thank you. >> thanks. colonel yeager. >> i just want to say you can't underestimate the risk presented by these environments we fly in and really the relationships that we build with cal fire and the training prepares us to mitigate that risk. as rear admiral riveras said, bad things tend it happen at night. they also happen on the weekend and i think we have a 3-day week jepld here but i assure you we are ready to respond. >> from personal experience in 2007, i started training for fire fighting in 2006 but in 2007 was my first actual experience fighting fires and as i went in for my first dip in san diego to fill the bucket about two miles away was my brothers and my brother's house, his wife and my two nephews and that's when this capability really hit home for me, that it's an important thing. as was said before,

every member -- we're all members of the community as well and it's all extremely important. the fire fight is important to us and we are ready and we count on the relationship that we have with cal fire. in fact, that's probably the most essential part of this thing for us to be ready to fight future fires. >> colonel. >> thank you very much for allowing us to come here and participate because it is important. we really appreciate very much this opportunity. we're doing well right now but there's khal lefrpgs we can do better on and that's exactly what we're looking forward to do. we're looking forward to build upon and leverage what we're doing here. communications, that was one of the first things. it's different with our active duty forces because you see here, we send our aircraft all around the world. we can't

necessarily just invest in some components in the aircraft and call it good because those assets may be gone and deployed but we have work arounds for that. we are looking forward to that as well in addition to the training. lastly is we again kind of relish the opportunity to participate in the operations against an active enemy. at least here, it's fire. we appreciate the fact we can go ahead and enter a tactical command air control. those are operations that are familiar to us and they are, it's a great exercise for us tactically as well. we are able to integrate with cal fire itself with the objective being the fire itself. those work out for us here and we can go ahead and use those skills forward as well. thank you very much, we appreciate the opportunity. >> thank you, i'd like to thank our panelists and open it up to our group for any

questions of our panelists today. yes, sir, secretary. >> there are a lot of things you can do in a forest that tend to make it easier it fight a fire like most importantly burning off the fuel during the wet season so there's less for the fire to feed on. to what extent in cal fire and all your other things do you encourage people to do things in their forest when you don't have a fire that make it easier and more effective in fighting the fire? >> it's an excellent question, sir. we spend a large time in cal fire on public education and prevention and also with respect to you were talking about fuel, the fuels program, or vegetation management program in cal fire, we have a robust program throughout the state where we are conducting burning operations and

vegetation management with prieflt ranch owners and private land owners as well as on state and cooperating with our federal agencies with the u.s. forest service. so two-fold program, vegetation management, we aggressively pursue that, but also from a public education stand point. what we find in these large scale incidents, the public is going to have to be self-sustaining and self-supporting. they need to be prepared. we try to educate them in respect that we say we'll provide the offense, you provide the defense. we talk to them about hardening their structures in a defensive measure against wild land fires. a lot of it is public education, survivability, building standards, but predominately our focus is putting the onus on the land owner, putting the onus on the private property owner, we will attempt to protect your home but the days of staying and

defending your home and killing our fire fighters are done. we will not stand and defend a house that has not been prepared by a land owner and die for it. we don't do that any more. that's one of our doctrinal changes and we set forth some new guidelines with that. >> thank you. >> question, mr. secretary. >> in a large scale disaster relief, where the military is called in to assist the civilian components there is an obvious issue of how you get the command and control and in particular what telecommunications is used to support that command and control. your exercising together is very critical, i think, to working out command and control but you still have an equipment problem because the equipment, telecommunication equipment designed for the military was different from that used. how are you working out to get the coordination of telecommunications, particularly in disaster relief

where the cellular infrastructure may be broken down and not available to support? could you comment somehow are you going to work out this telecommunications problem. >> so from a perspective of fema, we not only have a defense officer appointed by dod embedded with us during a disaster but we actually practice and have communications interoperatability over our systems to be sure we can communicate with each other on similar platforms and also support state and local platforms, whether it was katrina or other events we've actually been able to bring in national guard platforms to provide 911 systems for cities that have lost those systems. we recently in the joplin tornados and also tuscaloosa tornados we brought in dod equipment to replace what was destroyed. from the fire side

i know there's a lot of things you are doing to work around the interoperatability issues with regard to communications between fire and dod and maybe if ray or anybody else wants to speak to that. >> our communications challenges still exist. we have excellent telecom communications, we have a layered effect of our radio systems. we have mobile command posts that we can exercise. so we're prepared for power outages, reduction of telecoms, we have a layered effect for our communications. but as everybody here said, we need help. if somebody here can help me get a navy or marine corps aircraft to talk to my guys on the ground tactically, i need that and i don't have that today. i use a command control helicopter, a civilian helicopter, to handle that and transfer that to an air to air victor frequency.

but from a command control perspective, we're fairly robust. are we perfect, no, but we do have layered defenses against that. >> miss yeager, i don't know if you want to say anything from a national guard perspective. >> we have some mobile explorable platforms we can send out to incidents to help provide additional infrastructure in the event everything breaks down then our units have organic communications capability so i can move that out and i can help reinforce cal fire on their incident with what i have in the aviation brigade and units through the state of california have that same communication but the iceu, which is a mobile communications platform, is ideal in events like this to push out to help. >> any other questions? >> i have one. back in 1992 when it was a big fire season and there was a lot of grass,

they came to us and i was down at camp pendleton and they asked us it train marines on shovel work. what happened about 6 months later, they ended up sending two battalions to yellowstone. i haven't heard any discussion at all, do you expect the military, the guard or the active forces to be training people to do shovel-like work? all you have talked about so far is aviation. >> one of the challenges with a ground-based attack and training a soldier to be a ground-based fire fighter is the training takes time. and it takes approximately 3 to 5 days of solid training to make sure that they are going to be working in a safe environment to learn what's going on. and most of the time that, the incidents in california will become mitigated.

now, not to say that we certainly have that as an option. we have a fairly robust what we call fire crew program using cdcr inmate fire fighters. it is on our radar and it's something that we have as a contingency if we needed to do it. >> lieutenant colonel. >> yes, general, in the mou it does address the ground portion but the focus of effort is mainly on the aviation side but it is built in there for the ground side if necessary. >> i just want to say in 2008 we did activate hand crews to fight fires and we've identified soldiers throughout the state to respond if needed. they've got the tools that they need, the boots and all that cached and available. it's really just a matter of getting the call and being ready to go.

>> i was going to end with general myat. i know we've trained soldiers to do that kind of thing. after the colorado fires just recently they did put a lot of soldiers that trained, so we do still have that program who can do that if the need warrants. any other questions from out there before i turn it over to general myat? let me thank our panel here. >> thank you. (applause). as we leave here today, we need to keep the ball moving forward. we can't -- i think most of us all here would agree, we really can't prevent

the next disaster from happening. but by building the partnerships that we are here today and will continue to build in the future, we can certainly limit the number of deaths and long-term destruction. we can surge a lot of things: resources, people. but we cannot surge trust. so venues such as this is what helps us build that trust so that when the bell does go off we know -- a comment i made yesterday and i'd like to use it again in closing today, the most important thing for me to come out of this two-day seminar and sbat -- into the future is the ability for us to physically face to face look each other in the eye, shake hands and say to each other, we are in this

together. thank you, ladies and gentlemen. . (applause). >> thank you, admiral beeman. you have helped me carry out one of the instructions secretary schultz gave to me 3 years ago, bring the fleet back to fleet week. we couldn't do it without you. i thank secretary and mrs. perry for coming, just -- i know it's, you've got some other things, people are waiting on you right now but i really appreciate you coming here. of course secretary and mrs. schultz for the entire program. vice admiral nathan, i don't know if he's here, he may have gone already, but he gave a great talk yesterday on the medical side. and vice

admiral z, coast guard, our senior rep here, i can never pronounce his name but he's made things great. general speese, thank you for making this happen. rear admiral hubner, he was here, he's been terrific working with us. rear admiral rivera coming up from the chilean navy, thank you so much. i learned a lot. we need the kind of input that we got from you, really, and we thank you so much. i would be remiss not to mention the two people that really are responsible for all this. first was lewis loeven. lewis loeven works hours and hours to do this. thank you so much. but the other is because she's committed to make it happen and it's her focus that always to learn from everything

that happens, ann koninberg at dem, thank you so much, ann, for everything you do. you had to have a pass to get on the ship. i've asked captain pringle, to get off the ship, i wonder if can secure the hatch until they fill out their participant form. if you could do that, i would appreciate that. fleet week, we are a neutral convener of the process to improve the relation ships between this global force for good and the local civilian officials. and one of our goals is next time you put up your slide with all those logos on it, general, you are going to have the san francisco fleet week logo on it, too.

i look at what we accomplished in 2010, we had a meeting to understand dsca, in 2011 we had the table top exercise, we debriefed that, we had a great speaker then we had an education seminar. this time, this year we had a functional exercise in august which was terrific, you saw the panel, a medical exercise as part of fleet week and you saw the enthusiasm of the participants, then we had the back brief. now we've had a strategic operational and tactical discussions about going forward and the things that we can accomplish. so what are you going to do in 2013? well, fill out the form and tell us what you think we ought to do but we're going to be working hard to move this forward. i think ray cheney said it from cal fire best today: we are all better off because we're in here for the last day and a half and i'm sitting here wondering, all my

contemporaries, what have they been doing for the last 36 hours? they haven't been doing anything near as important as what we've been doing. i thank all of you so much for participating and stay in touch. if we've got your email address you will never be lonely because we're going to get you back here next year. thank you all so much. (applause).

>> good morning, everyone. i'm tailor stafford, president and ceo of pier 39 and on behalf of our grateful water front family, it is my privilege to extend a sincere thank you to the port of san francisco for all that you have done, and continue to do to build the best water front in north america. pause plause [ applause ] >> from at&t, home from the world champion san francisco giants to the building, to the new exporatorium, and new cruise ship terminal to pier 39 and all of the restaurant and businesss in between, we are all proud to wish you, the port

of san francisco a happy, 150th anniversary. today, project such as the new warriors arena establish the port as a world class destination, due for large part to the vision of mayor ed lee and monique moyer and as well as the dedication of the port commissioners and staff. it is now my pleasure to introduce honorable ed lee, mayor of san francisco. [ applause ] >> good morning, everybody. happy birthday. i just want to make sure that you know that if you combine the ages of myself, or president chiu, and monique moyer we might get to 150 years, maybe. but i'm down here to have fun, today, get out of city hall, go

to bubba gumps and make sure that i spend it with other people who love to have fun like our port commission and hers directors and the staff and the rec and parks here and i know that the fire chiefs had to lessen her fun time and go to a three alarm fire and thank you to her for being vigilant for the city. and we would rec and park they have discovered yet another great partner to find water front open space that we can all enjoy, both in terms of getting our public to understand our bond program better, but also to create new spaces. so thank you, phil for being here as well. our port commissioners extend not to present but to past for commissioners and he knows that and i saw mike and others, because it takes generations of people to create things along the water front. it is incredibly expensive to

restore a lot of our piers and monique is the first person to know that intimately and historically but we do have persons and entities that want to continue this fabulous water front experience and to make investments, where there is jefferson street, brandon wharf and pier, 30, 32 and the exporatorium this wonderful opportunity. i want to thank, past and present port commissioners, and i see them here now. that they have earned the title of being the greatest stewarts of our water front and so thank you for your ongoing effort to do this. [ applause ] >> and the work incredibly well with the other agencies. i know that because this is pier 39 and one of the most

iconic travel destinations, i understand that is why, john martin was here, because while he flies airplanes he is part of an incredible transportation center and we all know that and we all share in that wonderful experience with being clearly, the best nation for so many, millions of people, every day. and as we do this, we reinvent and reinvest and find other reasons for people to enjoy themselves here. and those projects like the exporatorium and like the bay lights and renewed effort to create more water-base theds transportation to compliment the bridges that we build. we will create more bridges on the international level for our city. so, all of that in the context of a great anniversary, 150 years, there is going to be throughout this year, more stories to be told about what

this 150 years means to our city, because, there is a lot of generations of people who came to this city, many, many years, built communities, built their small business and their livelihood and hopes and helped us to establish the fisherman's wharf and help us to establish all of the maritime that they have created life times of reasons of why people want to continue visiting our city and we need to acknowledge all of that history. and all of it has not been easy, there have been difficult things and we have had fights over what is proper, and what is not proper, but we have always had in our sites in all of these different struggles, the success of our city, the golden gate bridge and the hope that it brings to many generations of immigrants that is what our city is built on and the honor that we have with all of our labor partners who

also jimmy herman and the cruise ship terminal that they are honoring and built it through years of generations of struggle but also great celebrations that we have. and so this is wonderful year, and 150 years of history. let's learn it all and continue to appreciating, but let's look forward to the next 150 years, because we are building the infrastructure to do that. we are laying the foundation to do that. we are creating partnerships among the agencies, but also public, private partnership to create it, because i will tell you that someone who is going to invest, $250,000 to $200 million on the piers it is an incredible to the faith that they have in the city and it is about investing confidence and why we exist in such a great wonderful city and so thank you monique and the port commission and to all of your wonderful partners and staff for working so hard with the entities like

pier 39 and others who will continue to invest in the confidence here and along the water front and thank you to the labor and all of your partners thank you to all of the other agents for being here, happy 150th anniversary, to our great city. >> thank you, we wish to continue your success. also, here with us today is the president of the board of supervisors, and the supervisor from our very own district three, david chiu. [ applause ] >> thank you, tailor. mr. mayor, if it is okay, could you and i just declare it a city holiday today so we don't have to go back to work and hang out here on pier 39? >> i want to thank all of you who are the incredible diversity of the community that is the port. the community that our water front peers and our wharfs.

this is the story of our city. our port has really defined our past as i think that we all know, the first 49ers came right here to this spot to build this city, during world war ii, our military ships were recommissioned, right here from our port. we know that our friends from labor as the mayor said, built our city, starting here with this water fort and this is the story of our city and we also know that the water front in the port defines who we are and it is amazing in 2013, if you just walk along the water front in my district, you will start at the fisherman's wharf street scape improvements and to the cruise ship terminal that we just cut the ribbon for and you walk down to the terminals and the ports where america's cup will entertain a million, international visitors within a few months. walk down a couple more blocks

to piers 15, 17, where we are going to see a half a million kids come to go all the way down to what we know that will be the next site of the warrior's arena and down to the ballpark and the water phone and the port is our city's present and it is our city story. but we also know that this is a story that is going to continue and one of the things that we love in pier 39. if you come here any day you will see the boys and girls playing with their parents who will come back a few years later as teenagers and young adults. and young men and women, flirting on the peers, dating each other, who will come back a few years later for their honeymoon, who will come back a few years later with their kids. and so, the cycle of the story of our city continues and that i know that in 50 years when we are celebrating the 200th birthday of this blai, when

monique's grand daughter and ed lee's great grandson, are helping to run this city, they will look back on to the city leaders today, who are represented by all of you. and say, you know, in 2013, our city forefathers or city foremothers thought it appropriate to invest in our port and make sure that we are building a 21st century port to last, happy birthday. thank you. >> i think that we all look forward to that moyer lee, administration. and finally, our good friend and dynamic leader, the executive director of the port of san francisco, monique moyer. [ applause ] >> thank you. >> okay, so raise your hands, how many of you would like to be me today? i am so humble and honored, what a great fortune to land my term right on the 150th year because the one thing that i will tell you about being 150

years old if you realize that your time is really short and insignificant, and if i were to dare to count how many port directors there have been before and how many there will be after it will become more of a second time, but, i get to be here with all of you and so many of you who have been here at this water front for decades, all of you from fisherman's wharf thank you for coming today, because of you it is our water front that has evolved ahead of everywhere else in the world this is a perfect place to celebrate. because here we have a little bit of something of everything, in fisherman's wharf. it has been part of the port since its inception that is how we ate, and how we did commerce and how we paid for the fish we ate with gold but nonetheless we subsifted on fish and the agriculture that was born around the bay and san francisco to feed the miners who were farmers and to create a new economy for san francisco

and haven't we brilliantly and completely made new economies and so many knew that we have to name the latest new economy of the economy of invention and creativity and isn't that what we were doing in the gold rush and so it was stunning to be here with all of you who have made this possible. in 1900, the community worked with us to move up here in this area of a water front, and more of a lagoon area where we could congregate better and save the area where fisherman's wharf had been for the commerce that was needed to sustain our city. as the most of the logistics changed and as the needs changed as a community it was fisherman's wharf that helped us to envision what could be the future. in almost 50 years ago, the discussions began, how to enlifen our water front and how to keep it a working water front as we have here with all of us, as visitors, as those folks who are enjoying the