they're going to be there so we can prepare to keep people safe. but we're ready and willing and able to have people exercise their first amendment rights. i mean, what's the sense of having a democracy if you can't say what you think and protest when you want to? but saying, as i said earlier, saying what you want to say as long and as loud, we're prepared to do that. >> i would just add that we are the big tent party. so we pride ourselves on diversity of opinion and welcoming diversity of opinion at every convention i've worked

on, which has been on since 1992. there are also protesters. there are always people with size. it's not something that we are surprised at. it's something that we welcome. as the mayor has said, we believe in the first amendment and try to make it easy for folks if they want to set up shop and bring their signs and prepare an area for you to do that. our primary concern, of course, is that everyone is safe, even the protesters are safe and are able to exercise their rights in a way that everyone can meet their goals. so we're looking forward to having folks who want to come and express an opinion about whatever they want to express opinions about. come on, join the party. we're happy to have you. and as the mayor has said, we are most concerned that everyone is safe and everyone abides by the law. and other than that, it'll be like any other democratic convention. a lot of people that are

expressing a variety of opinions. >> before you sit down, let me follow up with a question of -- beyond the timing advantage you have over the republicans because of cleveland cavaliers. >> go, cavs. >> do you have any other advantages in planning this than you believe the gop does in planning their convention? >> i think, one, it always helps when the administration of the city and the planners of the city are of the same party because there is a -- there's an interest beyond just the logistical. we also have an interest in making sure that our party puts the best foot forward. so that's one. obviously, i don't watch basketball, but i watch this year because go cavs and that they'd have limited time to be in the arena. and i think they got in yesterday. i've been in since may 28th. so i got a little leg up on them. and i think the other advantage

we have is we've got a great team. i've done this before. i've been to -- i bring a certain level of experience to this. i know where the bumps in the roads are in order to assemble the team in order to pull off what i strive to be a flawless convention, at least logistically. and we also have the biggest advantage of all, a great candidate who also -- so our convention goes beyond pure entertainment, offers something substantive and weighty for the american people to consider as they are thinking about their future. >> thank you, reverend. to the audience, please identify yourself and your news outlet when you ask a question. wait for the microphone, if you would. do we have a question?

yes, ma'am? >> hi, i'm jennifer with cbn news. this question is for reverend daughtry. you dubbed the rnc convention chaos in cleveland. and i wonder, as you're planning the convention scheduled. how you're addressing ways to promote unity among democrats. >> well, i think you already see unity starting to happen. i've worked on nine presidential cycles. again, i started when i was 3. when you get toward the end of a cycle, everyone's passions are running high, everyone's invested time and energy into their candidates, nerves are frayed, and it's getting to the end. and i think we saw a lot of that. once it's been the democratic party's history, once the nominee is established and we know who that is going to be that we rally the troops and folks tend to come inside the tent. of course, there are always

those not coming in the tent and never were going to be in the tent. that's okay. they're welcome when they're ready to come in, the tent will be there for them. so i really believe this will follow the model that we have had and we have seen over the last many presidential cycles and that democrats will rally, independents who can go either way will weigh their options, see what's out there and make the best decision, i think, for themselves and for the country. so i'm not concerned about it, i think you will see that happening. fully in the process, and i think we're going to be fine, and we look forward to a successful november. >> thank you. >> one second, bob.

>> john tamari from the philadelphia enquirer. the state's open records office has said that fund raising, the donors to the host committee should be made public, so far that's been resistant, it hasn't happened. why is the city and the host committee resisted making the donors public? >> thanks. for the record, the host committee decision. but the donors will be made public. we have to file, just like cleveland, just like every other past convention committee. we have to file 60 days after the convention. we will file 60 days after the convention with all of our donors and all of the accurate amounts. and that's the position we've taken. and we're going to file and make them public just like every other convention in the past, you know, 25 years. >> i have a quick question, just a minute if you would, coming in from the npr affiliate whyy in

philadelphia from tom mcdonald. i believe this would be addressed to you, mr. mayor. congressman and three of his co-defendants were convicted of racketeering and conspiracy today, do you have a response, reaction to that decision? >> thank you, tom. obviously, the jury's spoken. the criminal justice process went forward. it's my understanding that a congressman who has been convicted cannot vote. i think a district there needs a voting member. and, you know, the jury's spoken, and there's nothing more than i can say.

>> bob, pass the mike down. >> you've all and reverend, mentioned the diversity that the democratic party will have at the convention. the republican convention invariably shows the three hispanics, four african-americans and probably a muslim or two that will be in the audience and the media focuses on that. and they'll probably have that many speakers also. but what are you going to do to counter the spin of the republicans on their diversity versus what you claim is the true diversity of the democratic party? >> i don't think we need to do much because we will have as many people of diversity in one delegation as they have on the entire floor. the picture is very clear when you see the republican

convention on television that it's not a very diverse group of people. and juxtapose that with the picture of the democratic convention and every kind of american is present whether -- and part of that is our party's rules. we have a rule about equal division. half of our delegates must be female. and so, it's guaranteed that's what america is. and we have a processes in place that require the state delegations to use their best efforts to ensure that their delegates reflect the diversity of their state. so if you do that, it becomes a very simple picture. and all you've got to do is put them up side by side and you'll -- and it becomes very clear which convention represents or looks like america. beyond that, our commitment to diversity is, you know, obviously what you see on the convention floor, which is people who run for delegate, who

pay their own money, get elected. but beyond that, we have a commitment to diversity, both in front of the camera and behind the scenes. so, of course, our speakers will represent the broad diversity of our party, in terms of race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, all of that. but equally as important for us is what happens behind the scenes. who is running the camera? who is housing the delegates? what the staff looks like. anybody can put somebody in front of the camera. who is in the back making it happen? and if you've got a commitment to diversity, you have diversity at every level on every part of your team, on every -- every sector of your vision. and that's -- if people come behind the scenes, you'll see the same sort of diversity behind the scenes as in front of the camera. our staff is 50% female, 56% minority. what you see is not just what we have people talking about, it's what we actually live, what we

believe on every level and every aspect of what we present. >> i probably shouldn't ask you your vp picks for the candidate. this question came in online. to a question that came in online. so this question is from david starpinsky with the "washington times." how confident are you that the city will be adequately prepared for the convention in terms of security? and how many applications from protest groups have been received? and how many have been approved? >> well, we'll be very prepared. and i'm not sure the number to date. again, i think it's important to see that people apply for a permit. so we can maintain their safety and make sure the space is available and things work right people and people have the opportunity to express their views.

>> i have a follow-up for the other members of the panel. and that is that ed rendell said in late may that the convention was $9.5 million short on funding. what does the fund raising picture for the committee look like right now? >> great, well, just to clear that record on that. $9.6 million short means at the end of this thing we'll be $9.6 million in the hole. that's not the case. at that point, when governor rendell was talking about finance numbers, we were under $10 million away from the goal. and i'll tell you right now that we are under that number right now. we were talking about where we have to go, just like any campaign, any big endowment to raise money for the university, you're raising money at the last minute. just where we're at currently and we're a little under $10

million right now. we're in good shape. >> thank you. one second. i'm going to ask the reverend a question real fast. in any organization, this is a large puzzle. there are, nicely put, hiccups. are there any problems you foresee right now or any problems you've had so far in the planning, execution of organizing the convention? >> you know, the advantage of this being my second time at bat is that i knew where hiccups were likely. and so i was able to plan for that. actually, we've had a very smooth run here. we have not had any significant problems. we've had a first rate relationship with our host committee and with the city, which has just made it a stellar experience. i really -- we're smooth running. i like to say, we're on time, on task, on budget, and we are. and we'll probably be ready a little early. and early enough to watch the

republicans. we'll be glued to the set to see what we're dealing with and blow off a little steam before folks come to philadelphia. so, you know, we're ready. and i've got a great team who has made this smooth sailing. so we're not expecting any huge problems that we're not prepared to deal with. >> can i follow up real fast with a question about the last couple of republican conventions, they've had issues with hurricanes landing. do you have anything prepared just in case a hurricane strikes during the commission? >> i like to think i have a line upstairs. and so, you know, i'm going to be relying on that. we're not expecting any hurricanes. maybe a little heat. but, you know, everything's air conditioned. we'll be fine. >> thank you. got a question from the front row. >> -- work with the online

newsletter, i've been reading in the press that -- i work with the press club's online newsletter. i've been reading various reports that philadelphia has purchased an armored vehicle. that's not true. but also, long lists of riot gear and various things that the republicans have purchased. you've mentioned all the hotel rooms, all the other things. can you say anything about what you've done in terms of particular safety care and potential trouble solving gear? >> we have not purchased that, nor will we. we like bicycles. bicycles are very effective. police on bikes interact with

people better. we have a special detail that we've always had. it's not special for the convention. civil affairs. they had the ability to speak with people they're not in uniform, they're in suits, generally. they have orange arm bands on to identify them, the ability to interact with people in a cordial way, find out who the leadership is, set some ground rules in general. kind of keep everybody, you know, not in line, but together. and work with them. and bicycles have been extremely effective in other events we've been doing and bicycles are what we like to use. our people are trained. we went through occupy over a long period of time. every role call, every single role call at the -- each officer was read by the commanding officer the first amendment. so they understood why they were out there and what they were doing and what their purpose is. their purpose is to keep people safe. no matter what you think about what it is they're saying, they are to be safe. and we have no interest in riot

gear or any kind of military vehicles. our police are equipped. more importantly here than anywhere else. and i think we have the ability to talk to people. >> but while you're up here, mr. mayor, not really related question, but this is about election day. your transit authority had strikes, in correct me if i'm wrong, 1977, 1981, 1983, '86, '98, 2005, 2009, and 2014. i understand the contract with the transport workers, local 234 expires the weekend before the election. do you have concerns about a transit strike that could happen during the election day when a democratic vote might tamp it down? >> hurricanes, transit strikes -- first of all, the relationship with this administration and organized labor is strong. organized labor has been a wonderful part of this

convention process, both inside the building and outside the building helping to raise money. we are together. obviously, we had a huge political and legislative issue recently with the sugar sweet and beverage task, which we passed for the first time anywhere in the major city. our labor unions were very much with us and helping us, our unions and service unions and construction trades. we are proud of our labor, our labor force. and i don't suspect. again, i'm not speaking for the transit workers. but considering the environment that we're in now, i don't expect that to be the case and expect to have those issues help resolve those issues well before then. >> i'm not always doom and gloom, i promise. maybe i can ask for -- sorry. >> i'd like to follow up on my initial question of the donor list. it has been the open records office says this is a public record. why wait 60 days after when it doesn't do a lot of good two

months after the event happens. why is that decision to wait? >> well, i think, if you look at past conventions. i mean, we're required to file 60 days after the convention. and we're going to file 60 days after the convention just like every single convention in the past. i think if you ask our friends in cleveland, they're doing the same. you know, we are in the middle of a process of fund raising for a very big project. and we're going to get there and we're going to make our goal. we're hitting our goals. but right now, we're in the middle of it and we have 30 days to close strong and we're going to file like the ftc requires us to file. and everything will be transparent down to the dollar amount. you'll be able to look at where cleveland raised money, and where philly raised money. and at that point, 60 days later, once the dust settles on everything and we look at a huge success in philadelphia, everyone will get the accurate picture of where we're at and where we were going and why we did what we did.

we feel comfortable in that. and that's what we're doing. >> thanks. i think we had another question over here. mr. jackson? >> yeah. >> herb jackson. i had a question for the mayor. you're probably going to be bringing in police officers from outside the city. have you had any cooperation or noncooperation with governor christie about new jersey troopers? and also, when you talk about how your guys train for this? if you're bringing in officers from other departments, i know i found in charlotte when they brought in police from all over north carolina, a lot of them didn't know what they were doing. >> i'm not sure about the contingent relative to new jersey state police. i don't believe there is any. pennsylvania state police have worked with us together very closely with the pope and other events. i'm not sure the number of troopers coming in. but we've worked with them, know them. again, the secret service does have a lot to say about what happens. and our relationship with the federal authorities, the secret

service, the fbi, homeland security. i mean, our commissioner ross, before him, commissioner ramsey developed a great relationship with those agencies. we expected them to be seamless and flawless and look forward to the extra help in the beginning. but there's been no new jersey issues as far as i know. >> i just wanted to add something. in terms of the coordination and leah mentioned it and the mayor mentioned it. i think it's important and something i wanted to say in open remarks but left it out. i think in terms of the coordination, if you look back, this started years ago when we were -- during the bid phase of this when we were looking at the site visits and putting together the plan for philadelphia. i think the one thing that gets lost sometimes and we try to do this to the best of our ability. when on the technical advisory committee, when people were looking at what city they wanted to go to. but philly's track record of hosting big events is second to none. something we had to demonstrate

clearly during the process. so i think if you look at where we are today because of the relationship we have and something we don't talk about often. the dnc and the host committee, we share office space. and not a day we don't try to figure out where to go next. this has been a process in terms of building the trust hosting a successful event for the democratic party. but i think it's important. >> thank you. looking back at the audience. over here. one second. yeah. please identify yourself. >> hi, i'm carrie lavigne for the center of public integrity. a clarification and question. mentioned that the fund raising left to do is just under $10 million can you clarify whether the money that's -- that you're counting towards the goal at this point is pledges or cash? that's already been collected? is it in hand? >> yeah, it's a good question. it's a combination of cash and commitments. >> okay. >> similar to cleveland, similar

to what we talked about couple of months ago. it's cash and commitments but we feel confident with where we are. >> and in addition to that, i wanted to ask the mayor to expand on something he said. which is that the organized labor has been helping with the fund raising for the event. and i was hoping you could address the role that they're playing and how they've been helping to fund raise and what they're contributing. >> i think they've been solicited to contribute to the event and have. i don't know the numbers, but i know there are a number of larger unions both locally and statewide and perhaps nationally that have contributed their typical democratic supporters. they support democratic ideals. and from what i understand have contributed to the process. i'm not sure exactly the numbers. i'm not that deeply involved in the fund raising. my role is making sure that the train's running at all times and we're where we're supposed to be with police and sanitation and streets and everything else. naturally, labor unions do

gravitate towards the democratic party and can have helped with the process. >> maybe he could address what percentage they are at this time. >> i won't get into percentages. i don't have that at my fingertips. but i can tell you from the very beginning when philadelphia decided to put their name in for the convention, organized labor has been at the forefront of the bill, both in terms of support financially, the commitment to the work done at the arena. i think even if you talk to our friends in philadelphia who have been fantastic, in 2000, they had -- that gives you a sense of the labor community in philadelphia, which i think is probably the best labor community in the country. honestly, we're blessed to have their support in many ways. >> thank you. before i ask, i think will be the last question, i don't see too many other hands out there right now. let me do a couple quick announcements. tomorrow, we'll have the labor sector speak at a press club

luncheon at noon. also tomorrow, former canadian secretary of state for asia-pacific, investigative journalist ethan gutman, releasing the detailed comprehensive report on china's agency, dealing with prisoners of conscious as a profitable source. the next day, we also have another newsmaker with kim rokio, for the tragedy assistance program for survivors to discuss efforts to offer comfort and care. lots of water. snacks in your bag.