that this ship was overbudget, billions of dollars overbudget, years past its due date. in fact it still won't be able to be deployed for at least a few more years, probably 2021. there's also problems with some of the technological capabilities on the ship, with the catapult. they have switched from a steam powered catapult to an electromagnetic aircraft launch system, and president trump has criticized it for being too expensive and too unreliable. it will be interesting to see what president trump highlights today in the speech. it should be starting any minute now. we're told it should last about ten minutes and then of course the big manning of the ship which is really the highlight of the day. what most people in this hangar are looking forward to. but a ton of people here. 5,000 people here. 12,000 tickets sold overall for the commissioning of the navy's brand new aircraft carrier, the uss gerald r. ford. david: i'm curious about a number.

in terms of how hot it is in that -- at that deck. i know it is about 100 degrees up on the top deck. how hot is it in the hangar deck where you are? >> i'm sweating, can you tell? david: not really. >> it is hot. we have got fans here. they have some fans. they actually have some cooling mist stations around the place, which is nice, but i couldn't tell you, it is just hot, sweating hot. david: at least you don't have to wear a coat. i'm looking at all those navy folks with their heavy coats on and their covers. it is a hot time in there. stay with us, kristin -- i want to go -- hold on a second. we have colonel tony shaffer on the phone with us right now as general keen is still with us and kristin fisher and leland. can you hear us, colonel >> yeah, i'm here. thanks for having me on. david: okay, good. talk about how this aircraft is going to be used in context of our war on terror. i mean, this is a very different

kind of war that we're in right now. when you are up against all these individuals, some of whom who are willing to wear suicide vests instead of going into battle on like ships and so forth. very different from a cold war where we were battling a similar kind of army. >> right. well, there's three things that this ship is going to do. first, because it is high-tech, you are talking about isr, which are very superior to the previous classes of ship. what does for us, david, is gives us a great ability to kind of see things, to understand things. and with that then becomes the ability to do better and more effective precision strikes against these groups. one of the notable things of the current war obviously is we're not taking on large land armies like we did either during the cold war or during the time we fought iraq. this is something very important. secondly, this is a symbol of american power.

one of the notable things that i think will drive, you know, a dagger into the heart of our enemy, at least psychologically is knowing that they cannot hide. and one of the notable things in afghanistan where i served, you could have all sorts of aircraft coming off, you know, off the sea into the interior of these land -- the continental spaces and hitting these folks. so i think this is something clearly they have to understand while they may be able to run and hide, they can't sustain that forever. third and most importantly i think it shows that we are still maintaining leadership in the world relating to our other adversaries. i think it is very important for us to show that we're back on the road of strength. that we're not going to be leading quote unquote from behind. we will be leading from the front. and obviously high-tech ships like this is a key component of our ability to project force and project image, and clearly, david, that's what the ship will

be doing as we move forward. david: general keen, if you are still with us, you talked before about how this president decided to break with previous presidents -- not only obama but also with bush in terms of saying we can win this thing. we are going to win this thing. it reminds me very much of what president reagan said about the cold war. he was the first president of his generation to talk about soviet union and say not only are we going to win but we're going to end the cold war. how does this ship specifically propel itself into winning the war on terror? >> well, certainly as tony mentioned, and this is about power projection. and that's what an aircraft carrier does, so we will have aircraft carriers during the most needed parts of the world obviously. in the pacific. in the gulf. and at times in the atlantic. sometimes in the gulf area we will have two of them present. and certainly that presence

alone and the combat capability it provides with precision guiding munitions, with overhead capability to see what's happening on the ground, and just its responsiveness to ground combat is really quite extraordinary. david: let me ask you a question, it is a little contrarian question, these things take so long to design and build, even to conceive of these things, is it possible that by the time they are actually commissioned, they are somewhat out of date? you mentioned before that now they are exploring these new class of aircraft carriers which are smaller, more mobile, easier to turn around, is it conceivable that this could be out of date? >> no, i don't think so at all. it's tremendously added capability on this aircraft carrier as leland has noted. this aircraft carrier will work more efficiently. it is going to cost less to do it. we're going to have less crew on board to do it. these are all huge pluses, plus the technological advances that

it has. we're going -- we can launch aircraft so much faster than what we have done in the past, 30 to 40 percent faster. we are able to put more aircraft on it than what we have had in the past. so this is absolutely, david, increased capacity for the united states military. david: i just want to switch back to colonel shaffer for a second. what do you think about that question, colonel? the fact that this aircraft carrier was designed, conceived and manufactured for so many years prior to today's commissioning, that perhaps it's somewhat out of date? >> well, i think we're always going to be working at the cutting edge of technology as quickly as possible. there's a process for doing that. as general keen was saying, look, these systems are going to be affected by the fact that you have a series of cases which will allow the current technology to be used indefinitely especially regarding terror targets.

we're talking about basically groups of insurgents working globally. we have to have precision strike. as the general was saying, the precision strike piece of this is very important. what this carrier has done has been able to give us a finer edge and more precision to deliver that. we're talking about next generation weapons. we're talking about kinetic weapons. we're talking about magnetic rail technology which will simplify the whole process. david: right. >> but again i don't see that as critical to the current set of circumstance. david: general, we have been focusing on terrorism. we should broaden it because there are nation states as opposed to terrorists that are also our enemy right now, and i'm thinking of north korea and iran. how could this aircraft carrier be used to defend ourselves from threats from those nations? >> well, first of all, one of the great things that the united states military does with its capabilities is it deters war. and that's certainly most graphically demonstrated during the cold war.

we never did get into a war with the soviet union because they knew full well that the results would be disastrous. so that's primary mission, deter war. and the most symbolic is the aircraft carrier because we can take it any place. 70% of the nation's earth is water. so yes, it is out in the far east. we have aircraft carriers there as we have seen just recently doing exactly that. on duty, that strike carrier group, there was two of them there at one point, new administration, demonstrating to our allies that we've got your back, and that was not always the case in the previous administration, number two, demonstrating to north korea and also to china that there is a different commander-in-chief in the white house, and he's got military capability that he's willing to use, if it's necessary. and to have deterrence, david, there's two things -- two things you have to have, one is your

opponent needs to respect the capability that you have. in other words, it is real. and number two, your opponent needs to believe that you would use it. in the past that was not the case for most of the obama administration. our adversaries came to the conclusion that he was never going to use it despite the rhetoric to the contrary. now we have a president demonstrated by releasing missiles into syria after the chemical attack -- chemical attack, demonstrated by sanctions in iran and demonstrating by the president and secretary mattis putting back on the table dealing with north korea a military option. we have capability but also have willingness to use it. david: by the way all those actions against russia. theorizing -- they are rising --

rising now. let's listen in. >> commander, chaplain for the united states navy, our ship's chaplain. miss mary and baldwin -- baldwin, president and ceo. white house staff assistant to president ford and commissioning committee co-chairman. commissioning committee, co-chairman. commissioning committee co-chairman. from huntington eagle

shipbuilding, most recently served as president of newport news shipbuilding. rear admiral bruce lindsay, united states navy, commander, naval air forces, atlantic. rear admiral brian antonio, united states navy, program executive officer, aircraft carriers. vice admiral thomas moore, united states navy, commander, naval sea systems command. vice admiral michael shoemaker, united states navy, commander, naval, air forces. admiral frank caldwell, united states navy, director, naval nuclear propulsion program. admiral phillip davidson, united states navy, commander, united

states fleet forces command. admiral john richardson, united states navy, chief of naval operations. the honorable, secretary of the navy, acting. the honorable donald rumsfeld, former secretary of defense. [applause] the honorable scott taylor, united states representative, second district, commonwealth of virginia. the honorable robert scott,

united states representative, third district, commonwealth of virginia. the honorable richard cheney, former vice president of the united states. [applause] the honorable rick schneider, governor, state of michigan. [applause] the honorable gary peters, united states senator, state of michigan. [applause] the honorable roger wicker, united states senator, state of mississippi. [applause] the honorable james mattis, secretary of defense. [cheers and applause]

the honorable terry mcauliffe, governor, commonwealth of virginia. ladies and gentlemen, our ship's sponsor, mrs. susan ford bales. [cheers and applause] [cheers and applause] -- she is escorted today by command master chief, united states navy, command master chief uss gerald r. ford. ladies and gentlemen, the

president of the united states, escorted today by captain richard mccormick, united states navy, perspective commanding officer uss gerald r. ford. [cheers and applause] ladies and gentlemen, honors to the president of the united states. platform and salute. ♪

♪ ♪

>> ladies and gentlemen, the national anthem will be performed by gerald r. ford's own chief petty officer. advance the colors. ♪ >> platform and salute. ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

>> platform, ready, two.

ladies and gentlemen, chaplain barstow will offer the invocation. >> please pray with me. we gather together here today as one body, though we come from many different backgrounds, representing many different religions and from many different cultures today we gather as one. we are here to celebrate together. we gather to celebrate the commissioning of this mighty ship, the uss gerald r. ford. we gather here to celebrate the accomplishments of the united states navy. through living out our code of honor courage and commitment. we gather here to celebrate the greatest nation in the world the united states of america and in one voice we lift our prayers together as one body invoking all that is within us and invoking that which is beyond us and in the realm of the spiritual and the supernatural we invoke your presence among

us. and your blessing on all that we do here today. and we pray for your continued protection upon the ford and all the ford class carriers to follow. bless us, lord. bless this crew. bless this ship. and may we all be worthy and faithful to the mission for which we have been called. we pray this in your mighty name, amen. will the guests please be seated? ladies and gentlemen, the honorable terry mcauliffe, governor commonwealth of virginia. [applause] >> good afternoon, everyone.

first of all, mr. president, the cabinet, to our fellow guests, governor from michigan, susan ford bales, let me be very clear, mr. president, i know you worry about 50 states, but let me tell you, you are here in the greatest state in the greatest nation on earth, the commonwealth of virginia. [cheers and applause] and we -- we are great because of the 9,000 individuals who built this beautiful ship, the uss gerald r. ford, if we could give a round of applause for the 9,000 ship builders who made this possible today. [cheers and applause] so mr. president, if you want to save taxpayer money and help our military, you keep investing. you put all the military

contracts here in the commonwealth of virginia. we will deliver on time, ahead of budget, because we are the greatest workforce in america, and i'm also proud the greatest active duty, 27 military installations, the largest naval base in the world. let's hear it for every man and woman here who wears the cloth of this great country. [cheers and applause] and finally to the state, the number one state in america for veterans. we have more female veterans, for veterans under the age of 25, fastest-growing veteran population in america. we love our veterans here in the commonwealth of virginia. last year the first state in america to be certified by the federal government to end veteran homelessness, the commonwealth of virginia. we love our active duty. we love our veterans.

i thank you for being here today. what an honor susan to have this ship named after your father. you think a man who after pearl harbor enlisted in the united states navy and took over our country at a very difficult time and led our nation with dignity. we are so grateful for president ford and we are so grateful for the ford family being here today. ladies and gentlemen, enjoy yourselves, if you are visiting, spend every penny in your pockets before you leave the commonwealth of virginia. thank you. go navy! [cheers and applause] >> thank you, governor mcauliffe. ladies and gentlemen, former president newport news shipbuilding. [applause] >> good morning. president trump, distinguished

platform guests, ladies and gentlemen, and most especially our ship sponsor susan ford bales. i always start my speeches by saying how privileged i am to be here representing the women and men of newport news shipbuilding. today these words take on even greater meaning to me personally as it's the last time i will be saying them in an official capacity before my retirement. and so while today is a wonderful day for the navy, i'd like to reflect for just a moment on the builders of this magnificent aircraft carrier. being a ship builder isn't easy work and it's not for everyone, and yet i am proud to say we have 20,000 of america's finest ship builders right across the water newport news. proudly building the aircraft carriers and submarines -- submarines that serve and protect our great nation.

they come to work each day to do their best and to be their best. president ford embodied this work ethic. he once said the harder you work, the luckier you are, and i work like hell. our ship builders work every single day. i would tell you that we're also pretty lucky. we're lucky to work in an industry that allows us to be part of something greater than ourselves. we're lucky to carry on president ford's legacy for future generations, and we're lucky to work alongside the best and brightest in the world's greatest navy. but when it comes to building the most complex ships in the world, luck has little to do with it. it is skilled craftsmanship and an unwavering commitment to quality that gets the job done. building cbn 78 has been an exciting journey from the early

design concepts to the first cut of steel to the sea trials. during the sea trials, we put her through her paces. we tested all of our systems, and yes, with all due respect, captain mccormick, we drove her like we stole her, and she performed like a champ. i am truly honored to say i've been here for every step of her journey. and because of this, i can confidently say that this aircraft carrier represents the very best of american manufacturing, innovation and experience. she represents the very best of the u.s. navy and captain mccormick and his fine crew, and she represents the strength, courage, and integrity of the 38th president of the united states. the cbn 78 joins the fleet today. she will reign over the seas just as her predecessors has done for decades.

but unlike her sister ships, this ship has a secret weapon, her name is susan. susan ford bales has redefined what being a sponsor means. her love for the ship, her father's legacy, and our nation has been inspiring. she has provided to us a living connection to the great man, husband, president, and dad for whom this ship is named. we will always consider her our fellowship builder and friend. to susan and the entire ford family, to captain mccormick and his crew, and to the ship builders and all of our supplier businesses, across the united states that made this incredible ship possible, congratulations on the commissioning of uss gerald r. ford. thank you. [applause]