to aqap that we think are appropriate. >> mr. secretary, are the huthi's backed by the iranians? >> yes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> would you like me to proceed? >> thank you. >> mr. secretary. general i want to get your input on something i asked each of the service chiefs last week. in the ny 15, we passed a requirement from the jacob sexton act for every service member to receive a robust mental health assessment every year, can you give me an update on where the department is with implementation of the sexton act? mr. secretary-general? >> i'll need to get back to you specifically on that assessment, i would like to say something more generally about mental health and sobriety if i may. >> that's fine. >> i appreciate your interest in it. if it happens, it is suicide prevention month this month. we do have suicide in our services, and we do believe that suicide is preventable. that's what the doctors tell us, this is something that is preventable. and, therefore, it belongs in the family of things that we do to take care

none of the saudi bombs are dropping on aqap. they are all dropping on houthi targets and civilian targets. and so we are arming the saudis to fight an enemy, the houthis, which we have not declared war against, and the saudis are not using those weapons to fight our sworn enemy that we have declared war against, al qaeda. and so the civilian casualties mount, isis and al qaeda grow, and yet this is the first time that we have had the opportunity to discuss the wisdom of this engagement. we have begged the saudis to change their conduct. we've asked them to target al qaeda, to the extent that al qaeda is shrinking a bit, it's not because the saudis have targeted them. it's because other players in the region, the amiratis have targeted them. we have begged them to stop bombing civilians, and yet in a 7246 -- 72-hour period earlier this summer, the saudi coalition bombed another doctors without borders facility, its school and the hospital next door. we give them targets to stay away from because they are key parts of roots to bri

we have the resources to aqap that we think are appropriate. >> my time has expired. thank you. >> mr. secretary, are the houthis sponsored by the iranians? >> they are certainly assisted in some respects by the iranians, yes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. chairman, would you like me to proceed? thank you. mr. secretary general, i want to get your input on something. i asked each of the service chiefs about last week. in the fy-15 ndaa, we passed a requirement from the jacob sexton act for every service member to receive a robust mental health assessment every year. can you give me an update on where they are in the requirement on mental health assessments? mr. secretary general? >> i'll need to get back to you specifically on the -- that asetssment. i would like to say something more generally about mental health, if i may. >> that's fine. >> i appreciate your interest in it. as it happens, it is suicide prevention month this month. and i only mention that because we do have suicide in our services and we do believe that suicide is preventable. that's what the doct

supported intervention against those that four months before had been pushing back against the aqap.now, i understand the complexity of the conflict and i completely appreciate the fact there are no easy answers when it comes to that conflict. mr. secretary, do you and other extremist groups operating still pose a greater threat to the u.s. security? >> i absolutely stand by what i said. we continue to watch very closely and to take action where we need to protect ourselves no question about it. >> and does the fight against the enemy does not threaten however inadvertently take the focus off of the aqap or isis? >> we've not taken our focus off, no. >> i fully agree with the secretary in that we are focused on the aqap and we have the resources dedicated that we think are appropriate. >> are they sponsored by the iranian? >> they are certainly assisted in some respects, chairman, yes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> [inaudible] >> mr. chairman >> mr. chairman, would you like me to proceed? >> i want to get your input on something i asked the service chiefs last week. .. suicide preve

aqap is most likely branch of al-qaeda to strike the united states again.eir recruitment has spiked because of the space is gained through the civil war in yemen. portrait of time that control of a major port city by which they were earning more money than ever have before in history of that organization. and so from u.s. national security perspective, if we are helping to radicalized yemenis against us, we participate in the slaughter of civilians, and we are allowing extremist groups have plans and plots against the united states to grow stronger, how can that be in our security interest? i think this is a question of the caucasus relevance on matters of foreign policy but i also think this is a direct and immediate question as to whether we want to continue to fund and supply a war that is hurting our national security rather than advancing it. stopping one arms sale does not put an end to the of ministrations participation in these hostilities, but a positive vote or a very strong vote would send a bipartisan signal that things have to change and that's

if the saudis defeat the hutys, who takes over, the saudi led coalition or the aqap or isis? frankly, isis has a tow hold there as well so i think we do have to be very concerned with that and is this done to placate them over iran appearing to get money? yes. more than just placating is essentially fueling an arms race because iran, whether we like it or not, it will take some of this money that's been released to them and you can arguably say it was theirs but they're going to take that money and buy conventional weapons with it and saudi arabia will buy conventional weapons to counteract that. one of the great ironies of the middle east right now is looking at all the weapons there, all the u.s. weapons. there's a certain degree of irony of seeing u.s. tanks rolling in from turkey and fighting against u.s. arms in the hands of the kurds. there's some irony of going to the little town of aleppo and seeing kurds fighting cia-backed moderates in pitted battles with two different branches of our government supporting each side of a battle. it's a messy place and we really need

the president's concept of operations countenance, a persistent, enduring terrorist threat from aqap, the taliban and other groups in those countries, where insufficient ground combat power could be generated by the force which we train. in riyadh, our traditional long-standing ally saudi arabia warned of iran's efforts to arm and support shia proxies and foment unrest across the region all of which was lost upon the white house. instead they were called free riders and saudi arabia's concerns with what a muslim brotherhood and cairo and the slaughter of sunnis would mean within the region were ignored. the c obama administration sounded an uncertain trumpet but the words that resounded across saudi arabia and the region were a commitment to the allies that negotiating a brand to end the nuclear weapons program, no deal is better than a bad deal. this proved not to be true. the administration accepted the bad deal, and in its negotiation with iran, the administration made concession after concession after concession, allowing iran to retain a nuclear enrichment program to allow for th

we looked at post- 9/11, you look at aqap, al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. they were looking at those schemes. how to conceal a device on a plane and bring down planes. isis is far different from that. and now they're talking about attacking civilian targets. moving on from military law enforcement saying civilians. it will be interesting to see the mindset and how did he pick his targets? >> ron, thank you very much. sorry to jump on you there. ed is with us now. former boston police commissioner there at the time of the tsarnaev boston bombings. commissioner, i did mention the use of a pressure cooker. very similar, crude but effective, in happenstance if you're nearby. what do you think of all of this? >> it could have been much worse, neil. thank you. i look at the similarities and the differences between the two devices. one of the differences was that they used the cell phone to detonate this device from what i can tell. very different from the small transmitter that we found that would have required close proximity to the blast. so we had a good place

inspiration for the attacks, a notebook that rahami was carrying when captured referenced america aqap leader allawi killed in 2011 by a drone strike. it contained references to the boston marathon bombers. and they are scrutinizing his travels to afghanistan and pakistan where he married and had a child and spent time in areas a heavy taliban presence. this to determine if he was radicalized overseas. the afghan taliban has denied any involvement in the bombings. >> the officials are trying to determine if he had help in this endeavour, it would have taken some time to get all the materials to put these bombs together. >> the devices were made easy to obtain ingredients, recipes that are accessible online. but those materials considered by experts to be a high explosive had a potential explosive power. bigger than what was seen in the boston marathon bombings. >> today i asked the new york commissioner james o'neal, what message dishave for new yorkers and for bherns the terror threat today. his answer was in his words, do not be governed by fearful i have to say as i'm standing here

so whatever your flavor is, if it is al qaeda, if it is aqap, we don't care how you get here, we just want you on the pack. they're trying to capture as many people as possible, so even people al qaeda brought in. >> let me ask you more specific to the question i asked, having gone to quetta, having visited afghanistan and specifically quetta in pakistan, the robes, the beard, what have you, you know, as movine said, is there anything that stood out to you for this particular person you think people should have known? >> it is hard to know. when he talked about the fact every time he game through immigration he was given secondary orange or green, you start to feel like you're being picked on. you start to feel like your family is being targeted because the rules don't apply to them as they apply to other restaurants in the neighborhood. if they start to feel they're being targeted, that might just start you on the path of anger. but what we know for sure is that becoming more religious does not mean you're becoming more radical. in fact, the studies that have been done in the u.k. sh

aqap still exists, in terms of external operations one of the greatest threats we have, but we're not look at this as a global movement. when you look at the destabilization of the middle east that's going on today and in africa where i just came back from sinai in egypt, camp north up there, to due knee zha, the libyan team that's in exile after benghazi. they thrive in safe havens and power vacuums. so yeah, the military aspect is important. military strategy is important. but equally as important is governance and stability. and that's where i think the political diplomatic piece comes into play. we can't be -- syria is not going to be resolved until we have a political reconciliation in syria with mr. assad. iraq is not going to be resolved until we -- until we get rid of isis, but also have governance. we have no governance in libya at all. it's a failed state. due knee shah is a fragile democracy, with per capita more foreign fighters than any other country in the world. of course isis is very prevalent and egypt to the point where they've taken down the russian airliner. so i t

pointing to possible inspirations, a notebook the suspect was carrying when captured, referenced american aqap lead er. investigators are now scrutinizing the suspect's travels to afghanistan and pakistan where he married and had a child and spent time in areas with a heavy taliban presence. this to determine if he was radicalized overseas. the afghan taliban has publicly denied any involvement in the bombings. >> the officials are trying to determine if he had help in this endeavor. it would have taken some time to get all of the materials to put these bombs together. >> reporter: the explosive devices themselves hold clues as well. they were made with easy to obtain ingredients and with recipes that are accessible online. but those materials, considered by experts to be a high explosive could have created a blast even bigger than was seen at the deadly boston marathon bombings. >> jim, what did the fbi have to say about the fact that the father called them years ago? >> reporter: this is their answer. they said they made an assessment at the time. conducted multiple interview, they conferred