that is what he told the joint chiefs of staff. twice. he wanted to get all of north korea. then that opens up at 650 miles. 90 miles up at 650 miles. on our left flank at the reservoir, it was 80 miles through mountains to the closest ally force on the left flank. on the right flank it was 150 miles to the closest army unit there. so to surround us was no big deal and the way the chinese did it was kerry white sheets and it was no covered so when the alarm went off for a spotter plane was looking for them, they would blow a whistle or the vehicles and cover up. anybody moved would be shot. that is how they could infiltrate and not know they were all around. but we were fighting for some time. the first time we ran into the chinese was before we went up on the chosin reservoir plateau. there was a division that hit us on one of our regimens and there were 1,000 chinese at that time probably gave up five for 6,000 casualties than they did not believe macarthur and his staff but that we were fighting chinese. we showed them. i do not know why they didn't. we kept how many pris

that's what he told the joint chiefs of staff twice. well, he wanted to get all of north korea. and he -- north korea opens up to 650 miles, okay? from 909 miles to 6 -- 90 miles to 650 miles apart. on our left flank when we were up the reservoir, it was 80 miles through mountains to the closest allied force on our left flank. on our right flank, it was 150 miles to the closest army unit there. and so to surround us it was no big deal, and the way the chinese did it was they would carry white sheets. and it was snow-covered, so whenever the alarm went off that an airplane or a spotter plane was looking for them, they'd blow a whistle or blow their bugles and cover up. and anybody moved would be shot. so that's how they were able to infiltrate and him not know that they were all around us. but we'd been fighting 'em for some time. i think the first time we ran into the chinese was before we went up on the plateau, the chosen reservoir plateau. and there was a division that hit us, one of our regiments, and we killed over a thousand chinese at that time. and probably gave up 5, 6,

. >> the chair of the joint chiefs of staff, admiral mike mullen, was speaking to reporters in washington on wednesday. he expressed concern about china's recent military build-up, saying that it is investing in very high-end, high-tech capabilities. his comment comes a day after chinese media reported the country's military has successfully conducted the first test flight of its j-20 stealth fighter jet. local reports say the j-20 completed an 18-minute flight from an air field in sichuan province. >>> the popular egyptian resort sharm el-sheikh has been hit by a series of shark attacks. the incidents have alarmed tourists and shaken the community. authorities are scrambling to deal with the problem. nhk world's mostafa fathi has the story. ♪ clap ♪ clap, clap, clap ♪ clap your hands >> reporter: summer never ends at sharm el-sheikh, a luxury resort. it's a popular vacation spot-w 4 million visitors a year. it gets busier this time of year with tourists enjoying the sea. this is one of the most beautiful beaches all over the world. but unfortunately, it has been attacked by shark. and on

university which is the top military madrasi in the united states admiral michael mullen who is the joint chiefs of staff chairman conducts the soul searching jam session for the military profession the top objective is to spill the guts within the military community from the outset and the admiral has made it perfectly clear that couple of subjects we'll be off the table without any benefit of the doubt the first of them is the behavior of some lose cannons and the striker's brigade in kandahar because couple of those road warriors so gold sculpture hunters not only have discredited a large part of the u.s. military abroad and specifically in afghanistan but by their anger from am against civilians they undermine the u.s. state department democratic finger pointing to the other contraries abroad the us on demining the whole least stick and integrated us foreign policy britain's pension is going bankrupt faster than any other group in the country the u.k. and solvency sevenths findings highlights how seriously the sixty five a struggling to keep their homes running as costs rise. or entry points most of

require the chief of staff of each military branch to sign off on repeal before it could be fully implemented now currently the president the defense secretary and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff all have to certify the repeal will not hurt military readiness and the military is working on the planner of the ban and it's expected to be lifted sometime this spring or maybe early summer a congressman hunter says that his goals not to necessarily prevent implementation of don't ask don't tell just to make sure the military is ready right does he think that we're all idiots clearly this is just a stalling tactic and he's a little here's a little something in the budget says g.o.p. should take into account the government accountability office released a report and it asked a mates the don't ask don't tell cost the military more than one hundred and ninety three million dollars between two thousand and four and two thousand and nine now that's just for five years the study looked at this law that on the books dating back to the clinton white house and the military spent one hundred ninety three million dollars to replace to train more than three thousand troops who a

which is the top military measure a say in the united states and michael mullen who is of the joint chiefs of staff chairman conducts the soul searching jam session for the military profession the top objective is to spill the guts within the military community from the outset the admiral has made it perfectly clear that couple of subjects will be off the table without any benefit of the doubt the first of them is the ab erratic behavior of some lose cannons and the strikers brigade in kandahar because couple of those road warriors so cold scalpel hunters not only have discredited to a large part of the image of the u.s. military abroad and specifically in afghanistan but by their things are counting from afghan civilians they undermine the u.s. state department democratic finger pointing to the other countries abroad thus on demining the whole least dick and integrated us foreign policy. well to britain now where pensioners are going bankrupt faster than any other group in the country the u.k. insolvency service findings highlights how seriously those over sixty five are struggling to keep their h

and chairman of the joint chiefs of staff that the biggest threat to our national security is the deficitso one of the chinese given us to give us money to be able to do things i think it's rather ironic when you stop and say well we need to do more of this and to finance the deal with the chinese we're going to borrow the money from the chinese to you know to do it so i think basically you know during the cold war we had this relationship with the former soviet union called mutual assured destruction there we have a same relation with china it's called mutual assured depression if they don't lend and we don't buy both of our economic. systems are going to be in jeopardy so i think that's the main concern not what china's fear would militarily but what are we doing economically you know i think you're not is ratcheting up well here is i think we're learning i disagree a little i think the greatest danger to security in that region of the world and between the united states and china is really complacency and ambivalence about china's got a three part strategy they want to have coherence w

withdrawal date two thousand and fourteen beyond who knows the admiral mike mullen chairman of the joint chiefs of staff did say yesterday to expect more violence more casualties in two thousand and eleven despite two thousand and ten being the bloodiest year so far afghan civilians find themselves in a catch twenty two increasingly needing humanitarian aid but being faced with more danger if they accept it as it forces them to hew sides and all along we now find out that paul a brinkley a u.s. deputy undersecretary for defense is trying to woo investors and businesses to take a chance on this supposedly land of opportunity calling himself a matchmaker just like you harm me here to discuss it with me is joshua foulest fellow at the american security project joshua thanks so much for being here thank you let's go over i mean this entire situation sounds a little bit bizarre to me he described himself as a match maker he comparisons health to eat harmony is there anything romantic about taking a war stricken country that's been that way for the you know decades now so i'm going to argue centuries and tryi

two other members of congress who are here, members of my cabinet, joint chiefs of staff, leaders from across the administration, and most of all, our troops, their families, their advocates, thanks for joining us. as we make an unprecedented commitment to america's military families. now last month, i was in afghanistan to visit our troops and to thank them for their service, especially during the holidays. i think that as some of you are aware, we fly in in the dark of night for security reasons, and announced. folks, i am sure, have to folks, i am sure, have to scramble on the other end to make sure our visit works, and we had a wonderful crowd, a great rally. and then afterwards, i took the time not only to meet with general petraeus and some of the other commanding officers, but i also met with a group of our special ops forces. now anybody who has met with navy seals and delta's, you know that these are some of the toughest, most battle-hardened troops in our military. they are involved in some of the most dangerous fighting that there is. these are tough guys. looking at them, y

secretary of state hillary clinton, secretary of defense and joint chiefs of staff. some from silicon valley involving trade and the rights to certain patents and other things. so, again, beginning this morning we'll give you more on this, of course, on the abc 7 news at midday at 11:00 >> came all the way over here for white castle. >> a true taste of america. >> there you go! have you seen the menus they prepare? >> we'll keep you posted. >> i'm sure you'll tweet it. good morning. the big story the visibility. it is almost unlimited. 7 in napa, hayward. 8 in san jose and 5 half moon bay. just some haze that's developing. good morning to get around. no flight arrival delays into sfo. breezes, especially along 101. santa rosa, san rafael, san francisco in the low 50s. same with half moon bay and concord where it is calm. napa and fairfield 39 degrees. our destination, a little more homogenized. breezy in the higher elevations and the coastline but low to mid-60s under sunshine. that's the rule today. highs today 3 degrees warmer in san francisco to7 napa. 7-day foreca

meeting in 1981, before i was in office, but apparently he asked the joint chiefs of staff what would be an in effect the united states of an all out attack by the soviet union, a nuclear attack. so what would be the result. so on this day the joint chiefs reported to him-- it's in the minutes-- that the initial casualties would be on the order of 150 million people. and there would be obviously continuing casualties as all medical facilities would have been wiped out and so on. in other words it would wipe us out. my colleague marty anderson later asked him would you retaliate? and he said of course i would retaliate. and they had to know that. but we would wipe them out. so how many times have you heard president reagan say what's so good about a peace based on the ability to wipe each other out? so that's how he got so strongly on to this notion that we'd all be better off if there were no nuclear weapons. >> rose: but when push... >> and then defend yourself, learn how to defend yourself against the ballistic missile which was a prime way of delivering them. >> rose: but when push

the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff admiral mike mullen defended the effort today. >> we can't hold ourselves exempt from the belt-tightening. neither can we allow ourselves to contribute to the very debt that puts our long-term security at risk. this isn't about just cutting or saving. it is about readiness. not only do reforms, these reforms, preserve essential capabilities, which is the highest priority of this process, but i believe we'll actually improve our readiness. >> lehrer: the military's budgets for operations in iraq and afghanistan are not affected by the cost savings. and just today, a pentagon spokesman confirmed another 1400 marines will be heading to afghanistan. and now to secretary gates. i spoke with him earlier this evening. >> lehrer: mr. secretary, welcome. bottom line, even with some cuts, the overall spending on the military is going to remain the same, at least for a while? >> we will have modest growth in the defense budget for the next three fiscal years, and then the last two years of the five year period, we will be protected against inflation, bu

thereof and all this, people were concerned and so admiral crowell, former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff endorsed them and i know admiral crowell. and stayed at his house and remember him from my days at the navy war college but then he got the job of ambassador to the court of st. james. i said that's wrong. and then about a week later i ended up in a dinner sitting next to him, okay, but that i think we have to be careful of and when bush and cheney were there, you know, at the republican convention, it looked like, you know, a meeting of the west point alumni association, with all the people up there endorses him and even president obama, they were looking, in fact, i worked on the pain and people would say do you know any generals we can get to endorse us because they were worried? it's politically cute among the democrats who are worried about being soft on defense. when you go back and look at it it was the democrats who got us into vietnam. eisenhower wouldn't have gone that. at least from what we know. they increase defense, you know, defense spending. clinton actually spent more

thereof and all this, people were concerned and so admiral crowell, former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff endorsed them and i know admiral crowell. and stayed at his house and remember him from my days at the navy war college but then he got the job of ambassador to the court of st. james. i said that's wrong. and then about a week later i ended up in a dinner sitting next to him, okay, but that i think we have to be careful of and when bush and cheney were there, you know, at the republican convention, it looked like, you know, a meeting of the west point alumni association, with all the people up there endorses him and even president obama, they were looking, in fact, i worked on the pain and people would say do you know any generals we can get to endorse us because they were worried? it's politically cute among the democrats who are worried about being soft on defense. when you go back and look at it it was the democrats who got us into vietnam. eisenhower wouldn't have gone that. at least from what we know. they increase defense, you know, defense spending. clinton actually spent more

rather robust turnout of the nine justices as you see the joint chiefs of staff. david, all part of the ritual. >> well, it is. and the symbolism is important. you have talked about some of it in the seating tonight. but also, you know, that show of solidarity after what happened in tucson mattered. speaker boehner spoke to some of us this morning saying that everyone was given pause after the shooting. and thought about, reflected on the kind of debates we're having in washington and how it can be done more civilly and so i think a pep rally of sorts but an important moment. >> and again, the big change in washington is right there. the new republican speaker of the house john boehner of ohio. president used the look over his shoulder and see nancy pelosi, the democrat of california, but there's been a big change, a new sheriff in town in the house of representatives, republican majority. that will be quite evident tonight in the sheer shift of the population and the chamber. copies of the speech go to both the vice president and the speaker. speaking of ceremony,

thereof and all this, people were concerned and so admiral crowell, former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff endorsed them and i know admiral crowell. and stayed at his house and remember him from my days at the navy war college but then he got the job of ambassador to the court of st. james. i said that's wrong. and then about a week later i ended up in a dinner sitting next to him, okay, but that i think we have to be careful of and when bush and cheney were there, you know, at the republican convention, it looked like, you know, a meeting of the west point alumni association, with all the people up there endorses him and even president obama, they were looking, in fact, i worked on the pain and people would say do you know any generals we can get to endorse us because they were worried? it's politically cute among the democrats who are worried about being soft on defense. when you go back and look at it it was the democrats who got us into vietnam. eisenhower wouldn't have gone that. at least from what we know. they increase defense, you know, defense spending. clinton actually spent more

the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, admiral mike mullen, said a few years back that the greatest threat to america's national security is our national debt. now, that is the top-ranking military official in this country. -- country saying -- we talked about the greatest threat to america's national security. he could have talked about al qaeda, he could have talked about the iranian nuclear program, he could have talked about china, he could have talked about north korea. but what did he say? the greatest threat to our national security is our debt. that speaks volume of what we need to focus on and what we public initials the united states senate need to devote our energy to. when we think about that, there are a couple of things obviously you can do. i have advocated as have others that we go back to the 2008 spending levels. because in the last two years we have seen spending on the nonnational security discretionary part of the budget increase by 21% at a time when inflation in the -- and the overall economy is 2%. so the government has grown at 10 times the rate of inflation

>> the crucial conversations are those organized between the joint chiefs of staff and military in egypt. we have very close ties to the egyptian military. we have been arming them and working with them for three decades. telling the military all bets are off if they use massive force against the protesters, but, two, making clear something has got to give quickly. and finally, a time may come in the next day or two when the administration realizes it needs to send an envoy to privately meet with mubarak, lay out a tougher set of requests/recommendati requests/recommendations. >> right. >> and get him to finally make the announcement he is leaving. >> in terms of those talks with the military, one thing that is interesting at least from an outside perspective, it feels counterintuitive to see how the protesters are embracing the egyptian army. could it be the military that decides the direction of the country? >> i think the military will decide the direction of the count country. they will decide whether or not to carry out any order to use force. they can signal to mubarak he lost thei

thereof and all this, people were concerned and so admiral crowell, former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff endorsed them and i know admiral crowell. and stayed at his house and remember him from my days at the navy war college but then he got the job of ambassador to the court of st. james. i said that's wrong. and then about a week later i ended up in a dinner sitting next to him, okay, but that i think we have to be careful of and when bush and cheney were there, you know, at the republican convention, it looked like, you know, a meeting of the west point alumni association, with all the people up there endorses him and even president obama, they were looking, in fact, i worked on the pain and people would say do you know any generals we can get to endorse us because they were worried? it's politically cute among the democrats who are worried about being soft on defense. when you go back and look at it it was the democrats who got us into vietnam. eisenhower wouldn't have gone that. at least from what we know. they increase defense, you know, defense spending. clinton actually spent more

good defense for personnel readiness has less general cartwright, the vice chairman of the joint chiefs of staff will conduct the first of what will likely be a series of briefings on how we are proceeding with the implementation of the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell." i'm sure many of you will be interested in that. likely friday afternoon i think. i know there are impeachment in the morning and then we will meet with you all midafternoon. so with that, welcome back. >> on that subject the president mentioned briefly last night wanting to move forward. can you get a sense of how quickly the military is coming to my forward from the training course that they are going to be -- >> i'm going to interdict so you can think of another question yy deflect this one. that's why we're having the briefing friday. these are the guys running this. they will address those and other issues, trust me. i'm not going the library beyond that. we have another one want to come back? all right. >> is the secretary working on authorizing additional military churches and in guantanamo and does he think the new milit

indeed, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff declared in this room about six months ago that thegreatest threat to our national security is not al qaeda or iran or the rise of china, it was, he said, the national debt. it is in that context that michael o'hanlon decided to return to his roots as a budget analyst, in particular the defense budget, to look at particular questions of how to cut the defense budget as a way of helping contribute to an austerity program that would lead to significant reductions in our deficit and, therefore, eventually in our debt. the defense budget is the latest in the analysis. it is this analysis we are here to discuss today. the director of foreign-policy research at brookings. the is the author of 40 many books to mention. i will just highlight the most recent per. publishedtic's case," this year. last year he wrote a book called "budgeting for the hour." i am sure you'll find it fascinating reading. with the policy paper he has written. today, michael will be followed after his presentation by comments and discussion from two very distinguished

included president obama, secretary of state hillary clinton, former president bill clinton and joint chiefs of staffations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversation] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inau

defense secretary robert gates and joint chiefs of staff admiral michael briefed histo reporters on then. this is an hour and 10 minutes. because e cuts in this health care bill to help the middle class are used for giv credits to people when they buy insurance. people buy insurance, they get a tax credit, it is thegest e in history. let me say that again so youet replace general george casey. general dempsey is presently the commander of army trainmen the undock turned command and previously was acting commandern the ntral command history of this great nation. it will be worth $110 billion that they will take away from the middle class. now, a few weeks ago we passed a tax bill out of here and we had to give tax cuts to people who make millions and millions of dollars. millions. they said, if you don't give the tax cuts to the rich, we are not going to give them to the middle class. the entire republican caucus voted against tax cuts. unless millionaires got it. well, we should have learned from that that this repeal will be just more of the same. take $110 billion away from the middle

the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, admiral mike mullen, spoke on sunday with his counterpart, the chief of staff of the egyptian army. defense secretary robert gates spoke with two of his counterparts. no details were given. milwaukee, robert, democratic line. good morning. caller: good morning. i feel that, actually, the united states is doing just exactly what we should be doing. we are just right of observing things and seeing where they are going -- just kind of observing things and seeing where they are going. in so far as hosni mubarak, he has been there for 30 years. there is absolutely nothing the united states can do to change that situation, because he has always been a friend with israel and the other countries in that particular area. the people are upset because of the financial crises that they are having. however, i do not want to get into this thing about blaming obama, or blaming the democrats, or anyone or anything that is going on in egypt. we're just going to have to observe things and take our time and be careful about what happens. host: the headline in "

the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff asked us to create a bridge for construction services. in january of 2004, we were asked to support the coalition in iraq. in april, 2006, we started working afghanistan. we have awarded over $6 million in construction for which price in the 1 billion is in afghanistan. we plan, execute and deliver construction services to the following customers. united states central command, therefore central, army central -- airforce central, army central. we compete within the idiqs. we subcontract orders. there is a decision matrix tailored to the type of contract. the project management minimizing our civilian and military footprint, leveraging contractor expertise, we eliza -- utilize local nationals. the combination provides diversity. are in country military's civilian and contract employees provide the daily construction oversight, the santonio provides technical, financial, administrative support along with continuity of the construction program. due to changing requirements or site conditions. none of our afghanistan -- as we drive begich stri

of environmental excellence to providing engineering and environmental services enabling sustainable air force and joint installations globally. december of 2003, the chairman of the joint chief of staff to the chief of staff in the air force ask afcee to provide -- in december of 2003 afcee was asked to support in iraq. in 2006 they supported afghanistan. to date they have been awarded $6 million required for central command in which approximately 1 billion is in afghanistan. we bent to accomplish critical work. afcee plans, executes, and delivers construction service to the following customers in the areas, u.s. central command, army central, army command afghanistan. afcee utilizeed idiq contracts, vehicles, and then completes the views for construction and services. the idiq subcontractors to local national and third companies and individuals. afcee uses criteria to design the contract tailored to the type of contract firm fix price, or cost price plus fixed fee. the afcee project management model embodied the teamwork, levering our government, civilian, and primarily personnel to execute the functions. the afcee model utilizing contractors and situations that are not inherit gove

will include former vice president dan quayle, then defense secretary dick cheney, and former joint chiefs of staff chairman colin powell. c-span is covering all of those events. those are some of the latest headlines. >> you are watching c-span -- bringing new politics and public affairs. every morning it is "washington journal" a live call in show. weekdays, watch live coverage of the u.s. house, and weeknights congressional hearings and policy forms, in supreme court oral arguments. on the weekends to concede our signature programs. on saturdays, 0: the communicator's -- "the communicator's." it is all searchable at our c- span video library. c-span, washington, your way, the public service created by america's cable companies. >> "washington journal" continues. host: on your screen is dr. thomas frieden. he is and must of his career in public health. -- he has spent much of his career in public health. thank you for being with us. guest: it is my pleasure. host: the study we are going to talk about, health inequality in the indebted states, is something that very much interested you. what was y

in fact, the head of the joint chiefs of staff has said the greatest threat to our security is our debts. ./ we have to get the numbers, the policy, and the process rights. . i hope we will be able to build a strong bipartisan solution. >> thank you for your strong statement this morning. thank you for your work on the fiscal commission. thanks to the other members of the congress who were on the commission. five of the 6 from the senate appointed the commission report. all of us believed that if we would have done it, we would have done a different job, perhaps a better job. at the end of the day, we have to get a result. at the end of the day, we have got to find a way to get a result. >> may i interject a quick point? >> certainly. >> everyone knows the commission's report failed to get the 14 votes that would have forced and vote -- a vote in congress. >> that is an important point. eleven of eighteen supported the recommendations of the report. with that, we will turn to doug elmendorf. please proceed with your testimony. >> i appreciate your confidence in me and be confident in the

in fact, the head of the joint chiefs of staff has said the greatest threat to our security is our debts. ./ we have to get the numbers, the policy, and the process rights. . i hope we will be able to build a strong bipartisan solution. >> thank you for your strong statement this morning. thank you for your work on the fiscal commission. thanks to the other members of the congress who were on the commission. five of the 6 from the senate appointed the commission report. all of us believed that if we would have done it, we would have done a different job, perhaps a better job. at the end of the day, we have to get a result. at the end of the day, we have got to find a way to get a result. >> may i interject a quick point? >> certainly. >> everyone knows the commission's report failed to get the 14 votes that would have forced and vote -- a vote in congress. >> that is an important point. eleven of eighteen supported the recommendations of the report. with that, we will turn to doug elmendorf. please proceed with your testimony. >> i appreciate your confidence in me and be confident in the

in fact, the head of the joint chiefs of staff said the greatest threat to our security is our debt, and i believe that we've got to get it right. we have to get the numbers right, the policy right, and we have to get the process right, and i hope that we will be able to build a strong bipartisan solution to move forward and achieve that promptly. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you so much, mr. senator crapo, and thank you for your strong statement here this morning an thank you for your service on the fiscal commission. thanks, too, to the other members from the senate who supported that effort. senator colburn, senator greg who is now retired, but ranking member of this committee, and senator durbin along with my vote that made 5 of the 6 of the senate support the commission report even though i think all of us believe if we would have done it, we would have done a different job and perhaps a better job, but at the end of the day, we have to get a result. at the end of the day, we have got to find a way to get a result, and i just -- >> can i interject a quick point? >> certainl

first observation when i go into my first armed services committee meeting listening to the joints chief of staff, and i look around, here's the chairman and then we have john mccain and then we have all the republicans on one side and the democrats on the other side. well, i know in the body itself, i'm just giving an observation, the body itself we're going to have separation. in committees in west virginia, we all sit together, talk, sit there, and talk to republicans and my friends on both sides, and we start building relationships. this system right now what i observed in three weeks is designed to push us apart, not bring us together. it's gotten to the point where committee assignments are based on the best lobbying to bring the mess money in -- best money in, not where you can make the best input for america. i ran on a thing saying my observation of washington was that they put their party first, personal politics second, and the government last. i was taught to put the country first and let the rest fall where it may. you gave us that vehicle. no labels has given us the vehicle to do it

the largest defense secretary robert gates and joint chiefs of staff admiral mike mullen briefed reporters on the plan. this is an hour and 10 minutes. >> the chairman brought a book with them.lp [laughter] >> gets to read along. >> good afternoon. first, i want to take a moment to announce that i'm recommending to the president, thgee nomination of martin dempy to be the new chief of staff to replace general george casey. general dempsey is presently the commander of army trainmen the undock turned command and previously was acting commandern the ntral command history of this great nation. it will be worth $110 billion that they will take away from the middle class. now, a few weeks ago we passed a tax bill out of here and we had to give tax cuts to people who make millions and millions of dollars. millions. they said, if you don't give the tax cuts to the rich, we are not going to give them to the middle class. the entire republican caucus voted against tax cuts. unless millionaires got it. well, we should have learned from that that this repeal will be just more of the same. take $110 b

if you could comment on why there hasn't been more of a demand within the generals and the joints chiefs of staffmore funding for exploration programs and defense measures, if it is merely politics, if it is a blind optimism or if you could give some are the reason why there might be. >> the question is why are the generals raising more of a stink about this and that is an excellent question. that is a hard one because you look at the generals and they put their lives on that line and they are good men and they are decent and they have done some great things for our country at u.s. them sometimes to think about politics and it doesn't go so well. look at all the generals that were in favor of a new s.t.a.r.t. treaty. look at the number of generals who were for a world without nuclear weapons. just because you are general and you put your life on the line doesn't mean you understand all they nuances of strategy or that you are going to be in the business of demanding these things. i think we give too much credence i think to generals and two military experts about such matters. i think if you aske

president might very well say based upon the advise and judgment and military and the chair of joints chiefs of staff is saying this is bad for the military. we are not going to defend it in court. we are just not going to defend it at all. we reply and simply kick this back over to the senate, to the house, they can then decide it. those are very tough judgment calls. it does tug at the bedrock command to take care the laws be faithfully executed. even if you disagree with the laws or that you think the court will find the law unconstitutional, it is still the basic task of the executive branch to defend those laws and not to set itself up as it were as a sort of judicial department. so justice byron white, finally point, felt very strongly. i remember this vividly, i remember this as a law clerk, and justice white really took exception to what i think is an almost sacred practice. we believe based upon our announcements, typically, and not always in a criminal case, this conviction cannot in fact stand. it should not have been brought or based on the evidence, the conviction can't stand. even thoug

the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff asked us to create a bridge for construction services. in january of 2004, we were asked to support the coalition in iraq. in april, 2006, we started working afghanistan. we have awarded over $6 million in construction for which price in the 1 billion is in afghanistan. we plan, execute and deliver construction services to the following customers. united states central command, therefore central, army central -- airforce central, army central. we compete within the idiqs. we subcontract orders. there is a decision matrix tailored to the type of contract. the project management minimizing our civilian and military footprint, leveraging contractor expertise, we eliza -- utilize local nationals. the combination provides diversity. are in country military's civilian and contract employees provide the daily construction oversight, the santonio provides technical, financial, administrative support along with continuity of the construction program. due to changing requirements or site conditions. none of our afghanistan -- as we drive begich stri

the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff asked us to create a bridge for construction services. in january of 2004, we were asked to support the coalition in iraq. in april, 2006, we started working afghanistan. we have awarded over $6 million in construction for which price in the 1 billion is in afghanistan. we plan, execute and deliver construction services to the following customers. united states central command, therefore central, army central -- airforce central, army central. we compete within the idiqs. we subcontract orders. there is a decision matrix tailored to the type of contract. the project management minimizing our civilian and military footprint, leveraging contractor expertise, we eliza -- utilize local nationals. the combination provides diversity. are in country military's civilian and contract employees provide the daily construction oversight, the santonio provides technical, financial, administrative support along with continuity of the construction program. due to changing requirements or site conditions. none of our afghanistan -- as we drive begich stri

included president obama, secretary of state hillary clinton, former president bill clinton, and joint chiefs of staffirman mike mullen. ambassador holbrooke served most recently as special representative for afghanistan and pakistan. his career began in 1962 with an assignment in vietnam. the service was held at the john f. kennedy center for the performing arts in washington, d.c. [inaudible crowd noise] [unintelligible crowd noise] [unintelligible conversations] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [applause] [applause] [applause] [applause] >> well, i'm david rubinstein, the chairman of the kennedy center. on behalf of the kennedy center, i'd like to welcome everybody here for a memorial service for a extraordinary man who was often against so many odds. some of you maybe wonders why at a memorial service we have a palm tree. the answer is that south pacific is playing here now. we were going to move the palm tree, but kofi said "south pacific" was his favorite show. he was the asia and pacific affairs. let's keep it here. i wanted to say thank you. behind me president obama, secondary clinton, president c

secretary kofi annan and admiral mike mullen chairing the joint chiefs of staff.his is set to begin at 3:00 p.m. eastern. live coverage here on c-span2. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] .. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible con

in fact, the head of the joints chiefs of staff has said that the greatest threat to our security is the debt. and i believe we've got to get the numbers right, the policy right, and the process right. and i hope we will be able to build a strong bipartisan -- to move forward and achieve that. >> thank you for your strong statement here this morning and thank you for your service on the fiscal commission. thanks, too, to the other members of the senate that supported that effort . that effo. senator gregg, senator coburn -- five of the six supported the commission report, even though i think all of us believe that if we would have done it, we would've done a different and perhaps a better job, but at the end of the day, we have to get a result. at the end of the day, we have got to find a way to get a result. >> can i interject? >> certainly. >> i think everyone in america knows that the commissions report failed to get the 14 votes that would force a vote in congress. it is important note that it did get more than 60% of the votes, which is what was sufficient in the senate to pass