on july 4 of 2012? coming up with a list of grievances that this assembly debated. >> lawrence blessing has talked about a new constitutional convention. i think it is early. i think it is tricky. i do not mean to sound too conservative. when you say to make a list of grievances, we could sit in this room and come up with a list of six ideas or grievances that need to be made real and lead to change. you need to find your issue, work in your community. work in the organizing around the issue. link up with groups doing work.

if it is student debt, find ways to take on the banks, local legislators, and congress in the short term. is not very revolutionary. at the event we did on 9/11, i said i felt this country was in a pre-revolutionary moment. it was about a week before occupy was street launched. i believe in evolution, not revolution. >> katrina, did you read the foreign affairs article that backs up the occupy movement? there was a recent article about the new progressive movement. there is more coming out about the occupy agenda and what they want. you have articulated some of the agenda.

geoffrey sax talked about three- regulating the market -- regulating the market. it is all there. why is it not been articulated by the media? >> i think it is. it is not up to -- different occupy's have different demands. it is up to people like "the nation" and other groups like rebuild the dream, national people's action, the progressive caucus. occupy wall street is a spirit. they're committed at the moment to not having concrete demands. we have six ideas. one would be the robin hood tax. the other would be to change the

way our tax structure is organized, how to get money out of politics, hold corporations responsible, support attorney general's fighting for for closure relief. there are six of 10. >> have you ever been wrong? [laughter] >> occupy wall street is a moral compass. they are articulating what they think it should be. the lead essay is a shift. i am wrong all the time. >> give me one example. [laughter] >> i said on national television the night -- election night of 2000 as florida was coming in that the election would be decided that night.

people may remember that election was decided by the supreme court. it went on for two or three months. it ended up being decided by the governors, bush's brother, a supreme court judge chosen by his father. george bush was asked if he had ever been wrong and said he could not think of a time. he is still saying that. [laughter] humble man. we are about out of time. do you have a short question? >> what is the circulation of "the nation"? >> 1.5 million readers online and 160,000 paper circulation.

paul newman was a great and loyal friend and supporter. his partner in crime, robert redford, has been a supporter. we have a circle of 100 people who give each year. 30,000 associates give little each month above the subscription price in the belief it is not just a media institution but a community. there are 40 discussion groups around the country. [applause] >> these people obviously support it for what it espouses and believes in. do they all know that you have dirty martinis and marvin gaye? >> you have to keep perspectives. everyone's work is demanding.

it is trying to make sense of these times and keep some hope. if we were meeting this time last year, it was a bully -- bleak time. we were coming off an election with the tea party claimed it had a mandate. i try to read history, drink dirty martinis, listen to marvin gaye, watch "true blood." vampires, everything. >> this has been fabulous. our thanks to katrina vanden h euvel, publisher of "the nation." [applause]

we want to remind everybody that copies of her book are on sale in the lobby. she would be pleased to sign them. we aappreciate your allowing her to make her wait the lobby as quickly as possible. this meeting is adjourned. [applause]

we are celebrating the glorious grand opening of the chinese rec center. ♪ 1951, 60 years ago, our first kids began to play in the chinese wrecks center -- rec center. >> i was 10 years old at the time. i spent just about my whole life here. >> i came here to learn dancing. by we came -- >> we had a good time. made a lot of friends here. crisises part of the 2008 clean neighborhood park fund, and this is so important to our families. for many people who live in chinatown, this is their backyard.

this is where many people come to congregate, and we are so happy to be able to deliver this project on time and under budget. >> a reason we all agreed to name this memorex center is because it is part of the history of i hear -- to name this rec center, is because it is part of the history of san francisco. >> they took off from logan airport, and the call of duty was to alert american airlines that her plane was hijacked, and she stayed on the phone prior to the crash into the no. 9 world trade center. >> i would like to claim today the center and the naming of it. [applause] >> kmer i actually challenged me

to a little bit of a ping pong -- the mayor actually challenge me to a little bit of a ping- pong, so i accept your challenge. ♪ >> it is an amazing spot. it is a state of the art center. >> is beautiful. quarkrights i would like to come here and join them >> good afternoon and welcome to today's meeting of the

commonwealth club of california, the place where you are in the know. i am currently a director of the california clean energy fund, also a long serving member of the commonwealth club. please turn off all your noise- making devices. we will get under way in just a moment, but first, i want to tell you a bit about a couple of upcoming programs. next monday, november 21, tom brokaw, nbc news correspondent and author, will discuss the current mood of america. this will be a program starting at 1:00 p.m. at the santa clara convention center. on tuesday, november 29, paula

kerger, who is president of pbs, and the president of kqed will discuss the challenges facing public broadcasting and how the challenges impact our program choices. this will be a 6:00 p.m. program here in san francisco at the commonwealth club. it is my pleasure to extend a special welcome to any new members of the commonwealth club who are here today. we know you are going to enjoy your membership and look forward to seeing you often. if you are not a member yet, today is a great time to join. if you have questions, the staff will be available to answer them after the program.

there are question cards at your table for director muller, and these will, of course, the collected during the program. the commonwealth club, as you know, is a nonpartisan organization. we do ask that our speakers be allowed to make their remarks without interruption. we encourage the writing of your questions and submitting them to us. i also want to say that we are very pleased to have with us to moderate the program for the question period, mariono florentino professor at stanford university law school and co- director at stanford center for international security and cooperation.

from early 2009 through the summer of 2010, he served as special assistant to the president for justice and regulatory policy at the white house. now, we are going to pause just for a moment while we begin -- before beginning our radio, tv, and internet programs for a much wider audience. good afternoon and welcome to today's meeting of the commonwealth club of california, the place where you are in the know. you can find us on the internet at commonwealthclub that board -- commonwealthclub.org.

now it is my distinct honor and also a personal pleasure for me to introduce robert s. muller, the sixth director of the federal bureau of investigation. nominated by president george w. bush, he was sworn in to lead the fbi on september 4, 2001, just one week before the al qaeda attacks on 9/11. under his leadership, the fbi has since played the leading role in preventing further terrorist attacks inside america. all americans should be happy that congress recently approved an extension of his tenure --

his 10-year term for an additional two years. i have known bob since 1970, which was his first year as a law student at university of virginia where i was on the law school faculty. he was a returning veteran from the vietnam war, having led a rifle platoon in the third marine division, receiving a bronze star, purple heart, and vietnamese cross of gallantry. i was always on the lookout for incoming students who played squash. bob more than filled that bill. he improve my game, although i never, never beat the man. i did, however, get to know him very well. he was a prince.

bob also was smart, smart enough for me to offer him a job as my research assistant and dumb enough to accept. he was a delight to work with, and together, we produced an article -- the energy environment conflict: fighting electric power facilities -- which was published in 1972. when bob graduated from uva he left a real hole in my life, but i knew for sure he was going to accomplish great things. we kept in touch as his career progressed until fbi swallowed him in 2001. bob's legal career has been mainly in public service with interruptions for private practice. all of his focus on criminal

law, financial fraud, public corruption, narcotics, conspiracies, money laundering, terrorists. he first became known in san francisco where he served in the u.s. attorney's office, rising to be chief of the criminal division. thereafter, he moved to boston as assistant u.s. attorney and then to the u.s. justice department in washington where he led the criminal division. in 1998, bob returned to san francisco as united states attorney. please join me in welcoming my good friend and one of america's most distinguished public servants, robert muller. [applause]

>> let me start off by thanking mason for that kind introduction. i will say -- you often wonder when a former professor is going to introduce you. you do not know what is going to come out. but, thank you. you were there to kick start my career when it needed kick starting. let me thank the commonwealth club for having me back. it is great to be back in san francisco but also to be back with you this afternoon. two months ago, we marked the 10th anniversary of the september 11 attacks. the horrific events of that day were the prelude to a decade of political, economic, and cultural transformation, and globalization and technology have accelerated these changes. consider now how different our

world was in the summer of 2001. leaders of egypt, iraq, and libya were entrenched in power. barack obama was an illinois state senator, and arnold schwarzenegger was a movie actor. 10 years ago, most americans had never heard of a credit default swap or mortgage-backed securities. lehman brothers had celebrated its 150th anniversary and in 2001, mark zuckerberg was captain of his high-school fencing team. borders bookstores had $3 billion in annual revenue and meanwhile, kindle something you did to a fire and nook was merely a small corner of the room. most americans knew little about osama bin laden or al qaeda. at the time, i was u.s. attorney in san francisco and i myself being out here paid little

attention to those terrorist attacks that were occurring overseas. today, our world can change in the blink of an eye. the effects of that change are felt more rapidly and more broadly than ever before. consider the current economic climate. when companies fail to recognize and adapt to change, they can go out of business almost overnight. law enforcement and the intelligence community face a similar challenge. if we in the fbi failed to recognize how the world is changing, the consequences can be devastating. lives can be lost. our national security can be threatened, and the balance of power can tip toward our adversaries. terrorism, espionage, and cyber attacks are now the fbi's top priorities. terrorists, spies, and hackers are always thinking of new ways to harm us.

today, i want to discuss how these threats are evolving and what to share with you what the fbi is doing to stay one step ahead to keep our nation safe, prosperous, and free. let's begin with the terrorist threat. during the past decade, we have weakened al qaeda, due to the coordinated efforts of our military, the intelligence community, law enforcement, and our international partners. we have captured or killed many al qaeda leaders and operatives, including osama bin laden. we have shut down terrorist training camps, frozen their finances, disrupted their communications and, most importantly, we have uncovered dozens of cells and prevented terrorist attacks. yet, core al qaeda, operating out of pakistan, remains committed to high-profile attacks against the west. we confirmed this with records seized from osama bin laden's compaq after his death.

we saw this with the plot to bomb the new york subway system in 2009. meanwhile, al qaeda affiliate's have emerged as significant threats. al qaeda in the arabian peninsula operating in yemen has attended several attacks on the united states, including the failed christmas day airline bombing in 2009 and the attempted bombing of u.s.-bound cargo planes in october 2010. most recently, we have a growing concern about the threat from homegrown violent extremists. these individuals have no typical profile. their experiences and motives are often distinct, but they are increasingly savvy and willing to act alone, which makes them difficult to find and stop. in 2009, smadi was a 19-year-old

jordanian citizen living in texas, and although he espoused loyal to -- loyalty to al qaeda and some of the modern, he was not affiliated with any groups that would become terrorists. he had become radicalized on his own on the internet. when he expressed clear interest in attacking a dallas skyscraper, the fbi used undercover agents to set up a sting, and three agents who spoke arabic began talking with him, first online and later in prison. he believed he had found an al qaeda sleeper sell to assist him. after months of planning, he parked what he believed was a truck bomb underneath a skyscraper and dialed a cell phone number he sought would detonate the bomb. the bomb was a fake supplied by our undercover agents, and the call signaled the agents to make the arrest. last year, he was convicted and sentenced to 24 years in prison.

intelligence led us to him and the combined efforts of our federal, state, and local partners help us stop him before he could do any harm. in the face of this threat, we and the bureau will continue to enhance our intelligence capabilities to get the right information to the right people at the right time, and we will continue to build strong partnerships, for these tools have been the foundation for our success against terrorism over the past 10 years. we must keep adapting to these changing terrorist threats to stay one step ahead of those who would do was harm, and we must do all of this while respecting the role of law and the safeguards guaranteed by the constitution -- stay one step ahead of those who would do us harm. let us turn from terrorists to spies. many people assume the end of the cold war made the world of cloak and dagger obsolete, but

unfortunately, a spinoff is still very much with us. nations will always try to learn one another's secrets to gain political, military, or economic advantage. the bar of intelligence presence operating in the united states is roughly the same as it was during the cold war. we still confront traditional espionage, such as spies working under diplomatic cover, or even posing as ordinary citizens. consider the arrest last year of 10 agents of the russian foreign intelligence service. many of you may have seen tv news stories and videos covering the techniques we use in our investigation. it did feature the stuff from a john le carre novel. apart from the more traditional types of espionage, today's

spies are just as often students, researchers, business people, or operators of front companies. they seek not only state secrets, but trade secrets from corporations and universities, such as research and development, intellectual property, and insider information. consider the recent case of a naturalized u.s. citizen from india. for 18 years, he was an engineer at no. 0 grumman, the defense contractor that built the stealth bomber, one of our nation's most important strategic assets -- an engineer at no. full grumman -- nor folk -- norfolk grumman. he sold highly classified information about the stealth technology to several nations, including china, and also made six covert trips to china to assist them in development of stealth technology for their cruise missiles.

partnerships again were essential in finding and stopping him before he could further damage national security. together with the air force, u.s. customs, irs, and other agencies will build a strong case against him, and this past january, he was sentenced to 32 years in prison. foreign spies know that military superiority is merely one factor that determines the world's balance of power. just as important is the kind of economic innovation we find here in the bay area. so it is no surprise that spies also target the most valuable secrets of american companies. as well as universities. they hope that stealing the fruits of american innovation will give their nation's a shortcut to economic pre- eminence. an example of the cost of this type of espionage -- a former scientist for two of america's

largest agricultural companies pled guilty to charges that he sent trade secrets to his native china. he became a research leader in biotechnology and the development of organic pesticides. although he had signed non- disclosure agreements, he transferred stolen trade secrets from both companies to persons in germany and china, and his criminal conduct cost millions of dollars. these two cases illustrate the growing scope of what we call the insider threat where employers use their legitimate access to steal secrets for the benefit of another company or another country. so much sensitive data is now stored on computer networks. our adversaries often find it as effective or even more effective