>> from washington, "the mclaughlin group," the american original -- for over three decades, the sharpest minds, est sources, hardest talk. john: issue one. secrets away? >> around the world, around the clock, in defense of all we hold dear back home. americas navy. john: the u.s. navy is the most powerful maritime force in istory. and every day, its skilled and dedicated personnel defend the nation. but the u.s. navy has a problem. enter lieutenant commander edward lin. news broke that mr. lin, a u.s. naval flight officer specializing in electronic signals intelligence faces

charges of adultery, prostitution and providing classified intelligence to taiwan and possibly also, china. but this scandal is only the tip of the iceberg. because in 2016, the navy remains roiled by the so-called fat leonard scandal in which a number of enior officers have been charged for accepting kickbacks from a private maritime supply contractor. and note this oddity. a possible target of investigators, current director of naval intelligence, vice admiral ted branch has had his security clearance suspended since late 2013. question -- is the navy in crisis, pat buchanan? pat: i would say no, john, but it is under great stress and the reason that we had about a 600-ship navy under ronald

reagan. it's about half that size and after the old cold war, we have the baltic sea and the black sea and the south china sea and all these places to police by the u.s. navy and the challenges to it from both china and russia are growing dramatically and secondly, even ith countries like iran, any anti-shipped weapons and missiles are very sophisticated are being developed. for example, some could be in the south china sea which represent a real threat to our aircraft carriers. so in terms of strength, the united states navy is the most powerful on earth but in relative terms, other nations are growing in strength. john: go ahead. eleanor: i wouldn't use the word cry is and i think the u.s. navy still dwarfs the capacity of any other navy force in the world. and, ok, it's not good when you find a spy, a potential spy in your ranks and that's being investigated and they're being

very quiet about it. so we don't know how far that goes. but the "fat leonard" scandal is typical kickbacks. it's money. and i don't connect that with the strength of the navy. so, i say no. the navy is not in crisis. whoever the next president is, they're probably going to want to look at the capacity of our forces. but i don't think there's anything wrong with our navy. john: so you don't think the navy is underfunded? eleanor: no. well, i think the military is making the case that under the sequester budget that they're not getting enough money. but i would not single out the navy. i think again, the u.s. military dwarfs. i think we're bigger than the next 10 countries combined. this is not a problem. john: you know robert gates? eleanor: i sure do. john: and his memoir duty president obama proposed to cut half of $1.2 trillion of total

cuts and d.o.d. represents 20% of the total budgets. so he's lamenting that. eleanor: well, he was the former defense secretary, i think? yeah. they always want more. john: eleanor, you know robert gates? eleanor: yes. he served -- up to i'm a big fan of bill gates. i would like to think in my heart but there's not a chance in the universe -- he has proven t by action. he's one of the few people that is respected by everyone. the oblem with end is -- navy has very strict requirements for qualifications. they have to study very, very hard, very intellectually rigorous.

very well-trained crews that make it so proficient at the senior levels. and the best example there is ted branch is the head of naval intelligence. his security cleaners -- clearance is being suspected. it put twos different levels. one for the admirals and one for other people. there has to be consistency. but in terms of whether u.s. army and marines have evolved over through afghanistan and iraq to deal with threat, the navy needs to do that as well. more focusing now probably on submarinforests because as pat says, one missile from china, you got 5,000 dead american sailors. eleanor: i'm waiting for the navy cries is so be introduced into the presidential contest. then i'll begin to pay attention. clarence: i don't think it's going to happen. well, what i see as a problem and i know a number of other people do. there have been seven officers named in this scandal and nothing resembling discipline or punishment or whatever for any of them. that means you've got a culture that tolerates corruption and

that's a danger. it doesn't sound like a crisis. but we don't know who else might be involved in this. and the lid is on this right now. but i think if you don't show that you really care about cleaning up that sort of atmosphere that leads to people getting kickbacks and that's utright bribery. pat: you can talk about the largest expenditure in the country, but half of that's paid in benefits. secondly, the united states is an island continent. so we have to have a navy all the way across the other side of the atlantic and the persian gulf and the other side of the 7,000-mile pacific ocean. there aren't russian war ships floating around the gulf of mexico but we're sitting there in the baltic sea and our destroyers and others and you're right there in their backyard. and so i think the united states quite obviously, if you're going to be a global power, we're the ones that need a gigantic navy. clarence: that's the debate.

how much of a global power do we want to be? how much do we want to take care of these protective duties? pat: what are we doing in the baltic sea? pat: why can't the germans and the brits and the others, why can't hey manage that? tom: we're dealing with poland , estonia and lithuania who are supporting. pat: why don't the germans put some ships in there? tom: they absolutely do. john: is the navy overextended? clarence: that's the debate john: and is it underfunded? clarence: the two work together. what is your mission? pat: that's clarence's point. if wore going to defend everybody on earth in southern and eastern black sea and the indian ocean and the korean sea and the south china sea, you're going to need a bigger navy. [laughter] eleanor: we're going to honor our treaty commitments and so

far, i haven't heard one squawk out of any of the presidential candidates that this is a problem. so let's -- we have so many other issues to worry about. clarence: you do not criticize the level of spending when you're running for president whether a democrat or republican. eleanor: ok. fair enough. tom: one of the question and stuff that goes on behind the scenes is in the event of a conflict, because of the synergy of the different services, and i think people struggle to understand. one of the big lies in europe is that the americans have all the kit but none of the skill. actually, they have all the kit and all of the skills. to become a sub mariner, you've got to be be a nuclear physicist and a potential warrior. at: is a sub mariner a sub machinest also? eleanor: i think he's been checking that out as career option.

tom: i could be under the water, yeah. clarence: you might be too tall. tom: maybe. john: i'm working on the assumption that we are in agreement that the navy is overextended and underfunded. and we all agree that that is a yes answer. >> the water is increasing its capacity in cunks with the widening of its navigationle channel. john: seven years in the works and 102 years after the canal first opened in 1914, upgrades to the panama canal are nearly finished. he upgrades will allow super amaxe quote-unquote neo--pan transport vessels to navigate the 48-mile route between the atlantic and pacific oceans.

that increased trade will increase sufficiency and reduce hipping costs. panama's government will also benefit of higher canal toll revenues. but note that later this year, construction will begin on a chinese-fundsed nicaraguan canal to compete with the panama canal and with all the ice melting, the coming years will see new trade routes opening. is the chinese canal through icaragua a viable project? i'll like to ask engineer pat buchanan. pat: john, it's doable but it's not cost-effective to build it especially when you've dot the -- got the panama canal now taking very large container ships and it's a very efficient canal. and this is an incredible

project. t would take digging through nicaragua a longer length, even reflate nicaragua and through panama. it would be redundant. i think the chinese talked through their hat a lot and i don't think they're going to go build in that canal, but they're welcome to try. maybe the nick juans will make ome money -- nicaraguans will make some money. clarence: they have found nothing and you can look throughout the continent of africa, the chinese have made all kinds of promises and supposed commitments to build these enormous projects and they haven't delivered on virtually nything. the economy is slowing. but when they go into these areas, they generally bring their own workers. they really don't do much to benefit the local area and people are beginning to understand that the chinese are not great as partners in these kind of big construction efforts. pat: they're selfish and

self-interest. eleanor: well, that's the government, not the people. people are wonderful. tom: the chinese in africa, they burn bridges. regardless that you have fro trade or more protectionist policies. one of the great advantage the united states have is when you have a rules base system only engagement. - of engagement. not with china because they do not obey the rules but for example, developping economies for philippines and vietnam and the united states can offer something to those people that is tangible and real. we get protections in terms of law. so the trading relationships are more about where the chinese can come in, pick winners and losers and leave the people to rot. and the chinese don't care about hat. clarence: i've seen a couple of those projects in africa. they not only bring their own material and their own people, they build their own compound there. they so they don't even mingle with the local population. it's a very contained economic

environment. a lot of this may just be a public relations, really, sign of ventures into the third world to a new empire. pat: when you look at what's happening in china, they are tremendously overextended at home. they've started all these things that they can't follow through on. they've got a real crisis in that economy. and i think projects like building the nicaraguan canal are well down at the bottom. i think they're going to have to retrench to a degree. china is second in the world but in many ways, the commons chinese party is overextended and the chirse are overextended. clarence: they're just as paranoid as ever. and they still have too big of a gap between rich and poor. john: wang jing lost 80% of his fortune in the chinese stock arket last year.

172 canal has multiple delays and may never be built here. eleanor: what about the panama canal? now, that is one of the world's wonders and you'll remember, i believe ronald reagan built his presidential campaign on it. we paid for it. we built it. it's ours. and jimmy carter, of course, had turned the panama canal, turned it back to the people there and a lot of democrats lost their seat to the senate over that. but it was the right thing to do. pat: i was in that debate with reagan when he debated buckley and george was buckley's second. we where they used to say, we stole it fair and square. [laughter] eleanor: ok. clarence: that was the line. tom: they can't compete at that low wage economy. they get undercut in terms of those cheap products that they sell to the world by sexram philippines.

but what they're doing is the south china sea. here's a big problem pause all those global trade route's going through there. if they own that -- pat: that makes sense to them like the americans drove the british navy out of the gulf of mexico, and out of the caribbean and basically took over and the brits wisely had the great motto. they said will the the americans -- let the americans have it. we're going to need the americans for our problems in europe that are coming up. it was brilliant diplomacy and part of the british empire from about 1900's to 1914. tom: what about those countries in southeast asia that would become under chinese dominion? and the trading relationships that we have with them? will it affect american wallets? pat: i think the chinese, if they want those islands and they're willing to fight for them, my guess is they're going to go to the chinese. eleanor: they're so far, that's not willing to fight. everybody's avoiding that kind of confrontation over there. tom: because we've given it to them. eleanor: right. john: climate change. made the northwest passage a trade route. pat: it already is. it's more and more -- you can pass through there more and more

months and weeks on the year now and it's warming up and the russians are up there and a lot of folks are going north of canada and it's an easy route from europe to asia. john: hold on. ust to inform pat, there's a geo physical research, letters in 2015 -- that's a research letter, 2015 says arctic ice will remain too thick for routine shipping but decades, even then, icebergs will be problems. picture the titanic. what do you think of that? pat: no, it's already the northwest passage is being used more and more. there are problems attended and it's not all year-round all of it. but, john, it is widening and you can use it longer and longer. eleanor: the impact of climate change is being felt throughout the globe. and pat may think it's a natural -- no. maybe beneficial temporarily in some places that's going to create a lot of disruption and we should point out that paris

accord was just signed recently at the u.n. a number of nations coming together under the leadership of president obama and the chinese president, the two biggest admitters of greenhouse gases really drove that treaty and that's very good. john: technology like 3-d -- will technology like 3-d rinting reduce shipping? pat: what's in containers -- tom: that's what i thought. big consumer. pat: can't get all those toyota cars with the consumer machine. it's the u.s. navy, it's their opportunity again, to say why they are relevant and the question is how do they reform to be able to protect those? it's not just about the south china sea. and this is the global responsibility thing. south china sea to the batic to the arctic. you see what's very interesting is the level of military

training exercises, the u.s. just sent an attacks to breach through to the p.r., the russians planting flags. pat: there are ships amassed again. tom: it's the great game again. the 19th century has returned. clarence: the jets are buzzing our ships. pat: that's our ship sitting there again in the baltic sea near leningrad. if he russian ship was sitting in florida, you think some navy guy might buzz that? john: will panama reap the economic benefits of broadening the canal? yes or no? pat: undeniably, it's going to get some benefits and frankly, i hope there are a lot. eleanor: yes. tom: very big benefits. clarence: they're ahead of the game right now. ironically, those also reports about el nino causing a slowdown in the expansion of the canal. there's another case of where climate is having an impact. john: yes, arctic shipping is many decades away if ever. and the nicaraguan canal is more

a pipe dream than a project. the panama and suez canal remains vital for world shipping. issue three. millenial challis. -- challis. -- mall lay. >> in a recent report, andrew woo of the apartment list company raises key concerns about millenial home ownership. ownership by millennials, mr. woo explains, continues to decline each quarter. and across the nation. 37% of millennials have saved nothing for their first home purchase. but for the mclaughlin's millennial viewers, seeking to buy a house, jack, james and samantha, the most affordable city for a down payment is detroit, michigan rget the most

expensive city, san francisco. where the average millennial renter needs 28 years to save enough for a 20% down payment on a property. john: what can be done to make millennial homes purchase more affordable? pat: one of the problems you're addressing here, first, is that millennials, people who buy homes used to be when clarence and i that were younger, they're folks that were building families, bringing kids into the world and they want to move enter a community. a lot of the millennials are putting off marriage toon older age. they're enjoying the good life well, if you, of the cities. gentrification is taking place. they prefer to rent and mobility and be able to move. they're not putting down roots the same way our generation did. it's a dramatic change and it's one of the reasons, i think, and also the housing prices going

up, it's quite obvious what is happening, you know. and there's another point here, which is people -- kids coming out of college and a lot of kids, they're not doing as well, moving up as well as we all seemed to be back in the 1950's and early 1960's when you got out of school. eleanor: well, there are a number of distinguishing features of millennials. it's a huge generation. 80 million, the biggest, obviously in history. and they have enormous student debt. so they come out of school, the ones who are fortunate enough to go to college and they owe a lot of money. and they don't really see the value in owning a lot of different things. and so they want to be mobile. they may get around to buying houses at some point but maybe the housing market touting think about more affordable housing, more apartments in cities. i mean, that's how people want to live. and they want to live in walkable communities. the suburb yan house with the lawn and the -- suburb yan with

the lawn and red picket fence is not ideal anymore. well, i have a red picket fence. i call it red. clarence: the apartment rent is so incredible. let's turn to a young person. tom: one of the things is that when i first came out, i'm very lucky. and i still live there because the rent is so low because there's so many of us crammed in. but it allows -- i would say that's something that millennials should do. don't go to the nicer place. unpleasant -- and just push through it, save some money and then give yourself the chance to buy a property. but i would say one of the other things that i find troubling is number one what, we could do is it's very hard to increase supply. we should reform that. but also, i think there is this trend in our society, unfortunately, away from young people. obama care is the example and the problem with that is obviously, that drain is going to continue and the final point is we do need to get a grip on

college tuition. but one of the things we should say to people is go and be a technical skills person. learn a trade, plumbing. the germans do this very well. john: what is the average age of today's first-time home buyer? since you're so knowledgeable -- eleanor: i don't know. early 30's? clarence: mid 30's, yeah. that will be my guess. eleanor: yeah. pat: at least 30. eleanor: not the right answer though. pat: home buyers or apartment buyers? does that qualify? a home in the suburb, it's in the 30's. john: expecting a nice clean answer. pat: 37. john: 3-0. 30. tom: that's got to be in the midwesterner. pat: sure. john: the average age of today's

first-time buyer, 30. if you want to modify with midwest, are we going to go to west and south and north? and east coast? [laughter] pat: they're coming out of college and they're playing eight years of rent. john: is home ownership still the key to social mobility? yes or no? pat buchanan. pat: look, central mobility, if you've got it, you're going to have a good apartment. but everybody, except for the homeless has got somewhere to live. eleanor: also the 2008-2009 crash, i think, partly that was the result of the housing bubble where home ownership was vastly oversold. and i think younger people are not that -- they're not thrilled with the idea of owning their own house. tom: i think the key will be education. education, education, education. clarence: but crash shows that home values are valuable. they can go down. and very rapidly.

it's caused a lot of people to be slower about investing. john: you're crowding me out here. the bottom line is a millennials better off buying or renting? and the answer to that is -- eleanor: too close to call. tom: that's the kids go to. john: too close to call for this week. but wait a minute. i think we got a flash here. no, no flash. next week. [laughter] john: predictions, pat? pat: bernie sanders will demand and get a prime time speaking slot at the democratic convention and use it to launch what is basically a revolution of the left of the neo-socialist left which will be enduring. eleanor: i'm going to have to second that but refine it a little bit. he will go back to the senate as the senator from vermont and he will join forces with elizabeth warren from massachusetts and if the democrats gain control of

the senate, chuck schumer will be the majority leader and you've got a powerful legislative making and maybe passing corps that will assist the democrat who's in the white house. and i'm not going to name names. john: tom. tom: in the coming weeks and months, we're going to see a much more relentst against senior leaders of isil which is very positive and it shows what we can do when you have people gathering intelligence and attacking some very deeply unpleasant people and securing innocent lives. clarence: i predict that after $20 when the harriet tubman bill becomes released, which i approve, digital dollars like apple money will begin to make paper money obsolete. john: i predict the federal reserve will raise interest rates when it meets in june. bye-bye.

coming up on our program a roundup of top tech stories. colorful events. our top picks and new developments about the five protesters that went on a hunger strike against what they say are injustices of the san francisco police department. this afternoon the frisco five were all hospitalized due to deteriorating health. this caps a week where hundreds marched on city hall. the hunger strikers led the march. they claimed chief awe