last, but not least rounding us out is dan stoneking. he is the directer at the private office of fema and listens to the private sector to collaborate effectively in preparedness, recovery, response, and prior to that he worked in the washington, d.c. public relations firm, a soldier in the army, and also a high school english teacher. welcome, dan. like i said, we'll have a series of opening questions. we'll let you ask questions as well, and then we'll take a break. the first part of the conversation really is how did we get to where we are? how did we start and sort of the evolution of homeland security over the decade, and then we'll take a quick break, refuel with caffeine, and come back and talk about where we are going in the next decade, where do -- what are some of the programs that still need to be worked on and that kind of thing. let me start off with general lowenberg. you are currently the longest security director in the country. where were you on 9/11? were you focused on tornado terrorism at the time or thinking of thre

and then last but not least round as out is dan stoneking.and is the director the private sector office at fema. is focused on listening to the private sector to collaborate more effectively in preparedness, response, medication and recovery. prior to that day and worked as a vice president in washington, d.c., public relations firm. he was a soldier in the u.s. army and he was also a high school english teacher. welcome, dan. >> so like i said we will go through a series of opening questions. .. >> were you thinking about threats like that at the time? >> i think it's helpful to acknowledge that a lot of people were involved long before 9/11 in preparing for the looming threat. those who were paying attention including the hard work of the red wing commission and others were well aware the terrorist fleet was growing around the world for two decades before we were attacked so dramatically on 9/11. in the state of washington, we formed with the governor's leadership, a committee on terrorism that included our association of washington busines

say during my tenure and homeland security, and i've got the folks here, whether it's caverly, dan stoneking, the ability of how to get people clearances' including secret clearances so they can be let in on more important and more critical information. how do you do the information analysis centers, the infrastructure protection group, the whole sector council, how do you get that information now there? at the same time, i think a factor that we have to keep in mind, and i went around with the secretary leavitt of hhs talking about a pandemic and he had a great line that he said with effort i am telling you now is going to sound like i am trying to scare you. if this thing happens, you are going to say i wish you had warned us more. so the government is constantly blocking this fine line when they are sharing information between frightened people and not giving them the enough. so again it is just a very, very difficult situation that we face. >> i fifa there are a couple things. there obviously is an education that has to go to the people in government as information about what kind of inf