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tv   Public Affairs Events  CSPAN  December 21, 2016 4:00pm-6:01pm EST

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today. i will speak in broad terms about the u.s. industrial security regime. it is a very robust regime that has been in place very robust r. it has been in place since 1951. in fact, when the program was first in up, the body of regulations that apply to industry at the time was only nine pages long. into a coupleed of hundred pages now, with respect to the body of regulations have to follow now. that othertant countries have an industrial security program as well, because u.s. industry cannot engage in classified contracts on unless your counter parts have clearance as well. there are a number of foreign countries that have industrial security programs in place
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during --. the key item in order for that to happen is the u.s. government enter into general security with the military information secrets with foreign governments. they were known as general security information agreement. the two industries are allowed to exchange classified information. u.s., official requirements is not a right -- perfect. thank you. industry, you have to be sponsored to obtaining a
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facility clearance. you have to sponsor by you of it does u.s. government agency or another u.s. company. there has to be a need for that company to perform on class afford -- classified programs. companies areign not eligible. for companies are allowed to purchase u.s. companies and as as the ownership control and influence can be properly mitigated and approved by the appropriate government entity than those companies can perform unclassified contracts as well. in fact, there are roughly about 150 companies -- u.s. company that are foreign owned that operate under a majority mitigation agreement, a special security agreement, a voting trust or proxy, including some
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japanese companies, which was addressed at the previous panel. there are not a lot of japanese companies, but there are probably a half a dozen. that is not public record, but statistic over the years. there are four security agencies for the responsible security programs. department of defense, department of energy, the --lear right field torry regulatory commission and the office of the director of national intelligence. dod, the defense security service is responsible for oversight of cleared industry -- there are other
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government agencies that have security programs, and they are isller programs , thedss responsible for 13,000 cleared facilities, including there is a small degree a foreign-owned you as companies as well. in addition to dss sponsoring companies -- i should say reviewing companies that and , they issue it clearances, they have responsibility for conducting reviews of companies. on a reviews are done yearly basis, sometimes longer, depending on the security posture of the company and with u.s., --o -- foreign
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owned companies those are done on a yearly basis. it is surprising that many of the -- these companies have outstanding security companies. one of the tactile is that in order to maintain your clarets you have to have a good security program -- your clearance you have to have a good security programs. i will address some slots that are coming up. development isnt that defense security service is moving away from their standard way of conducting security reviews. currently it is based on body of there are hundreds and hundreds of regulations that apply and that is what the review is . dss wants to move away from that method and wants to start threating reviews on the
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to the specific companies technologies. dss wants to work with the companies to identify the threat and also identify what the vulnerabilities are, and come up with some countermeasures as well. started,am has just and there have been a couple of pilot programs inducted, those pilot programs were conducted at a number of companies that operate under proxy agreements. off, and ittarting will take a little time for that methodology to be a doctor side dss and policy embraced by industry as well.
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the key takeaways are, as i said, companies need to comply. if they don't comply, then there are repercussions. clearance, facility could be invalidated. if your clearance is invalidated, that means you can unclassifiedform contracts unless the government contracting agency oks it. you can also no longer bid on potential classified contracts. it can take quite some time to get your clearance reinstated. it is 90 days or longer. that is an incentive to stay in compliance. seriouse, the most repercussions would be that the clearance is terminated, which means the company is out of the classified market.
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that is a black mark on the record and will take them quite some time to obtain a facilities clearance clarence -- clearance. they would have to do serious adjustments to get back into the program. with that, i think it is very important that the japanese industry to move forward to establishing an industrial security program within their country, and no it will take some time. the u.s. program started in 1951 and it evolved into a very robust program. it is a step in the right direction. towill allow the industry exchange classified information, which i think will be beneficial
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for all in the long run. >> thank you. we have a host of questions or want to ask you. but i want to hear from steve first. of evasonresident global advisors. it is a strategic and management consulting firm. he has worked in a number of including unconventional oil and gas, cofounder of the china beige book, which a lot of us know and use. thank you for that. he has previously served as chiefs of staff for the concert for the secretary of state.
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corps, he served as military assistant to the deputy security and defense as well as on the joint chiefs of staff. pilot, he received two decorations for combat valor. i guess you are not going to tell us which conflict that was. >> world war ii. [laughter] graduate of northwest university, published articles and professional journals. he serves as consultant to the institute of defense analyses. steve. thank you. >> good afternoon.
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this is tough duty be the last guy on the last day. i will be a little bit provocative here. talk before personal opinions, i hope i don't offend anybody. i will offer my personal opinions. from japan on friday. let me start out with some theghts on challenges for japanese defense technology development. most of my comments today will more with myowards japanese friends and mind. this is an unequal dialogue. japan is interested in more industrial development. there are some reasons why that is good for the alliance that in , the of incentivizing
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industry and incentivizing the u.s. to participate more in that relationship, is a burden for that rests with the japanese. and somemptions believes on where we stand in the relationship. costese industry is not competitive on defense articles. the problem is that the ministry of finance tends to craft a budget with the industrial base in mind, to ensure that jobs are the primary factor. there has never been any competitive discipline to japanese industry in a way there has been any other countries, which means that all of the functions of profit and loss and notciency have been sacrifice, but have been put aside for development and
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maintenance of the japanese industrial base, such as it is. --an has a few indigenous that are competitive around the world. the submarine is right up there as an example or it it is globally competitive. at lost competition to the french and australia, but it is still a great submarine. japanese industry does not have a mechanism for defense exports. most of these firms -- they wait for an order. the government tells them what they want them to build, they go out under license production, or develop something indigenously. these companies that are terrific companies, toshiba and
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others, top 500 in the world. units have never had to compete and so you don't find that same competitive dna within the defense units of some terrific international japan companies -- japanese companies. the changes have been in name only. abbe had a great on overarchingas vision of where they -- he wants to see the nation go. bureaucratic -- trying to get through defense exports. the clearance process would be dual use,r through that's nice but at some point you have to say we need a military only capability, and we have to be able to figure out how we do that.
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industry lacks an export codevelopment incentives outside of japanese initiatives. and i ame head ofmc the ceo and i have a million yen to spend on a new investment, why would i spend that on something in the defense sector where the government will limit me to a 4% or 6% profit margin where i could go somewhere else and do something internationally -- 20% orlook at a 20 30% margin. there is a risk that the japanese government that you have to take up to help its industry, i think. most of the indigenous defense programs are threat driven. if you look at act aircraft, the totally indigenous airplane, which means it is very expensive.
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it is a handmade airplane with extensive japanese components. that is fine if they want to broaden develop an airplane, they will build 143 if they were going to build off the line from boeing. if they want to buy apache and have them assembled in japan, it would cause them to her three times what it will cost them coming out the line. this me to get lesser quality goods that are not in demand. they will have a difficult time being sold anywhere outside of japan. mr. abbe has taken on the role of the defense market --. he is the best is this development person in japan right now. he took a personal interest in australia and try to push it butugh, unsuccessfully -- he does a great effort trying to
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move it into australia. they have come along way and they may yet sell to us, too. it is time for japanese industry to take up the mantle. ice,e cyber side, folk and this in any government, and the japanese industry and government have not had the shocks to the system that u.s. government has had that has forced the u.s. government into breaking down and crossepipes agency types of cyber security requirements. there is also a lack of funding for japanese cyber funding. cyberms of general
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development on the defense side it is underfunded. one example one the olympics, i talked to the previous head of the 20 20th ebix in tokyo, and i said so you have responsible -- responsibility for cyber security. do you have any mike that? he said i don't. have any money to enforce that and he said i don't. i will say who but a large government entity within japan to look at transportation was cyber security. does a lot of cyber practice they came to us to talk to us about what we thought for transportation. whatd a great discussion, is your timeline and they said we are under contract. we have to work up until that contract and spirit and they the three months prior to olympics. i said you are doing a two year
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study prior to the olympics and then drop on the sponsors to hear what they need to fix. that sense of urgency that this is a national threat that needs -- be taken as seriously i think he was making a good point. i will submit that i think that is the biggest entryman to u.s. japan relationship is the lack of the nist bomb. only now is japan has some highly classified programs begin to make their way into the japanese hopper. they are coming to grips with both cyber industrial protocols. these are still limited to programs with u.s. involvement.
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f-35, place where you have to get security clearances to work on this kind of equipment. it is a painful process where it is on a by name process. this is no way to run a railroad, we have to fix this. there is also a problem on the cyber side with the inability to address liability. idea of an ability to address the legal liabilities of cyber security and protection is holding back japanese reading readiness, readiness for intelligence sharing and disaster response. in a place like japan which is in many ways they didn't -- disaster supermarket are important to the people of japan.
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let me go on to some of the codevelopment challenges. coproduction and are challenging activities in japan. it's successful code development and production are sharing intellectual property and capabilities. success of these initiatives will depend on technologies but it will offer the strength of -- jack pinto -- japanese right now the u.s. industry has little direct incentive. u.s. firm andarge your japanese counterparts are coming to you and say we want to share, there is not much other than money to incentivize them. i talked to my japanese friends and say i talked to boeing or lockheed and they want to do this. they really didn't want to do that. there is no incentive in till andbegin to share, protect,
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protect in ways that ensure industrial security for the and thetual property security of sensitive intelligence, the incentives will not get any better than they are today. you that my u.s. clients are concerned about intellectual property and cope development and production activities. this is a hangover from countries on the other side of to the west of japan, where intellectual to property is not valued. theft from supposedly allies is quite common. third-party transfers, any tampering and use monitoring needs attention. issues ways, these are that the japanese government is coming to grips with. i am not being critical here, there is so much that japan has
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to catch up with quickly. these are challenges, they are out there and there is a role for the u.s. government to say. third-party transfers will be and a coproduction environment. internal japanese bureaucracy leaves continue to be problematic. it disconnects between the nsa, mod and anybody else that has a say was something it gets shipped overseas will continue to lack coordination mechanism. week, theynss last know their shortcomings here. but there has to be a more set process so the industry does not get stymied at the first term. we had a chance to talk to our -- six months ago. important toing as
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japan as the u.s.. making sure you know where your technology goes when he goes to a third-party, who is using it for what purposes and making sure it doesn't go anywhere that you don't wanted to go. -- want it to go. my u.s. colleagues tell me that want times japanese technology released before they know what they want to do. give us your stuff and then we will talk about what we want to do. it is a challenge in meeting the technology and licensing requirements. there are impediments to information sharing. mine who is in a recent conference in japan on the cyber security sign came away from the conference saying the single biggest problem is the stove piping and the
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information sharing between u.s. industry, government and japanese industry and government. that needs toing be in the back of people's minds. license production is pernicious. any aspiration to create a competitive -- globally competitive defense industrial base, licensed production is solid wood -- stalin would approve. it does not inject capitalism into the defense base and until that discipline comes into the japanese defense base it will be tell to make globally competitive products. proscriptions on how do we fix some of these problems. first line is industrial security and protection of ip.
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this includes japanese government, japanese industry and academic. for those of you who are more expert in things japan. i, i am told that in academia there is still quite a strain of -- that the same sorts of research and development activities that many u.s. institutions would undertake. in some ways japanese industry losing out on the academic and research base kind of capability that the u.s. has at some point it will be important to pull that back in. being able to have security and protection of ip within those institutions will be important as well. classification levels, japan needs the ability to do classification and personal clearance. done onw it is being the f-35 program -- on a
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case-by-case basis. there has to be something like what the u.s. or any of the five companies have in terms of security clearance and personal -- personnel reliability main is pretty aggressive cyber security and training, it is a given. defense of this case is the best offense. i think what we need here is a --. i think the government of japan must be encouraged to take full it is quite the -- understandable that there will be problems in getting it off the ground. milditicisms here are very because i understand how difficult this is. toanese industry is hesitant
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embrace the freedoms it has been granted. they are not incentivized to do it with four-6% profit margins and the inability to export. when you begin to export into various markets you will look at times between two and 10 market margins. the only way you can begin to develop defense articles is to plow those profits back into you internal r&d cycle and begin to develop the next best thing. the good part is the that the next best thing goes to the defense of japan but a lot you just a globally competitive. if you look at countries such as singapore, look at norway and sweden, they have used exports to generate their own capabilities and to create a very robust and globally competitive defense capability.
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japanese industry still rely on the government of japan to advocate for its industry. until there is true business companiest by various to branch out into the wild world of competitive defense sales that will not change. japanese company i was talking to who said we want to come into the u.s. but we don't want any competitors. i thought they were kidding. all you not laughing. -- o-you are not laughing. because of the challenges that the -- japan industry has initially the government of japan and the government of the u.s. need to take the lead on industry to industry collaboration. likealso need to do things share risk. the japanese government can do this varies ways. they can help with some of the r&d, through various research organizations, they can do
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funding mechanisms that can help reduce the risk. this is a big change for japanese industry and the need some help. must reconcile the japanese foreign-policy objective this -- objectives. i will tell you the japanese bureaucracy that we talked to that was asked to approach a middle east country, and to see if they could sell and to that country. we talk to the japanese bureaucracy and i said good to go in two months later we went back, and they said now you can't do it. they said denmark put a sanction on this company in the european union. we said how does that apply to japan?
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the difficulty of japanese industry committing to a ,articular course of action needs to have some of that foreign-policy risk removed from the equation. let's talk about cyber security. how do we improve cyber security to improve the relationship? personal opinion, the single biggest impediment to the future of cyber security ofationship is japan's lack cyber security protocols. create the sort of confident building measures that the u.s. will appreciate and ,egan to open up some of the ip some of the classified capabilities and most importantly, intelligent sharing. if they ever have an aspiration
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this will beth eye the first step. here are some things from her recent cyber security conference. here are some things that japan can do. strong of fortification -- authentication, fewer points of entry and fewer vulnerabilities within the echo system of your organization. networkt of computer providers. part of this goes to the inability to have that discussion between industry and government to talk about threats in new real-time and why said they can be got with by both sides of the equation. i do know that japan has done a good job and that they have appointed a new director of cyber policy. the problem is that person is
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the ministry of foreign affairs. crosscutting the cia, the department of defense and commerce, everybody has a seat at the table. it has to be injured agencies, the authorities have to be clear and there has to be somebody who has the hammer to enforce the policies that are implemented by the government itself. legal frameworks and other procedures, we should ensure collaboration. the u.s. hashat learned these lessons over and over the hard way. you look at most of the chinese technology that is coming out today, you can point to the server that it was stolen from in the united states. this is no longer just a u.s. problem, this is a u.s. to pan
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-- japan alliance problem. they face the same threat in the pacific. learn from the painful lessons that we have and it is a lot easier and cheaper. operational check knowledge he in weapon systems, i.t. has vulnerabilities that must the address together. internet ofe things, that ought to scare the heck out of you. so much of it is cyber insecure. if we are going to do this most people think this is the future, if we are going to do joint -- the east china sea and all of these southern approaches, then it will take a lot of parts that will look -- being all -- making all that cyber security across two countries, to militaries and cyber authorities is a challenge. if you don't whoever your
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adversary may be, a will find a way in and we will find out the hard way once the shooting starts. it is a platitude, but both governments need to share government -- information were quickly. we just need to do it. workforce, not just the cyber specialists, it is the first and last line is defense and it is the weakest link. edward snowden's, it is your secretaries is is your low-level workers and it requires a cultural change. quite a ways long and it requires a cultural change and a deal with that can the change in japan as well. on the cyber size, prioritizing defense. , these for opportunities missives can be done and partlateral ways that are
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of the u.s. search. i wanted to give you a example that this can be shared. before lose my voice let me come up with a couple of final thoughts. industrial intelligence future relationship between the u.s. and japan will rest on japanese initially appeared right now, the incentives to do so is not as strong as it should be within the u.s., this is japan's future. japan is the u.s. alliance but the incentives need to be created and the effort needs to come from japan first. both u.s. and japan industry have to be incentivized by the government was shared risk and joint programs. it gives japanese industry out economy andtaged into the globally competitive defense market. we need to help them along and do some things that will
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incentivize their ceos to spend there yet on something that will be in the defense of japan and not some gold mine in mongolia. japanese -- isk the best first step. i have heard from my japanese -- policyat they get comes in over here, and they don't get a tell us what you should do. it is complex yes, difficult. i think the u.s. industry sees in apportunity technologically sophisticated society in japan. it is probably going to be our most important ally going forward in the pacific. industry has a role here, has an incentive. looked beyond the next quarter for profit and to begin to help japanese industry put those foundational blocks in place that will allow japan to a a better partner, to be
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trusted partner and be able to share at the highest levels of classifications. thank you very much. >> i'm going to make you not risk your voice it steve. i have the first question for you. no one is going to accuse you of having looked at the future of u.s. japan technology cooperation through rose-colored glasses. optimisticind of discussions that we have been having this morning and this afternoon, and the assumptions that some of those optimism rests on, some may say the parts of your talk is a -- of cold water. here's my question for you.
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hand, you have a corporate culture in the japanese defense industry, which time -- highlyd anti-competitive. i'm the other hand, you also ise a defense industry which -- which leaks like a sieve. all the way through to intellectual property, etc.. which comes first, is it the case that the japanese government could enforce let's say the institutions that shape industrial security regime that would then make japanese industry more competitive starting in the u.s., it would then encourage, incentivize the and competitive outlook grow over the possibilities for defense export trade and all
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that can follow from a robust defense trade regime? or is it the case that what you need to do is a shakeup at the top, to bring in people that are executives brought in from commercial divisions like toshiba or people from toyota. then what they will realize is if we are going to be competitive we will have to adopt much more stringent cyber security rules, look much more closely at building the kind of whichagency effort, direction would pay off the most? >> as a difficult question. the bad news is that the chinese are belligerent and they are threatening world peace around the world. that's also the good news. -- i had a couple of days in tokyo talking about -- the
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chinese threat will continue to grow. it's not going to go away. it will become more belligerent. i think there is a military clash of some kind going to happen somewhere it would be the chinese and not take on the u.s. directly but rather take on one of the smaller countries in the region. i think the japanese government was quite shaken up by the bombers around taiwan showing how vulnerable the southern approaches have become. showing the increased vulnerability of the southern reaches. the chinese threat and away will be in forcing function the japanese government to begin to take these challenges more seriously. again, i am a friend of japan. . say tough love when i'm there and talking to japanese industry, government, i
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think there are coming to the realization that there needs to be somebody who will step up and exert leadership within the government. whether that comes from the nss,, a legislative goldwater-nichols, their joint with the primeow minister the ability for the to direct kinds of capabilities that are truly joint and in the best interest. something -- is not japanese to come in and fire a bunch of people and bring in a lunch of movers and shakers. i do think there is an opportunity here as the chinese threat grows for the japanese government. this is everybody. nsa, missed -- ministry of
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, i would suggest there is still no defense industrial policy. to put it out there and help industry think about that. it is nano tech knowledge he, is it ai, is it machine learning? what is it that japan wants to see its industries develop and then begin to focus on that. this, we will subsidize it this way, we will go to the u.s. that can japan play into third asset policy. finding a way to plug-in will require real leadership from the japan side. it is not going to be the first phone call that lockheed or boeing will make saying, who will be our best partner on the role theere is a big
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japanese government can play as it will be much more subtle. it will be leadership and institutional changes and cultural changes. i'm going to throw some questions to the audience. i don't have an affiliation, i am retired from the nrc. anecdote.ve in any -- westinghouse, for i was project engineer for the joint development program with missed -- with mitsubishi. one day we got a report from japan that mitsubishi had filed a patent application. that was aa design
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part of the reactor vessel that westinghouse had developed. one of my responsibility was to track that down and i managed to get a hand drawn sketch from one of the technology transfer meetings and set it to japan i got the application withdrawn. as a longon i have in the nuclear power industry, i was doing analyses of accident responses in nuclear plants and we had a very well defined concept of risk which was the probability of an accident times its consequences. risk-days risk- based at the nrc.
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i would like to know how would that translate to security and how it translates to vulnerabilities. is there some kind of a database of vulnerabilities? that to do these risk base analyses? >> the defense security service has a counter intelligence arm. they have been in business since 1993. into a fairly robust capability. staffave individuals on that advocate -- that have islities -- the first step to take a look at the company's technologies.
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what are their crown jewels? based on that discussion then we will evaluate what the threats somebe and develop countermeasures. based on their connections through the ci community as well. that reminds me. the question i was going to ask you norman to pull back for a second. much of the discussion here is based on cyber security. that is by no means the entire thing. that is correct. withinre many categories industrial security. there is personnel security protection physical of classified information, destruction of classified information, reproduction of , there is information a whole gamut of subcategories
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in many regulations that have to be followed. >> i had for united -- advice for unesco. i have questions relating to security. the last six months, very obvious to rebuild communities where natural heritage has been distorted. like u.s., out of school, other job and has been declared a national security issue. japan, 1.5 second generation,
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i am convinced it can be done. with japan and the united states joint forces and engage in restoring and rebuilding communities from syria, africa, and u.s. and japan. there are very many technologies -- america has a lot of knowledge, many technologies, japan has much experience unique in the world to rebuild japan. -- creatinged better condition for hard-core technology and so on, would japan consider with the united states as a national security together in aing joint project to rebuild
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communities? i visited last week syria, jordan, turkey. jobs, education, multi-cultural communities, what type of technologies you offer. china -- there is a huge need to rebuild communities environment, energy, culture. it is a security issue. uniquend america are opportunity to do that. how would you address this today? japan spends a lot of money
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on trying to rebuild communities around the world. is not as appreciated as it should be for their humanitarian efforts that it makes around the world. that is unfortunate because they are one of the largest donors in the world to things like humanitarian relief and disaster response and preserving cultures around the world. -- i won'te of this get political about it because i don't think japan is appreciated for the role it plays around the world. >> one of the point you touch on is a question. you are comparing your's to the one road strategy that china has undertaken, china does think about the humanitarian missions asstrategic terms as well humanitarian terms or in terms
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image around the world. there could be an opportunity from that standpoint in which japan's defense export business can ride piggyback on an strategycture export in which the to connect together. part of rebuilding communities is not just physical infrastructure but also making them secure against hostile neighbors are internal threats or range of other kinds of things. >> the prime minister has made great effort to do this in africa. part of this is chasing china there is a quality in spirit of wanting to help from japan that isn't well recognized. >> it can also work in this country in terms of infrastructure projects.
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i want to thank you for the statement that you made. i don't hear that often enough. being here in this country. the real friendship is the one where you can criticize each other, trying to make it better. that is the sign of a real friendship. the strings you said probably able to understand japan unless you lived there for a few years. that has a lot to do with the dna. opinion, i'm a japan
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native and a u.s. citizen. what i am trying to say is, in my a pen -- opinion japan has , they wentt leap flat on their face. since then they have made a remarkable achievement that i respect. i am proud of that. i have a right to criticize japan because japan is my mother country. notnese are >> we will take you live to , livelago florida coverage here on c-span.
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>> the f-35, we are trying to get the cost down. we will get the cost down and these are great people. i am very impressed with them.
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we had the chairman of boeing. thank you, everybody. everybody ok? thank you. thank you very much. >> you saw the president elect from the mar-a-lago is state of florida. let's look ahead to our primetime schedule tonight on cheney 8:00 eastern dick and leon panetta talking about the incoming trump administration. we will get remarks from ibm ceo and a discussion on how personal data is collected by marketers. a quick look at that event with leon panetta right now. >> i am not -- i am reminded by
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whenust before world war i there were a number of flashpoints in the world at that time. sameed to some of the challenges that we are facing now, terrorism, failed states, territorial disputes, fragile alliances, all of that. and theed leadership ability to have to deal with the challenges. any one of those things, a failure to deal with those created the result of world war i. we are living in that. where there are a lot of flashpoints. a new administration will have to look at that kind of world. policies thatined we need in order to deal with that. but then developed the defense policy to confront that kind of world. the biggest problem right now is said,n line with what dix
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you cannot have a strong defense . you can talk about all the things you want to do in terms of a defense budget but the reality is you can't do any of that unless congress agrees to a budget. certainty assome to where we are going. >> you can watch all of mr. panetta's remarks at 8 p.m. eastern here on c-span. this holiday week and c-span, some of our programs. on saturday we will take a look at farewell speeches and tributes were outgoing members of congress and the white house, starting at 12:30 p.m. eastern with senator barbara mikulski of maryland and tributes and speeches for vice president joe biden. at 8 p.m. christmas at the white house. join the first lady as she receives the official white house christmas tree, tour the white house and see this years decorations. make christmas crafting projects
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with children of military families see visiting, and finally the tree lighting ceremony on the wall. at 8:40 p.m. hear from former house speaker john boehner on presidency andp his time in the congress. at 9:40, and tenant -- attend the portrait revealing of harry reid. on sunday at 12:30 p.m. we will hear from retiring member of newress charles wrangle of york. at 2:10 p.m. from capitol hill we take you to the romeo and juliet wrongful death mock trial. where samuel alito p.m, all of the career of mike pence and his role as vice president. watch on c-span and c-span.org and listen on the free c-span
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a discussion now on what education policy might look like during donald trump's presidency. from today's "washington journal," this is just short of 40 minutes. n chavous, executive council for the american federation for children, former d.c. city councilman. thank you for joining us this morning. guest: good to be with you. talk aboute here to the trump administration and education policy. a great place to start as the president-elect'd selection of -- resident elect -- the president-elect's selection of betsy devos. guest: i am a founding board member. betty helped found the organization with me. athink she is going to be hidden star indian ministration.
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unfortunately, she cannot speak for herself right now. -- a hidden star in the administration. she will build consensus. she is a collaborator by nature. i read the things people were saying -- she likes reaching across the aisle. in the work we've done in various states across the country, she's done a terrific job of reaching out to democrats , trying to formulate the right approach to building school choice that works for jurisdictions in which we do business. i think betsy will do a good job. host: we will put the phone numbers at the bottom of the screen. republicans can call 202-748-8001. democrats, 202-748-8000. independents, 202-748-8002. we started by talking about betsy devos. we will play a two-minute clip from the american federation for teachers talking about her take
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os situation.dev [video clip] >> she has done everything in her power to destroy public education. i will give you three examples. , she and her2000's husband who were very wealthy put ballot initiatives on the ballot in michigan to have vouchers instead of public schools or in lieu of public schools. it went down by a two to one vote. rather than listening to the will of the people, she decided to actually try to use the legislature to do that as well. when therecession governor tried to work with the republican senate to delay a tax cut for the wealthy so they
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could fund public schools, betsy devos used her clout to stop that, to thwart that. when everyone in detroit tried to save the detroit public change the system but create accountability for both charters and the public schools, betsy davos once again after the senate bill was passed used her considerable clout to stop it, using a #e nddetroitpublicschools. not saying every public school is great. we need to change all public schools to make sure that they work or all caps. desk for all kids. .- they work for all kids her responsibility is to all
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children of whom 90% go to public schools and where 31 states have not yet increased the funding for schools back to where they were in 2008. we are asking our public schools to do more and more to deal with critical thinking and creativity, ensuring that kids have the skills and knowledge they need for their lives. what she has done in the last 20 years is everything she can to destabilize and defund them. host: strong words there. betsy davos wants to destroy public education. there? you want to react guest: context is important. one thing that the union is good at is demagoguery and whoever the secretary of education's.
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one thing they said about arne duncan was that he was destroying what it meant to teach and learn. they called for his resignation. they did not like john king. they opposed his nomination. looksng or anyone that the status quo they will come out against. also called betsy and i you like. she is an ideologue. so when my. canelieve public education work for all kids. ideologue.etsy an she is an ideologue. so am i. we are falling behind internationally. betsy's record in michigan with one we should be proud of. that's was one we should be proud of. the dropout rates for african-american and white boys in detroit was over 80%.
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eight out of 10 of every male attending high school in detroit dropped out. create options for parents that worked for them. the centerpiece of school choice is not destroy public education. it is a rightsizing it, making it better and putting power in the hands of parents and giving them quality options to help kids in need. one of the things we are proud is that we are able to respond to the sense of urgency that so many parents have. it is a shame that we have places, cities in america where we have the kids of color dropping out and the status quo says just wait for us anyone who has a child says we cannot wait to fix our schools. and the union,n that is typical political response. they don't like anyone speaking
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about change. host: our guest is the founder of democrats for education reform. kevin chavous is a former d.c. city councilmember. let's get to calls. alice from delaware, ohio. you are of first. good morning. ofler: i have a couple points i would like to make. schools, iharter if most people realize they are for-profit. here in ohio, charter schools have really not done well. in 1960. teaching and became a member of the union, of course. that has nothing to do with the education system as far as i
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lady who iss her for-profith i just got time magazine and they have an article in here and she even , "i simply can't see the point. they are right. we do expect things in return." she and her family have put millions and billions of dollars into their points of view. it scares me that our country has to we are better than that. host: thank you for calling.
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what sheat is not said, what she said is not really true. most charter schools are not for profit. the red question we should be discussing is if parents have -- right now, there are one million kids on waiting lists for charter schools. hundreds of thousands of families looking for gray options. there are great traditional public schools. one thing we have seen when you have robust school choice scholarships or charter schools or online education therings, it encourages traditional public schools. i appreciate the collar and i want to thank you for teaching our kids. if you taught at a traditional school, there are far too many schools and far too many teachers now working for kids. we cannot afford to continue the downward slide we are seeing in so many far schools. one other thing, a lot of the hype around betsy and her family
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and the money they may spend to promote educational choice, these folks have real compassion. her husband and her started in aviation charter school in grand rapids. for kids who want to learn all flying and being able to maneuver around the airport industry and had tremendous success. i think context is really important. a weekwashington post" ago wrote about charter schools and connecting them. they write the advocates on the left, michigan is a prime example of her house not -- of how not to promote charter schools.
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guest: i think the charter school movement, like all educational offering entities in k-12 space, can be improved. one thing betsy has advocated for his greater accountability. and look, a better charter school should close. in a d.c., why we've had success in the charter movement i've help to promote is will the closed charter schools. right now, we have nearly 1500 schoolss, traditional where most of the kids will drop out. they have been bad for years. people in these jurisdictions try to reform them, change them, but nobody talked about replacing them or shutting them down. going to put accountability in place that
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works for parents and we're talking about shutting down bad charter or choice schools, we need to consider doing the same. atn people talk about close traditional public schools, it is difficult. the better course of action is to expand the choice offerings, so that parents know they have options beyond their traditional school that may or may not be working. neededica, education, we to pay more expensively than constrictive in our thinking. that's what the rest of the world is doing. we are not doing it. we want to be myopic about k-12 education. host: more calls for kevin chavous on education. a couple of facts and figures. 25 states, plus washington dc, that have enacted school choices. more than 1.9 billion and dedicated funding for voucher
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scholarship funding, test programs. nearly 400,000 students are in private school choice. we hear from david from madison heights, michigan, it independent color. caller: thank you for taking my call. as we are speaking, i am getting my boots on. you are laying it on a real sick. that's a davos but a failure in our public education in michigan. you know what and i know it. she is a bad choice for any kind of education. couple ofe a billionaires. host: david, what are you pointing to specifically? to the they are taking charter schools, they are private schools and trying to get them to say they are a public school. no, they are not. they fail, each and every one of them.
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she has destroyed the public education of michigan. that's the bottom line. my boots are on. i wish you would tell the viewers the real truth about michigan schools. she has destroyed the public education in michigan. host: let's get a response. guest: a lot to put on one person that they destroyed public education. betsy do not create the environment where 80% of the boys are dropping out. she did not create an environment in where we allowed for neglect in urban and rural public schools. to bleed over in our economy. there are strong feelings on this. we had this kind of nostalgic and sentimental view of public education, the red brick schoolhouse couple first school, going to the prom. there is this real healthy american attachment to what public education means.
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way i do.sy feels the we do not want to destroy that memory, we want to build on it. many other great schools part of that sentimentality we all hold, they are no longer great. but, they can be. there is a mission we want to pub schools and privatize education and that is not the case. what we want to do as studies have shown, where you have increase and broad-based for choice options, the school district gets the better. let me give you an example about d.c. when we started charter schools in the late 1990 90's, 1990's, we were trying to push reform in public schools and that do not work. i gave them 300 million new dollars over a three-year period and0 million new dollars
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10,000 fewer kids and the output went down. cuthe same token because we up eruption in the charter system, they did very well. i became a true believer their choice does matter. we did our scholarship program. in that program where you had over the last 10 years, 6000 schools andrivate they are all doing well. 90% graduation rate and college going rate. that robust and broad-based choice, the most was led to d.c. public schools getting better. tice henderson who left, she will tell you because of the look ation, because what they are doing over here with those options, it to destroy the one-size-fits-all we see in most cities. to deal withfort
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the short-term and long-term. short-term is the need to really help parents who feel trapped because the school in their neighborhood may not work. it providesm is incentives for the local school districts to get better. people who should look at where it is taking place should use as an example. let'sless go to herbie -- go to herbie. caller: passing the buck, passing the blame like privatizing prisons, it is more expensive then you cannot hold them accountable to what they could do to individuals. spend the same amount of money on house and then send the kid. that would be, we can hold the government more responsible than what to say charter schools or private companies.
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guest: the -- you mention the prison situation. we are trying to stop the school to prison pipeline. when i visited our local jail, over 90% of our inmates were high school dropouts. even today, according to the , about 80% ofu our prison population are high school dropouts was 82%. many from our cities and rural communities. the only way to stop that is to make sure we not wait on the ,chool, the school district that could take years. we have had reforms and efforts in these jurisdictions for the last 20, 25 years. in a d.c., they had reform efforts before i got there. aseras were coming to me saying, what am i going to do about my child who has to go to the public school?
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take care of parents and kids' needs today. i am proud of the fact that with the school choice offering we have been able to develop in some of these jurisdictions, we have now broken that tied all school to prison pipeline. it does put a stranglehold on some of her communities. support forf his charter schools, would you know about president-elect trump's broader platform on education and what you think of it? guest: it is to be determined. if you talked about school choice, somebody does something i embrace. i do not support donald trump for president. i was very concerned about his racial intolerance and some of the rhetoric. i do believe that seat will help a lot to betsy will help a lot -- betsy will help a lot because she will help the president-elect reach across the aisle. i think she will be promoting innovation and creativity and
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that will be something that incentivizes it that. online learning and personalized instruction, that is where the world is headed. you will see if both in those areas. i think it is to be determined. i do expect and i am glad to see frankly that school choice will be front and center. host: your names out there for potential educational secretary. what you said about your initial concern for mr. trump, could you see yourself working with him? guest: i can see myself working directly with mrs. devos. i was so proud of president obama. i was on his educational policy committee when he ran the first time. i think he did a lot to move the ball forward and he supported charter school and private school scholarships and i'm disappointed he did not promote our d.c. scholarship program. i think he set a tone for change that is needed. i am proud he said we have to
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all support this. that is our democracy. i do not support donald trump for president, but i am proud as americans we need to rally around him. , they said when my name say you should not be associated with him because of who he is. engine every day, every 42 seconds, a kid jobs out of school. my life's work is centered around this notion we need to stop those dropout numbers. and for me, i feel a sense of duty as an american who -- to work with whoever is president and whoever is education secretary to make sure we intend that amazingly -- and that amazingly bad statistic of allowing children to drop out. host: let's hear from editing in pennsylvania. independent caller for kevin chavous. caller: thank you.
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is aerstand mrs. devos dedicated christian, calvinist, do we american people have good reason to expect she knows the healthy separation of church and state and keeps god out of our public education system? thank you. guest: that is a great question. a lot has been written about betsy wouldstie -- oppose our christian values. i have worked closely with her and now what has she talked to me about christian values being imposed on public education. what she talked to me about more than anything is how we can in power parents -- empower parents in a power ring paris is really key. when i say empowering parents,, will parents know what works for their kids educationally? -- empowering parents is really
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key. range ofe a whole options for them to pick from so that it works for their kids. if you have more than one child, you know that they are different. and so, this notion that she will try to impose her will on the contrary, i do not think that is going to happen at all. i do think you will see her and hear her talk more about putting power in the hands of parents. and given them options that were for their kids. host: back to donald trump. something to say in the post, democrats for education reform and the rights that face of the position he has taken, president-elect trump's administration will --
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your reaction? group,i found that the democrats for education. you know what i think has been the biggest barrier to educating each and every american child over the last 30 years? politix. the nature of politics in america has been a problem to teaching and learning. withtunately, you see that the statement and even hear that from some of the caller's. people put party identification ahead of what is best for kids. i think we need to rise above the politics of the day and to do what is best for our kids. givetell folks who i speeches to, there's no republican or democrat away to teach a kid to read, write, or account. if you listen to the union and certainho promote
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partisan issues on both sides of the ohio, they say this is the republican education plan and the democrat plan. when i will like to see what i will urge betsy to do is less embrace building a national obsession around learning. less inspire kids to want to learn instead of telling them they need to learn. let us get beyond the politics of the day or the partisanship because my candidate lost, i cannot work with the other side. especially when the biggest threat is not some outside force coming into our country and killing us, our biggest threat is the threat from within when you have 82% of our prison population dropout and more more kids graduating or not ready. if we can build some national consensus, if the trump administration can do that in reach across the aisle and find common ground and make education more for all, i think that
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should help us rise above the politics. host: back to the phones. helen for kevin chavous. thank you for waiting. caller: thank you. i would like to say one other they love our children, they love the school they want to go there and they will not let them go. the student is falling behind. it is not good for us. saidhe other thing, he [inaudible] republicans, we are not going to a great with anything obama says. no one writes about that. it is wrong. thank you. host: mr. chavous? wayt: i think that the
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quality options can work for parents is one to make sure that consumers. educated and i think, a lot of times when i talk about school choice and parent empowerment, people say the powers not just the kids, the problems with the parents. your generation on top of generation of parents who do not not exercise school choice. i hear people say parents do not have the wherewithal to exercise school choice. what we have seen will we credit school choice programs and i would like to see bessie paul more money aside for this, we train the trainers -- i will like to see betsy put more money aside for this, we train the trainers. we have parent workshops so they know how to evaluate schools and evaluate teachers. what is our most challenged
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communities, there does need to be more information curve so they can exercise power of choice. choice is the nature of responsibility. schools can be intimidating particularly if you cannot read or have education yourself. there's a lot we can do to make sure that choice works for all particularly if we empower parents that they have the skill set necessary to exercise and that empowerment. host: par rental involvement does parental involvement. how do you a, should that -- how do you will come push that? busy parents. a lot separated? how do you do that? think that, again, take out the discussion of just choice in and of itself. a whole couldt as do a better job of parent engagement. communities,eform when reid took over d.c. and had
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great ideas. at the bottom of the list is parent engagement. i think -- and that the front of the list. and i also think that the problem we have in american a public education when we talk about engaging parents is always talk to down. it needs to be bottom up. one thing we did in new orleans when we had a scholarship bill passed, we want to public housing and working with the council and found leaders in the community, trusted voices, influence and trained the trainers and made is p or two p. -- peer to peer. i can walk into these communities with my suit and they will drown me out. but, the best way to engage parents is through people they trust in, people they their communities. i think as a whole and something betsy should consider, need to figure out the best way to do
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grassroots parent engagement army to help train parents to be able to exercise their responsibility to pick the right school for their children, to be advocates for their parents and when that happens, one quick thing. zone,arlem children's they do an amazing job of muchng parents engaged so sort you have many parents going back to get their ged's. i think as opposed to education of being either or box, either you are for public schools or for private schools or charter schools, either you are republican or democrat, we should not have an education approach where people have to pick sides. let's say empower parents, was when inspire people to want to learn, even parents, they will go back and get their ged. , it isemocratic caller
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ellis. good morning. caller: good morning. a nice tie you have on mr. chavous. guest: thank you. caller: the right colors. my question is more in the mechanics of operating these public schools. florida,rly here in the people here in florida do not have enough -- we are not educated here in florida. when you come to the tax base and talking about private schools as opposed to public schools, i am thinking that the funding is going to be -- we should not pay taxes because a major portion of my taxes, my county taxes, was for public schools this year. if you are going to convert them all to private schools, why should i have to pay taxes to support private schools? when i had a nobody educated in
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the set of florida? -- in the state of florida? you're going down a slippery slope in terms of the funding public schools. so somebody has to look at the mechanics of it. i hold that thought all the way through. host: a reaction from mr. chavous. that: one of the things people needed to be clear about, we're not talking about privatizing public education. lion's share, was of our kids will be educated in the traditional public setting. when you mention florida, one thing that the trump administration, under betsy's leadership may consider is looking at what florida has done with the florida tax credit scholarship program. this is the heart of the caller's question.
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under their program, nearly 100,000 kids who are able to attend private schools based on corporate donations, corporations receive a tax credit. a wildly successful program. two things happened. one is, they are able to get low income kids. working-class, free, reduced lunch, these kids in challenged schools and they go to private schools that it is based on programe dollars in the is wildly successful. the kids are doing well. third luther king the supports it. the other thing that happens which a lot of people do not realize is that those schools where the kids have come from, those kids are doing better. you have taken kids from some of the most challenged schools and put them in an environment that
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works for them. you exercise parent choice. the kids left behind, those kids are doing better. with had a northwestern study on that. -- we have had a northwestern study on that. none of it is on the public dime. i think that is a model that we are going to be looking at, hopefully, betsy will look at around the country. i understand a lot of people feel really angst about public dollars, spending all of this money on the notion we will privatize and that is not what we want to do. husband a couple of -- host: a couple of tweets for you -- great question. the deep, dark, dirty secret, most of our public schools are sliding somewhat and that is why we see the challenge in terms of comparisons around the world of
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other industrialized nations. it is true is that a lot of our urban schools are fading. another deep, dark, dirty secret is our rural schools are not as well. that is sort of this one size fits all saying where we are used are doing that the same thing to the same way, the same approach. that was born of the industrial revolution. systeme to three school for the agricultural model. even some resolve so they could harvest. this is virtually unchanged for 150 years. that contributed since there were a couple of wars, we areogy revolution and still doing at the same way. outer brick in the night. it has not changed. in thefor -- algebra ninth grade. , i think theunding
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funding formulas are really helping benny states and as they do need to be addressed. while we are waiting to fix that , state legislatures, that is a long process, almost like additional school reforms and this is where choice can help incentivize it and help kids today and help reform the system. host: an interesting question from twitter and a very broad question -- guest: a great question. one answer is in the vocational education space. i think that is why you see president obama and even president-elect trump has talked a little bit about vocational education. when people develop skills, even if the system has failed them, they're able to write side their
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lives. we need to do a better job in terms of broad-based school choice offerings is creating a more of these vocational options. we can do these are creative ways and the charter movement. host: one last call. louis, republican. good morning. i want to thank mr. chavous for what he is doing. you are doing a great job in the right thing. the charter school thing is the way to go. i think, for example, in colorado, if somebody were to put to their put children in school, they was exactly why these charter schools are needed so parents can send their kids where they want to better their education. it is all about the kids. thank you again, mr. chavous, and keep up the good work. host: final thoughts on where
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the new administration is going to be headed? guest: i want to thank the caller. i am hopeful. i think as our current president said, it is time for a to come together. that we not create an republican education agenda or democratic education agenda but we reach across the aisle and build aroundl conversation learning. national pride around education. i think betsy devos can help us. i will do all i care to not only support her but our country so we can get rid of the statistics or so men of our children are lost. -- so many virtual job loss. as the centerpiece. host: kevin chavous is a former and is currently existing council of the american federation for children. federationforchildren.org
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guest: >> next week "the washington journal" will spotlight the issues in the top administration. include challenges facing president-elect trump national security team and a closer look at the career secretary of defense secretary james mattis. on tuesday, december 27, it is job issues examining how congress and the trumpet administration can change current trade laws and an effort to either create or save jobs. december 28, our topic is energy and environmental politics. we will discuss how energy and climate issues might be impacted by the new congress and the incoming trump administration. thursday, we talk about immigration and how president-elect trump and the new congress may change immigration policy. on friday, december 30, we take a look at the future of the afford will care act and how the republican congress and the trump administration will repeal
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key playersit and to watch in the months ahead. be sure to watch "washington journal" beginning monday, december 26 at 7 a.m. eastern. >> this week on c-span, tonight at 8:00, former vice president dick cheney and former defense secretary leon panetta on the future of the defense department under president-elect donald trump. >> i think the challenges are very great, and i think we have unfortunately over the course of the last many years done serious damage to our capabilities to be able to meet those threats. periodre living in that where there are a lot of flashpoints. a new administration will have to look at that kind of world. policy wesly define need in order to deal with that, but then developed the defense policy to confront that kind of world. >> thursday at 8:00 p.m. eastern, a look at the career of
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mike pence. >> amidxsst the shifting sands f contemporary culture, we have stood for this entity of life, the importance of marriage, and the freedom of religion. aton friday night, beginning 8:00, farewell speeches and tributes to several outgoing senators, including harry, barbara boxer, kelly ayotte, and dan coats. this week in prime time on c-span. now air force secretary deborah lee james talks about the u.s. air force presence in europe and the security partnership with the nato alliance. the secretary spoke at the atlantic council recently. pentagon correspondent missy ryan moderated the discussion. ryan: i want to give a couple of shadows here -- shout out here. i want to give it to ian, he's
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our air force fella. he is taking a coffee break. he is my guy and he is not here. he is your air force fellow this year at the atlantic council and he was telling me what a fantastic experience this has been for him. and if i might say, it is always a fantastic experience for me to come back to the atlantic council because during part of the time i was -- i was on the board here. the opportunity to come back a time or so, i 2015 when i january had the opportunity to come here as secretary of the air force. it feels like a homecoming every time i get to come to the atlantic council. i cannot imagine a better place to come to on a morning like this when we are about to have what i hope is going to be an important conversation about the role of the united states, but i'm going to zero and on the role of the united states air force specifically. in the transatlantic security picture. i certainlya that
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care a great deal about, and it is one that i think has become even more relevant during my tenure as secretary of the air force which has been for about three years now. because, you see, i would submit to all of you that the transatlantic security community the group ofy like-minded countries who are committed to nato's vision of a europe whole, free and at peace is facing greater challenges today than at any time since the end of the cold war. there are a few trends occurring simultaneously that make me feel this way and that are contributing to this scenario. first is by invading occupying and attempting to annex crimea, has demonstrated it is trying to overturn the norm that has kept the peace in the region for decades. second, when i was in estonia and ukraine, i heard all about russia's use of cyber attacks
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and the way that they flood the news media with disinformation and fake news and now with a very recent announcement by the u.s. intelligence community that russia acted to interfere in our elections, involving, i might add, they say at the highest levels of the russian government, that marks an extremely troubling developing and one i am afraid we are going to be dealing with for years to come, the reverberations. third, russia is among the countries that is investing in anti-access aerial denial strategies that could allow a hostile act or to create a bubble around a certain territory in which they could then dictate special rules to the detriment of others. has been russia conducting numerous acts of unsafe airman ship and showing disrespect for the territorial integrity of others. and i will come back to this more on this later.
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and finally, fourth, but certainly not least, are violent extremist groups, most notably esh, is spreading messages of violence in many countries, even as they and other groups like the syrian government, are causing a humanitarian catastrophe pushing large numbers of migrants and refugees into europe. our southern european partners, including turkey and greece, italy and a few others, are extremely focused on the threats by ther societies posed influx of migrants along the so-called southern flank of europe. just as the allies along the eastern and northern flank are very focused on russia. but this is precisely where the importance of the entirety of he forefront. t because, you see, rather than being a tale of two europes, which this could sound like, you have the southern vs. the eastern and northern interests,
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but to the contrary, this is the case of the entire region being united as a single defensive alliance focusing on safeguarding the security of all of its members against any threat. since i became secretary of the air force and december 2013, i have had the opportunity to visit and meet with my counterparts in 19 of the 28 members of the nato alliance. in addition i met with enhanced opportunity partners sweden and finland. i heard one consistent message on all of these tricks. and that message was -- that our allies and partners want more u.s. air force. they want more training. they want more exchanges. more presence, more interoperable equipment to in recent years, we have expanded our presence and efforts in europe as a way to reassure allies to deter aggression and demonstrate the unique capabilities are air force brings to the combined operation, the combined fight. relationships with nato members and partners are among
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our closest, but today, we need to double down in the face of the threats i mentioned just a few moments ago. in addition, i believe we need to open up the apertura on how we collaborate. we need to develop innovative solutions at least for the air force in our three domains of focus and those, of course, are in the air, in space, and in cyberspace. the reason why we need to do this is we need to create the most effective 21st century security partnership possible, and i think we are in the process of doing just that. in recent years, many of our nato allies and partners have noticed a major increase in the violationsirspace and other irresponsible acts of airman ship on the part of the russian aircraft. i mentioned this a few moments ago and i want to come back to it now. fortunately, the transit on a community is coming together in response to these actions. the most visible of these efforts is the baltic air policing mission. since latvia, lithuania and
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estonia became members of nato in 2000 4, 16 nato nations have participated in this mission, which protects the national airspace of our baltic allies 24/7, 365. the german air force contingent that is flying the baltic air policing mission in estonia as we speak reported conducting more than 30 scrambles between the end of august and the beginning of november this year, intercepting russian aircraft that were flying near civilian air routes with their transponders turned off. back in finland october, just after within days of russian aircraft committing two violations of finnish airspace, one of many incidents the finns have seen. indeed, our own united states air force has also witnessed similar conduct. among the most notable was back in april when a russian fighter made an aggressive and unsafe
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intercept of an air force reconnaissance plane during a routine flight in international airspace over the baltic sea. now, to me, if you add up all of these different incidents, all of this suggests that presence, joint training and political resolve are extremely important at this point in time, because this is a point in time where there is a great deal of push and push and test and test going on. s precisely what the european reassurance initiative is all about. through eri, the united states our force is beefing up multilateral training calendar with european allies and partners. we are increasing the amount of pre-position equipment in the region. fuel, ammunition and other supplies that would allow our forces to respond rapidly in a crisis. we are improving infrastructure at bases in the region because -- so we have many flexible options for planes and other assets further enhancing our responsiveness. tore intensifying efforts
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build partner capacity with newer nato members and partners so they can fully participate in their own collective security we are demonstrating that we can to avoid air dominance capabilities at great distances, just like we did last spring when we sent the generation f22's rafters to romania and just like we will do once again this spring when we will send f-15's from the louisiana and florida national guard to deploy as a theater security package to various locations in europe. now, this year, we renamed the european deterrent initiative to reflect that our presence in europe says more than reassure. our forces are there as part of an alliance package to deter aggression. the national defense authorization act for 2017, congress reiterated its support for this initiative and for the president's budget request of about $3.4 billion, which by the way, was a tripling as compared
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to the 2016 amount. are talking about increasing our financial commitment to our allies, i have to mention that a big part of participating in collective security is ensuring that every nato member has the equipment and well-trained personnel that they need, and that is why certainly in all of my conversations with my counterpart in the region, i have stressed the importance of every country in the alliance putting in place a plan to meet that targeted spending of 2% of gdp for defense. we are seeing some positive trends in this direction. but there is certainly much more that needs to happen, particularly in the case of a number of countries. now, one area of particular weather is good news and progress has been made is an acquisitions of interoperable equipment. and here i'm thinking specifically of the f-35. we are very proud to already be hosting highly and maintainers from norway, italy, the netherlands, and others for training at luke air force base. now that the f-35 has been
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declared combat capable, we will deploy our newest fighter to europe in the not-too-distant future. matter of fact, if i were a betting woman, i would not be surprised if the f-35 did not nextan appearance perhaps summer. the combination of self situational awareness and center fusion will play an important role in reassuring allies and providing deterrents. our partners have already begun to express the ways that they expect the f-35 to transform the battlefield, even in the a2-ad. make coordination easier through the use of fully interoperable equipment. so, all of this is important, but nato is about more than just a turneds and that - -more than just deterrence and the threat from russia. the united states air force has roles it plays in these other threat environment as well. for example, collectively, we have a heavy airlift wing
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managed by nato and operating out of hungary. strategics three c-17 transport aircraft built to the same specifications as the c-17's operated by the u.s. air force. there are 12 nations involved with this. united states, plus nine other nato members, plus sweden and finland. they are all members of this program, and they share the operating responsibilities and expense for the aircraft. these aircraft have been deployed on important air mobility missions, including ferrying supplies to afghanistan support combat operations, conducting humanitarian assistance in haiti and supporting international peacekeeping operations in africa. the capability allows the euro- atlantic community to respond quickly to crises that do not fit squarely into combat operations and also draws heavily upon the expertise developed by the air force as part of our global reach mission.
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so, we would expect the trend toward shared assets like the example i just gave you, that this trend will likely continue in the future, and i think another prime area where it may well work is air refueling, which is another mission that are mobility forces have a long history in. we fully support nato and our force acquiring these multiplying capabilities because it enhances our collective ability to operate together and to respond to all types of global challenges. by the way, i want -- i don't in failing toiss recognize the important role of nato in afghanistan, we the united states are very appreciative of nato in resolute support and many of the nato members who have gathered with us in the anti-isis syria.on in iraq qaand as we deepen our relationships with our partners in the transatlantic security community, we are making strides
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to bring mechanisms for cooperation well into the 21st century. established 24 centers of excellence to assist in developing doctrine, improved capabilities, and interoperability, and experience on evolving concepts. these centers cover topics from analysis and simulations of air operations in france. inhave cyber defense based germany. these are just a few, there are 24 centers of excellence in all. these centers benefit the entirety of the alliance because they advanced shared knowledge and they allow for the pooling of resources, and they allow, also, for the avoidance of duplication of efforts. moreover, nato is acquiring global -- remotely piloted hrough what is
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called the alliance ground surveillance system. these global hops will be based in heavily and they will give nato advanced capability for protection of civilian populations in conflict environments as well as border control and maritime security which is a particular concern among allies who are dealing with this large influx of immigrants and refugees. this capability is important, but isr relies heavily on the ability to rapidly collect and fuse the information collected by platforms into actionable intelligence that can support the war fighter. that's why nato has stood up a combined air operations center in spain and a deployable air -- bnd -- a deployable ased in italy. i had the opportunity to visit both facilities, and i was very impressed with all the work i saw being conducted there as well as with the personnel who were involved with these key mission. spac issuese, once
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again, we are moving together forward as well. all of us need the best space situational awareness possible, and as a result, we have now begun conducting tabletop exercises to facilitate closer relationships in this domain, which after all, is becoming much, much more contested and congested each and every day. now, all of these examples demonstrate how nato and the euro-atlanta community has become more vibrant, more vibrant in our relationships in recent years, which does not really come as a surprise to me. because, you see, we in the u.s. air force know that we operate best when we train and collaborate with our allies and partners. central toon site is the way the u.s. conducts operations at all levels. line, we work hard to deepen our relationships so we can fly, fight, and win together. #strongerr hashtag is
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with allies. i'm here to tell you that the air force agrees wholeheartedly. by the way, as you see some of our air men over the next weeks and months, be sure and wish birthday,py 70th because the year 2017, which is just around the corner, marks our 70th anniversary, 70 years since we became a separate service, separate from the u.s. army. u.s. air force, breaking barriers since 1947. so, thank you very much again for inviting me to secret you today, and i very much look forward to the conversation to come -- thank you very much for inviting me to speak with you today. [applause] >> can everyone hear me? is missy ryan.
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i cover military issues for "the washington post." what we are going to do today as there is going to be a conversation between the two of us for 30 minutes, and then i open it up to questions. i am sure everyone in the audience is needed to get their questions to secretary james about the transatlantic partnership, russia, and a bunch of other issues. so, we are going to go ahead with that and get you all out of here right at noon. i want to start with russia. you mentioned russia in your remarks as a significant threat. you painted a gloomy picture of the threat emanating from russia. now we know that the russian government has hacked the u.s. election. there have been constant violations of airspace in europe. russia is bombing civilian targets in syria. just to set the stage a little bit, can you tell us about the russian air and space
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capability, and how it stacks up against the united states and its allies in europe? it is one of the areas where we continue to >> i would say that the u.s. military is the strongest military in the world. i want to begin with that statement and certainly that is my belief about the united states air force. but we have reduced ourselves, the size of our air force over time, and so capacity is now an issue, particularly if there's multiple things going on in different theaters across the world. you can only be in one place at one time, not two places in two times. so capacity is an issue. we're the most technologically advanced, but what we have seen over the last 25 years is that other countries have been began with the persian gulf war

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