that kind of candidate forward in 2020, i think they can take back the white house and in 2018 could take back the house and senate. host: why didn't bernie sanders not run. guest: because now he is back. i wish you would have stayed in the democratic party. he has been an independent old his life. it is really who he is. [no audio]

♪ >> well, if that doesn't get you going, you have a pretty serious problem. secretary mattis, secretary

morethy, and so many distinguished guests. thank you for joining us. if you will allow me to recognize a few distinguished guests. we are blessed to have several former chiefs of staff's of the army. if you would, let us thank you for your long service. [applause] i will pick on one of that group of four. some of you may have met general sullivan before. a bit of a relationship with the association with united states army and some of you may have heard great personal news. general sullivan is engaged to be married. [applause]

>> he said that second best would be if the red sox would get back on track. we will see how that turns out. we are also honored to have a number of former sergeants of the army. please -- [applause] a special thanks this morning to major general mike howard, commanding general of the district of washington, and the men and women of the men and women band very thank you for a wonderful opening ceremony. mention. groups to secretary of the army appoints civilians to the secretary of

army who represent our army across the land. i would like to ask the civilian aides and secretary of the army and let us thank you for your long service to the army. [applause] thank you also very much. this year we have more than 70 nations represented at the association of the united army's annual meeting. if they may ask all of our national partners to rise. i want to thank you for your partnership, friendship, and the spirit of cooperation with the united states in the united states army, or international partner. [applause] >> one of the things you learn

early on is team sports. teammatest to have like this. thank you very much. i'm honored to introduce the keynote speaker for the 2017 annual meeting of the associated -- association of the united states army. he is well known internationally . i had the privilege of serving alongside him, and if you ask me to define our keynote speaker with one note, i would simply choose patriot. that is what he is. that is what he is at his very core. please welcome the secretary of defense, the honorable jim matus. tis.at [applause] general mattis: thank you very much.

you general ham, old friend of many years. it is an absolute delight to be here with you. i do appreciate being invited to something like this. inan find no place washington dc today than i feel more home today than here amongst you. acting secretary mccarthy, we first met each other in those very uncertain days after 9/11 and afghanistan, and we have served together for many years after that. thank you for coming back. it is a pleasant to serve with you once again. general millie, we have served together and we have known each other over many years. you have the dna of iwo jima in your veins. you believe red white and blue, and the army could not be in better hands. toor daily, besides deciding go out on the obstacle course , the 10 mile was

just a warm-up for this morning. in the truest traditions of army, where you lead from upfront and put yourself in different -- difficult situations voluntarily, thank you for your leadership. after that presentation, i'm going down to the recruiting office to sign up for another 40 years. i guarantee you. [applause] mattis: it was also something to remind us of the priorities of secretary mccarthy has made clear and others in the time in office, and that is for readiness. we will talk more about that. i will be very pleased to take some questions at the end of this. let's see if i can close the gap between the secretary of defense and all of you out there for a little bit. i recognize that what ever we wear today or we once war, in this room, we are all coequal in

our devotion to this wonderful magic experiment that we call america and protecting our people and our constitution. we are coequal, and that is one thing the american armed forces has always had, a devotion. i am honored to be here with you today. you who hold the line in this world am i want to mention something about the veterans. in the front line, i just returned from afghanistan a few days ago. theynly thing i think would ever fear is a leading down you and the legacy you have bequeathed to them. they know based on what you have been through, they can do the job because it can be nothing worse than what you faced in your worst days. that village or confidence. for me, on a personal level, a thank you to the vietnam veterans who stayed in as you

heard any presentation this morning, state and rebuild the army. they wear the veterans who raised me in the marine corps and made me the marine i was. to all veterans, and especially vietnam veterans, you have my deepest affection for what you committed to our country. [applause] general mattis: thank you. [applause] mattis: thank you very much. to the medal of honor winner, and all of you who have been decorated and recognized for valor in combat, i want to say to you, in great need something abides. regardless of which war you earn the respect of your fellow warriors, your example of courage echoes today down through our ranks. to our gold start families who join us here today, as general we pray dailyid, to be worthy of your sacrifice.

thank you. [applause] mattis: as your secretary of defense, i am honored it to join you. im grateful to serve once again alongside soldiers of the greatest army entrusted army on earth. to serve once again among the high-spirited soldiers whose character i have seen rise to every occasion in the worst possible circumstances . soldiers who are always at their best when the times are at their worst. soldiers who general george washington would be proud of war 242 years now, you have set the standard. the soldier descendents today of continentals who left bloody footprints at valley forge. to come from lexington cornwall, generation after generation, you have carried our

flags in your hearts and the patriots fire in your belly. america, ande call experiment to determine if a government of the people, by the people, and for the people can long survive. , united ind army commitment that stands as a fellowor our federal -- citizens of those who stand united can too. our armies ranks are filled with high-quality patriots, all volunteers, and i am very proud to serve with you. situation isonal the most complex and demanding that i have seen in all of my years of service. that is over four decades. mideast, terrorists continue murder and mayhem, despite significant and accelerated losses very one state sponsor of the terror in the mideast cannot hide behind its nationstate status while in

effect it is actually a destabilizing revolutionary regime. in europe for the first time since world war ii, we have seen national borders changed by the force of arms, as one country proves willing to ignore international law to exercise authority over its neighbors' writes to make decisions and economic and dramatic security domain. have seen north korean provocations threatening regional and global peace, despite universal condemnation by the united nations. is the reality that faces our department of defense in our like-minded allies, and we must have military fit for their purpose, fit for their time in these days of emerging challenges. these challenges include new domains of conflict in space and cyberspace, and in ways that involved deniable attacks, even on our democratic processes.

your department of defense is adapting because we do not want to be dominant and at the same time it relevant. i offer this problem statement for what must guide our efforts. how do we maintain a safe and effective nuclear deterrent so these weapons are never used and are nonproliferation efforts can be recharged? to maintain divisive conventional force at the same time as the nuclear deterrence, one that will include space and cyberspace capabilities to deter war and ended decisively if conflict occurs. third, we must at the same time maintain an irregular capability so we can fight across the spectrum of conflict. statement, problem how to maintain a safe and secure nuclear deterrent and maintain a decisive conventional force that can also fight irregular warfare.

our department has three lines of effort to address these issues. first, everything when must do must contribute to the legality of our military. we west never lose sight of the fact that we have no god-given right to victory on the battlefield. secretary mccarthy and general millie are examining every training policy, our time, organization, and more to ensure they contribute to make us the most lethal joint force in the world. even as our competitive edge over our adversaries increases due to budgetary confusing in this town and the budget tax, i am among be majority in this country who believes our nation can afford survival, and i want the congress back and the driver seat of budget decisions, not in the spectator'feet. [applause]

mattis: i have great confidence in the u.s. congress, but i have no confidence in automatic mathematical budget cuts. second, a line of effort is we are following the example of the greatest generation coming home from the tragedy of world war ii who looked around and said, what a crummy world. , whether orof its not we like it, and we are going to do something about it. in that spirit, they built alliances and partnerships. in the same spirit today, we are strengthening alliances in building new partnerships, whether he be nato, and the nation standing against -- together in afghanistan or the pacific region. tillerson's state 69 banded together

plus for international organizations all working in concert to defeat isis. we also stand with our traditional allies as well as building new coalitions as we work together to defend our values. to our allies in this room today, i will tell you i had the honor of fighting many times for america. --ever once fall in and fought in an all-american or solely american, it was always a long allies. i will tell you from nato in , thee to the pacific message to our allies is we are with you. [applause] general mattis: dr. debbie terry

deputy secretary of defense, under him lies most of for numbered effort three. that is the keen direction he is helping to provide secretary mccarthy and his fellow appointees to rework business practices to gain full benefit from every dollar spent on defense. we are taking aggressive action to reform the way we do business and to gain and hold the trust of the congress and the american people that we are responsible stewards of the money allocated to us, and that it translates directly every dollar into the defense of our country and what we stand for. the army'shis, importance is absolute fundamental. historian once wrote, you may fly over a nation forever. it,made bomb it, over as and wipe it clean from life, but if you desire to defend it, you desire to protect it, you desire

to keep it for civilization. you must to do this on the ground away the roman legions did by putting your young men in the mud. i would only modify it today by saying by putting your young men and women in the mud. [applause] general mattis: this is why the army is so critical to our nation's army. i have grown rather remote from so many of you who ram the ramparts, those of you who have passed political rhetoric to rally to our flag and the gauge of a high-quality, all volunteer force. i no longer have the opportunity to get to know you personally, i do know your character. andcan get out of the army make more money per you get out of the army and see more of your family's peer you could do any number of things, that you have

the habit of putting others first in putting your country first. at battlefield cemetery, the statue of the loan soldier stands out and looks out over his fallen comrades. he is a private, and he is nicknamed old isaac. it is inscribed on the pillar he stands above, "not for themselves, but for their country. go ." whether you grow gray in the beloved nation or serve a few, rest assured you will always look back on the sacrifices of war and the demands of sergeants, and the pundit -- unpredictable to plummets as the best years of your life -- deployments as the best years of your lives. youtand physically decide every day. we join your fellow citizens in humbled all of your willingness

to sign a blank check, payable to the american people, a blank check payable with your lives to defend our revolutionary ideas enshrined in our deck related -- declaration of independence, putting freedom above all else. where icy water more -- autumn if you want a reminder of wars limited and unrelenting nation, reread sandbox this kind of war. therenbock's sandbox kind of war. if you want to know where i come from in terms of strategy, read the future of strategy, one of the most important strategists alive. willing and magnificat soldiers,

those from george washington to today, i say that you need only follow the army creed we all saw on the screen and recited. the top of your game in body, mind, and spirit. i salute the initiative to toughen the standards they have underway for the u.s. army. i am reminded that general schwarzkopf in the years after vietnam served under a korean war veteran, and he was a battalion commander, a brigade commander who insisted on tougher soldiers, knowing what he had faced in the korean war. mentally, i want you to enhance your war fighting skills, assuming every week in the army is a week to get better at integrating all army and joint efforts to become more tactically cunning. body and mind must be met with the spirit.

ladies and, gentlemen, we need our soldiers to build your own and your comrade's resilience to take stride int of your the most primitive environment on earth. let me close with a reminder to today's troops through a veterans eyes. -- veteran's eyes. i want go back to world war ii. today, as we sit here, there is a 91-year-old world war ii combat veteran from maine. the veteran is mr. richard lincoln, and he is now living in a veteran's home in maine. foughthis brothers all in world war ii, and he is the last surviving one. mr. lincoln has a remarkable story. as a 17-year-old from a very small town in maine, of less than 1000 people and standing just five foot five inches tall, read that wasi

that the effect of malnutrition during the depression? mr. lincoln served as a first scout in the 88th infantry in an import tenant -- an important site. it led to the capture of rome. the repeatedly risked his life on the front lines to identify enemy artillery, regularly and during fire and never shrinking from the dangers. the first draft he division to enter a combat zone in world war ii. 344 days of combat, the 80th infantry lost 9225 men were wounded. the blue devils proved with the teamwork, onning,

the 10th leadership, and fierce determination and all drafty division was more than capable of fighting well against well-trained, well it could that a hardened enemies. the allies liberated rome on june 4, everyone wanted to be the first into rome. the all draft 88th game the first division to enter the city. although overshadowed by the normandy invasion two days later, you all know the capture of rome was a significant .ictory to the allies for his heroic service in that campaign, mr. lincoln was awarded the bronze star medal. on june 4, 1944, the day when he and his fellow soldiers entered from, richard lincoln turned 18 years old. mr. lincoln was, and is today, a humble, ernest, self-effacing man, grateful to be an american.

he knows what it felt like to be shot at from very close range every day for months since being a scout was about as close as the frontlines as a gets. to this day, he wonders how he survived when so many comrades did not. he says he thinks it might have been because i was short, which is a wise point. i never envied tall men on the battlefield myself. i would tell you that mr. lincoln is one of those who creed of the legacy of the american army, the most trusted, ethical, capable army in the world. is one that is built on physically tough and tactically tough officers and soldiers at the top of their game. delta andulge to the the deserts that this generation of soldiers have faced, when trouble looms, the army has always stood and delivered. room, the veterans in the

you set an uncompromising bar that everyone of us on duty today must live up to. we know we will never face something worse then you maintain your dignity and your honor throughout. in this room,an to every mr. lincoln who has hailed from maine to hawaii, from alaska to puerto rico, thank you for standing by the red, white, and blue. thank you for having me. may i take your questions? [applause] >> thank you very much mr. secretary. we took the liberty of collecting questions from our members and others and appreciate you taking time to answer just a few. ae first one is, we just saw program that highlighted how the army expanded and transformed

quickly 100 years ago to meet the demands of world war i. what insights from world war i seemed most relevant to you as the army faces challenges today? mattis: i appreciate the presentation earlier because whenever you look back at whiley, you realize that technology may change, we really face nothing new under the sun. come up with good ideas and old books and reading history. i think the message i was thinking as i watched the presentation was the need for readiness. comrade who was a younger general and he once said to me, if you were sitting in my chair and you're in the joint in 1810, ande days you said where are we going to

fight in the next 10 years? not one of us would have guessed . i think the royal navy will sail right up the river outside my window and burned this town to the ground. you say that is a long time ago. you say things about 1910. how many would have said we are going to be in europe in the next 10 years and the u.s. army strung out from ports all across the fighting west would never have forecasted to be wearing gas masks with airplanes dropping bombs and charging machine guns and barbed wire. the need for readiness must also ensure that we have a shock absorber built inside the army, it out of world war i where the first advance and offensively made went horribly wrong because troops couldn't get to the front lines in the right order, and there was a traffic jam, it is a

reminder we have to be brilliant in the basics of blocking and tackling. peninsula to task force smith, we know too well the cost of not being ready. i think right now, what we want to do is be so ready and be very much aware that we fight the weight we come that everybody in the world wants to deal with secretary tillerson at the department of state, not the department of defense and the united states army. [applause] mr. secretary, you mentioned congress in your remarks. how can the american public and will add the i association of the united states army and like-minded associations, how can they influence congress to fulfill

its constitutional responsibility to provide for the common defense? mattis: what is the most important right now is we lay out the problem and compelling and persuasive terms. go back to einstein's point many years ago when asked how he would compose his thoughts if he was given one hour to save the world, and he said i would spend 55 minutes defining the problem, and i would save the world in five minutes. there are times when most of us who wear the uniform can be rightly condemned for being overly conservative and wanting more insurance and more boats and planes and guns and tanks. i understand that. general macarthur said when he was chief of staff of the army in those days when our country was having difficulty times

economically before world war ii and he was trying to convince spend ancongress to adequate amount of money on readiness so that the u.s. army would be ready, he made the that we have to be willing to do this because it is the surest way to deter war. but there is also a time and a cost aspect of this, and i think the more we can explain that we have the time right now to prepare for war as the best way to prevent war. breakout, itct will not be good enough to get money later because we will not have the time. we all understand this. the more we explain persuasively and objectively what is the situation in this increasingly complex security environments that many of our most legendary

statesmen of alive today from dr. kissinger to george schultz to sam nunn to all the others .ho have looked over decades dr. william perry, former secretary of defense, senator cowan, if we can lay this out and compelling terms, i believe in the u.s. congress. i believe in them 100%, but we have to lay this out in such a democracy, we bring the american people with us. that starts at the u.s. congress. we need everyone to make certain we are laying out the problem in a manner that leaves no doubt about the needs of all we are asking for in order to ensure that america's army is at the top of its game. [applause] general mattis: i have time for

two more. several questions about acquisitions. what can be done to enhance responsiveness to war fighter done tond what can be desensitize collaboration between services, other u.s. agencies, and our allies? mattis: i know having spoke with secretary mccarthy that he has a process underway with general millie to take the best aspects of rapid equipping and institutionalizing it as the way we do acquisitions in the u.s. army. there is a point in the second question about how do we get the joint force and the department like this. the most important thing is communications and the actual organization of the department. at congresses direction, one which i completely embrace, we

will break at addition, technology, and logistics and to research and engineering on one hand and then into acquisitions and sustainment on the other. the intention here is that we move faster in research and engineering. i have lived out in silicon valley for the three years i was retired, and i have seen what american industry is capable of and silken valley and from -- in silicon valley from michigan to boston. we have to open the communication with him must more robustly. .awyers, i love lawyers i don't want my daughter to marry one, but i love lawyers. at the same time lawyers give the advice, and i want the dod lawyers to keep us to clean within the legal and ethical codes we must live by it when we handle the amounts of money and government taxpayers money. thato want to remember

corporations are made up of americans, to0. i want no violations of law and no violations of ethics. i want no longer this cult between us in denying us the very advances that american industry is out there and executing for themselves and the private sector to. the advances in weaponry that are out there and some countries are advantages eroding as they move more swiftly. there are initiatives to move us more rapidly and organize to move more rapidly. process is, if we do not get the acquisition process right, you can throw the best world at it,in the but nine times out of 10, a bad process will win. we have to straighten out the process. i have brought people in from

industry. have people overseeing the breaking apart of that into what comes. best in aen it at its highly competitive industry and we have the people in there that know what they are doing. it is time to roll our sleeves up and get on with it. [applause] : last one. >> i suspect you will not reveal to usher strategy in korea. but what can we do to lessen the likelihood of conflict on the korean peninsula? mattis: what a great question. let me talk about korea because it is on all of our minds.

you know there is a reason i recommended that would pull out and read the book one more time. ladies and gentlemen, it is a diplomatically led, economic sanctions effort to try to turn north korea off this path. what does the future hold? neither you nor i can say, but there is one think the u.s. army to do, and that is you have be ready to be sure we have postedy options that are -- our present can employ if necessary. we currently are in a andomatically led efforts, how many times have you seen the un security council vote unanimously, not twice in a row, to impose stronger sanctions on north korea? remember, the security council has countries like france, russia, china, and the united

states, you know who is on there. they all voted unanimously on this. the international community has spoken. that means the u.s. army must stand ready. so if you are ready, that is your duty at this point in time. benow the army will always ready. thank you for having me here. have a great conference. to our allies, thank you for being here. [applause] >> the remarks on q&a available online in our video library, c-span.org. live later today, a fo a forum

on relations with u.s. and china. you can watch online at or listen live using the free c-span radio app. on capitol hill, both chambers out this columbus day holiday. house returning tomorrow for a four-day work week, working on the second supplemental request for hurricane relief that has come from the white house. the measure also includes funding for wildfire recovery and debt relief for the national flood insurance program. also, several bills to strengthen whistleblower protections. too a vote to go to congress settle differences between defense policies. you can watch this live on c-span. the senate is out next week and back next week. live senate coverage on c-span two. we will take a closer look now at work on capitol hill. when the house returns they

will take up a second white house request for hurricane relief. the first one was passed last month. >> fema could run out of money fast after dealing with all of the hurricanes and responding to pray to recall -- puerto rico and the virgin islands. a large a lot of this money would be for fema to help puerto rico which is in desperate shape. money there would be to increase the borrowing authority so that they can get more money out to people who have been hurt by these storms. also, there is a sliver in here for western wildfires which have been bad this year. that is the starting point for this package.

another piece of this is for debt assistance in terms of national flood insurance programs. what is the situation with that program now? why does it need more funding now? >> it has exhausted the borrowing authority to help the book covered by the flood insurance program. unless they put more money into , they won't feel to function. they have to increase the borrowing authority very quickly. >> the white house request is for $29 billion, yet your headline at lumbar government says a $50 billion hurricane aid package scene quickly moving to the house floor. where is the difference between the two numbers? >> the other night when the package came up from the white house, almost immediately the texas delegation met behind closed doors, house and senate, and said we don't like this. there is not specific money in here for taxes.

what we got in the first supplemental isn't enough to address harvey, the damage is enormous. senatedeputy whip in the said he and ted cruz and members of the house delegation for texas were all meeting two, with a response to this. their response came the very next day. they a sickly are asking for almost $20 billion more to help the home state -- they are simply asking for almost $20 billion more to help their home state. it is reaching the hundred dollar -- hundred billion dollar mark, and they feel like they have only gotten the beginning. lucky in the texas delegation because they have three members of the delegation serving as cardinals on the house appropriations committee.

plus they have the number two person in the senate leadership. they went to house appropriations and they have made their pitch, and it sounds as though they have gotten a good response. that is why we see the total as more towards $50 billion in this measure when it moves to the health -- house and senate. there is another part being discussed by democrats. they do not think this package has enough direct aid for puerto rico. you can imagine efforts in the house and senate by other lawmakers to get more money for rico.y go -- puerto he could easily be 50 billion if not more. >> she is a congressional leaders sip reporter with bloomberg you can follow her on twitter. the second disaster aid package headed to the house floor could amount to more than $70 billion, if new requests are included with nearly $27 billion more for florida, 18 point $7

billion more for texas, and $4 billion more funding for puerto rico. will take look now at present trump's friend months in office compared to his predecessors and what his action so far mean for the future of his presidency. was held and hosted by the texas tribune festival at the university of texas, austin. [applause] saying, on behalf of the texas tribune, i am happy to welcome you to the texas tribune festival and to trump and the presidency, a very rich panel, i believe. panelis a whole bunch of you all makehope