were no women on the armed services committee. that women like you on the armed services committee have made a real difference in the way this is heard. >> i think that's true. i think it's a good thing. another thing that struck me lawrence, is the panel of victims wasn't all women. there was a man who had been victimized, raped when he was in the navy and he came forward and very compelling and brave testimony publicly talked about what happened to him. that's also progress. this isn't a crime that's just about women victims. there are men victims of this crime in this setting, the military setting, it's important that we provide them assistance and services because talk about difficult to stay in a unit with your accused to have to sometimes report to a command structure that may be friends with the accuser or the accused. it's important that we look at this as not just women, but also men. >> senator claire mccaskill, thank you for your work on this and for joining us tonight. >> thanks, lawrence. >> coming up, president obama

. >> yesterday, republican leaders at the house armed service committees talked about the possible impact of the sequester on defense programs. this is about 25 minutes. >> good morning, i am from california, the chairman of the armed services committee. these are members of the committee, most of the chairman of the subcommittees and each of us will have a few words to say. we have the responsibility to protect our nation's defense and to make sure that those who sent out to war have the things they need to carry out their missions and return home safely. i have never in my lifetime seen such a lack of leadership and truth telling emanating from the white house and from our commander in chief. senator reid and the democratic leadership, for three years, have not passed a budget and we have given them a pass. you have given them a pass and i was watching general odierno this morning who has been chief of the army for 1.5 years and has never had a budget. that goes for the chairman of the joint chiefs and all of the chiefs. these men who have dedicated their life to protecting our nation,

what questions they will have to ask host: yet we're talking about female senators on the armed services committeeand their impact on policy. we want to hear from you. tom comeng to go to a republican caller. i want to go through the female house members on the armed services committee. go ahead. caller: good morning, c-span. when can we expect these militant feminists like obama or any of these feminists in the senate to demand that all the women at west point meet the identical standards that the men are required to meet. the standards for the women are substantially lower. if the women were required to meet the same standards, the majority of the women at west point would be expelled immediately for failure to meet that standard. i would expect all those militant tamil -- militant feminists in the senate to demand that they meet the same standards. that as do know part of a conversation of allowing women to be in combat, they have to meet the same physical standards as men do. is for everyone's safety. so women would be able to carry out the same physical tasks. whether or not that leads to a l

he went to talk to the chairman of the armed services committee to tell them about something the cia to do. but the chairman of the armed services committee said to him, don't tell me. i don't want to know. this is now part of the senate's official history. he wished to brief him on a major operation. no, no, my boy, responded the senator. don't tell me. just go ahead and do it. but i don't want to know. congress did not want to know. part of the u.s. government was engaged presumably in using force, presumably, in some foreign country, but the armed services committee, the part of congress that oversees the use of force against foreign entities didn't want to hear anything about t don't tell me. because while they did think it was their job to oversee the actions of the u.s. military they did not see it their job to oversee the actions of the cia, even when they were acting in a rather militaryish fashion. you see the problem. no oversight. our country's not supposed to work like that. in 1975, in the midst of the post water gate uproar, in the mid '70s, after watergate, after this u

a member of the senate armed services committee, senator john mccain. [applause] >> they are excited about john. >> next to senator john mccain, a man who was inside the israeli military the status with for 40 years. he has participated in two non- proliferation operations on behalf of israel, the first of which was as a young pilot in 1981. he was a pilot into being is ready operation. please help me welcome general amos yadlin. [applause] >> and a distinguished member of the u.s. armed services committee who played a key role in helping to combat anti-israel said the man at the united nations in a number of roles through the senate. please help me welcome kirsten gillibrand. >> senator mccain, i want to start with you. iran is on everybody's mind. what can the united states do working together to deal with iran and prevent iran from acquiring nuclear weapons capabilities? >> thank you and thank you all for the warm welcome. what a great honor it is to be with general yadlin. we once through the same type of airplane. the difference is he used to shoot

on the armed services committee, there was a hearing. if a bunch of bombers are coming to bomb refineries, we know what we would expect the federal government to do to protect them from being destroyed. i think the role of the federal government in defending the country in cyberspace, especially against sophisticated state-level actors is evolving where i think the government has to be at ugly involved in defending -- actively involved in defending us. also, facilitating the kinds of defensive measures that we can take for ourselves and that companies can take for ourselves. those are the two roles, protecting against sophisticated actors and encouraging power state of cybersecurity unpreparedness for everyone else. >> i want to play a little bit more of michael daniel from last week talking about the private sector. [video clip] >> one of the questions we are wrestling with is what is exactly the government's role in providing cybersecurity to the private sector. at what point does the government intervene? under what conditions? those

in fact, i mentioned the senate armed services committee has said we should prohibit funding for it. the house armed services committee did the same thing and said we should prohibit funding for it. the house defense appropriations subcommittee zeroed out funding for meads. and the only committee that contained -- that allocated funding for it was the senate appropriations subcommittee. talk about a waste of money. it is shocking to me, by the way, that this amendment makes so much sense, it has bipartisan support, and yet i can't get a vote on the floor of the united states senate to strike the money for this missile to nowhere and to apply the funds to where our troops need them so that they can actually use the funds to make sure that they have what they need to be prepared and so this to me is just appalling, that i'm being denied the right to offer this amendment, to bring it to the floor to let people vote on it at a time when we face great fiscal challenges, it is absolutely appalling to me that here in the united states senate we can't strike $380 million in funding for a miss

the armed services committee is a very active committee. no matter what the budget situation is in this town, this is the committee that has debates and consequential debates about our international policies. three women that i focused on in the piece with kyrsten gillibrand, the chairwoman of the subcommittee on personnel. kay hagan, the chairwoman of the subcommittee on emerging threats. and then shaheen who is the subcommittee chairwoman of readiness and preparedness. these are women who are now really inserting themselves in the debate. host: here's a list of all the women that serve on the senate armed services committee. deb fischer new republican from alaska, kay hagan, democrat from north carolina. gene shaheen. -- jean shaheen. the states they represent, what do they represent, hawaii, new york, new hampshire? guest: particularly with hawaii or new york, for example, they have significant amount of military bases, have budgetary and personal stake in what the military does. but i think what you hear when you talk to these women is

on the armed services committee, i had a hearing two years ago, and i asked this basic question. if a bunch of bombers were coming to bomb refineries, we know what we would expect the federal government to do to protect those refineries from being destroyed. if it's a bunch of pacts coming through the internet against the same refineries, we don't know what to expect. so i think the role of the federal government of defending the country in cyberspace especially against these sophisticated state or state-level actors is, is evolving where i do think the government has to be actively involved in defending us. and in a secondary role is the federal government facilitating the kinds of protection and defensive measures that we can take for ourselves and that companies can take for themselves. so i think those are the two roles; protecting against the sophisticated actors and encouraging a higher state of cybersecurity and preparedness for everybody else. >> host: i want to play a little bit more of michael daniel from last week talking about the private sector. >> guest: one of the

would end up where i did. >> anu, do you suspect that the fact that we now have women on the armed services committeee senate is making a difference in the way this issue is being heard? >> i do think that matters. the spearhead of reform on this committee are powerhouses when it comes to defending service members generally, and i would like to say with this particular issue it is not a women's issue, and i don't mean that in a women's issue way, over 10,000 assaulted were men. we need to put the facts out there and understand that rape and assault in the u.s. military, it is not a gender issue, it is a military issue, it is an issue of complete failure within the judicial system inside the military to properly handle these cases, and the final recommendation we are making is that service members as volunteers defending our nation should have the same constitutional rights as the americans whom they protect. today they do not. they cannot bring civil claims for sexual harassment, workplace discrimination like a civilian victim in a civilian workplace could do. >> we will be watching your testimony to

several of us in the armed services committee and the senate homeland security and government affairs committee have been trying to ensure that contracts to a.n.c.'s undergo extra scrutiny. it doesn't help that this bill is working against the american taxpayer, while congress should be working to make sure the department of defense acquires what it truly needs as economically as possible through competition. there is $48 million in funding for the defense department to do research dealing with parkinson's disease, neurofibrometosis and hiv-aids research. this research is important. it has no place in a department of defense bill. it should be funded by the national institute of health, not the department of defense. madam president, i ask unanimous consent for a long list of unspecified and unauthorized and unnecessary and wasteful pork be included in the record at this time. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mccain: it's -- it's disgraceful, and i see my colleague from texas is waiting to talk. but this is absolutely unbelievable. and all of this long list, of billions o

on capitol hill, we go live to the house radio and tv gallery with remarks from the house armed services committee on the defense spending cuts or -- >> good morning, i am from california, the chairman of the armed services committee. these are members of the committee, most of the chairman of the subcommittees and each of us will have a few words to say. we have the responsibility to protect our nation's defense and to make sure that those who sent out to war have the things they need to carry out their missions and return home safely. i have never in my lifetime seen such a lack of leadership and truth telling emanating from the white house and from our commander in chief. senator reid and the democratic leadership, for three years, have not passed a budget and we have given them a pass. you have given them a pass and i was watching general odierno this morning who has been chief of the army for 1.5 years and has never had a budget. that goes for the chairman of the joint chiefs and all of the chiefs. these men who have dedicated their life to protecting our nation, we put them in these responsi

from the senate of armed services committee, this is about three hours. >> good morning, everybody. this morning's hearing is the first of the commanders to receive testimony on the military strategy and operational requirements in areas of responsibility. our witnesses are two extraordinary military leaders, commander of u.s. central command, and commander of u.s. special operations command. on behalf of our members, please pass along to the men and women serving our sincere gratitude for their dedication and their sacrifices. we also thank their families. their support is essential to the well-being of their loved ones and our nation. this is your third and last hearing before this committee. this committee has favorably reported your successor to the full senate. we want to thank you for your more than 40 years of military service and your distinguished leadership of our armed forces. this year is posture hearing with the commanders are being held under the specter of budget sequestration. this threatens to impose cuts on military forces unrelated to our national security require

security in the military readiness to generals to questions before the senate armed services committee which is chaired by senator carl evans. this is two hours and 45 minutes. >> this hearing continues a series of posture hearings that the armed services committee is conducting on our combat and command. today we received testimony from the u.s. strategic command of the u.s. cyber command, unified command and cut u.s. strategic command. let us welcome the commander of the u.s. strategic command and general keep dogs and check half of the command of the u.s. ever command marry one of the sense. we thank you for your great work. we thank you. if you would pass along our thanks to those who work with you with their service we would greatly appreciated. this hearing comes at a time when the problem of defense and other federal agencies face the twin threat of sequestration and an expiring continuing resolution and we will want to hear from our witnesses what impact budget restrictions and uncertainty of likely to have on their programs and their operations over the coming months. first, s

all we're asking here both at the house armed services committee and senate armed services committeeus as survivors and how in fact the military didn't handle it and if you listen to the stories, you'll hear the same stories over and over and over and it's failing us. can you briefly explain? >> i grew up i'd legal lick childhood so i didn't know what these crimes were. i didn't know what rape and sexual assault and harassment was. it all took me by subpoena pleat surprise and after being attacked by four different predators in the first two years of my career, i was finally forced to report in an effort to remain safe because i felt in danger. my commander did take me seriously but when it got moved up the chain of command of a sexual assault job or an attempted rape case to sexual harassment, basically filed an eeo complaint for these vicious complaints because there was no process at the time and there still trying to make sure there is justice for these victims but it's not going to happen. >> jennifer, what do you want chuck hagel to do? >> i want chuck hagel to take him out of

we had a panel of the senate armed services committee chaired by senator jelaboun from new york. new york.and from me becauseesting to the system we have, it was adopted in 1950 following world war ii. those of you who are students of history may know that in world war ii, we had 60 million men and women in uniform. from that number, we conducted 2 million a court-martial. issues for -- a fair amount of issues to resolve four commanders. the consequence was the passage wethis, this idea that would rain in commander discretion to act in discipline. general dwight eisenhower testified before congress in leadersd other senior talked about what is different about our system, how does this disciplined play out. that is what resulted in ucmj. need- say that there is no for the specialized system of court justice. you're providing too much of the role of commanders in command discretion in how you handle the conduct. that is what is being fought over and capitol hill. fromllies have gone away the commander-durbin justice system. the european commission on human rights directed that thei

they are changing the tone in the committee and they are doing it by taking a more wholistic approach to what armed services. for example, this issue which is really important and in addition to those three women who are now on the subcommittees on the armed services committee, you have claire mccaskill who was very outspoken this week about the incident that representative braley described. >> kristen gillibrand right now. leon panetta used this to put new rules into place and chuck hagel is looking into this case that we mentioned earlier. what do you think? does the legislation have a thought? >> i think it will be an early test for chuck hagel. this was a big issue for some of the key senators who are here, like barbara boxer, claire mccaskill, those senators really made this an issue for hagel and he said, look, i am going to make this a priority in terms of looking at whether or not the military justice system needs to be reformed. and now he's got -- now he's got a decision to make because pressure is certainly going to build from this hearing today and legislatively the question will be whether or n

over the last two years, the armed services committee received many hours of testimony, briefings and meetings on the troop realignment in the pacific and directed the center for strategic and international studies to conduct an independent assessment on u.s. force strategy in the region. that assessment delivered in august, 2012, recommended a better alignment of engagement strategies between the u.s. pacific command and the department of defense in order to improve our capabilities in the region and respond to a range of contingencies. the csis was clear in the appraisal that the department of defense had not -- quote -- "adequately articulated the strategy behind its future posture planning nor aligned the strategy with resources in a way that reflects current budget realities. after more testimony, briefings and meetings, the armed services committee acted and through the vehicle of the fiscal year 2013 national defense authorization act prohibited the use of funds for any military realignment to guam until the department of defense and the u.s. pacific command provided a detailed

members of the panel are appointed by the chairmen and ranking member of the senate armed services committee and the house armed services committee and it will be subject to certain regulations, i believe. it is a much more extended time frame. so we will do an internal effort and then there will be an external panel effort. >> yes, it is. that would be up to the secretary. >> well, i would like to make a request on my behalf. others may join in asking that it be made available on march 28 border soon thereafter as soon as possible. i know i don't have authority to issue subpoenas as i did when i was a prosecutor. but i hope that the secretary of defense will share the sense of urgency in moving forward as quickly as possible. you have been asked about the rates that convictions are overturned. you do you have any numbers on the rates of conviction, where courts martial are convened on sexual assault cases? >> i believe that each of the service provides that answer. >> why are the rates of conviction so low? >> the rates of conviction -- well, unfortunately, sexual assault can be a difficult

i'm from the 25th district in california, chairman of the house armed services committee. these are members of the committee. most of -- chairman of the subcommittees, each of us will have a few words to say. we have the responsibility to protect our nation's defense, and make sure it those who we sent out to or have things they need to carry out their missions and return home safely. i have never in my lifetime seen such a lack of leadership and truth-telling emanating from the white house and from our commander in chief. senator reid and the democratic leadership for three years have not pass a budget, and we have given them a pass. you have given them a pass. i was watching a general this morning who said he has been chief of the department for a year and half, and never had a budget. that same thing goes for the commander -- the chairman of the joint chiefs and all of the chiefs. these men who have dedicated their life to protecting our nation, we put them in these responsible jobs and give them no financial support, no direction. sequestration was the president's idea.

the senate armed services committee holds its first hearing on sexual assault in the military in a decade. this on the heels of a case that raised the ire of committee he member senator claire mccaskill in which a sexual assault conviction was handed down and later overturned by the signature of signature. chuck hagel called for a review of the process allowing commanders to dismiss decisions by military courts. >>> a trial begins in steubenville, ohio, for two high school football players accused of raping a drunken 16-year-old girl during a night of partying last summer. >>> and happy birthday to actress dana delaney. she turns 57 today. >>> here's a look at what's coming up later this morning on the "today" show. in a "today" exclusive, the woman at the center of that military assault case we mentioned speaks out about her alleged attacker going free. keep it on this channel for continuing local news, weather, sports and more. i'm richard lui along with dylan dreyer. thanks for watching "early today," just your first stop of the today today on your nbc station. have a good wednesday. >

part of the house armed services committee, talking about the impacts that this will have on militaryg hard to make sure i was doing everything we could to find solutions for this going forward. >> let's take a look at some more projected damage. 90,000 jobs, $20 billion potential impact. more than 1$140 million off the budget for military bases. part of the thinking was that republicans could avoid cuts because the military would get hit harder than any other group. even that didn't seem to motivate your gop colleagues this time around. why not? >> well, we've been having conversations with our gop colleagues about the impact on the military what we need to remember too, up to this point, there has already been close to a half a trillion of reduction to our military budget. it doesn't make sense going forward to put another half a trillion of cuts on top of that. that cuts into military's ability to do its job. cuts into readiness as we heard the service branch chiefs talk extensively about risk and readiness crisis. so we're trying to let other members know we've already been to the

the two top members of the senate armed services committee the latest to ask the pentagon to lower the rank of the distinguished warfare medal which ranks ahead of the bronze star and purple heart in importance. the senators say the medal sends the wrong message to soldier whose served in actual combat. >> two workers at a southern california company that launched spacecraft for the u.s. government are involving from an electrical explosion. the accident happened over the weekend in ventura county. they worked on a delta four rocket and a flash occurred when electronic current leaves its path and travels through the air to another conductor. both workers suffered major injuries and are now at a hospital specializing in burn victims. >> a last ditch effort to avoid a strike by the san francisco symphony hits a high today. the musical protests orchestra members are planning. >> there could be more to your face book "likes" than a mouse click, what they could reveal about your personality >> a strike looms at the san francisco symphony if an agreement is not reached. today it is reported

. >> reporter: meanwhile, on capitol hill, the house armed services committee called for action. >> we telling the president and john boehner, when you walk out of that meeting this morning, don't plan on cutting our national defense one more cent. >> reporter: many of their colleagues left washington yesterday for a long weekend. federal employees who could face furloughs expressed disgust. >> i think it is absolutely abominable and lack of leadership on both sides. >> reporter: across the country, new examples of what happens at stake. >> devastating. >> reporter: virginia child care subsidies for low-income families and wisconsin air traffic controllers. in nebraska, meals on wheels. in indiana, juvenile diabetes research. in arkansas, the cost of meat. in reality, many of these cuts won't happen immediately. now with no hope of avoiding cuts lawmakers must answer this question -- when and how will they replace them? the holdup is the same argument, president obama wants new revenue, not just cuts, and republicans won't have it. reporting live from capitol hill, danielle lee. back t

actually struck by the authorization committee on both sides of the aisle, both in the house armed services committee committee. and when the majority leader took to the floor last night, he said oh, we have -- we have made reasonable accommodations. i don't see what's reasonable about giving a handful of amendments with over a trillion dollars of spending. you know, on wednesday, senator mccain brought forth an amendment, and the amendment was last wednesday, so almost a week ago, he brought forth an amendment to strike other unauthorized funds from the continuing resolution and to leave those funds for the military to use for priority items and for things that our men and women in uniform actually needed. and you know what happened? there was a motion to table brought against senator mccain's amendment, and essentially what he was trying to do was what i am trying to do today, to stop money that's been -- not been authorized, to stop spending money when our men and women in uniform need us to give -- allow them to use these resources for the basic needs that they have, and that's why he brought thi

the senior democrat serves as chairman of the armed services committee. levin says he wants to serve without the distraction of campaigning. >>> now at the vatican a decision on whether to begin the conclave to elect a new pope is expected soon. the last voting cardinal arrived in rome yesterday, and the cardinals were briefed on vatican finances. randall pinkston is in vatican city. randall, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, ann marie. it's another day of talks for the cardinals underway as we speak with the arrival of the 115th cardinal. they are a day closer to deciding the date of the conclave, but we will not know for sure whether they have made a decision until the day's meeting is over. >> reporter: cardinals from around the world are meeting for a fifth day of discussions that could produce a decision on when the papal election will begin. a vietnamese cardinal was the last elector to arrive in rome. 115 voting cardinals are now in place. >> they are men of faith. they know the needs of the church. >> reporter: father anthony of new jersey

evening with a conversation with senator carl levin of michigan, he's chairman of the senate armed services committee. >> corporate contributions to our treasury in the form of taxes is at an all-time low and it's only 9% now of the revenues coming into the treasury-- treasury come from corporations. a few years back it was double that. a few years before that it was triple that, it used to be, many years ago that half of the tax revenues that came to wasngton came from corporations. now it's down to 9% of our revenues. and in large measure it's because of the kind of deductions and loopholes which are used, some of which are perfectly legitimate because they've performed an economic function, some of which are not. >> rose: we conclude this evening with a conversation with a 17-year-old who just sold his company to yahoo! for what some people believe is $30 million. his name is nick d'aloisio. >> at the end of the phone call they're like how can we arrange meetings. i think they are like we want to do a phone call at 11 a.m. this had been a night mire. i said i can't do 11 a.m. i said why can't you

the chairman of the house armed services committee says the president should have done more to stop thisappening in the first place. >> i have never in my lifetime seen such a lack of leadership and truth telling emanating from the white house. >> reporter: the finger- pointing continue as lawmakers left washington for the weekend. now, as these cuts kick in, the congressional budget office says about 750,000 jobs will be lost this year alone. ken, president obama set to sign the order in about 3.5 hours. >> and there it goes. $85billion. tara mergener in washington, with the very latest, thank you. >>> california could stand to lose the most in this sequester. the obama administration says the cuts could mean an $87 million cut for funding for primary and secondary education in the state. that would put 1200 teacher and teachers aides jobs at risk. as many as 8200 children could lose access to preschool. so far there's no timeline on when those cuts would kick in. >>> a new discovery linking a common household product to an increase in asthma in young children. dr. kim mulvihill on why

to the offices of carl levin and say where are you you're supposed to be the head of the armed services committee and you're letting the cia have this rogue drone program that just is killing all kinds of people overseas giving such a bad name to the u.s. causing so much blowback and why are you speaking out against right and that's i think what was really shocking is how is this a partisan issue this should not be a partisan issue our civil liberties our constitution the fact that killing people with drones is counterintuitive and against the law morally and legally i mean all of these things it's a legal framework created around this why are we seeing more democrats oppose this is mind blowing medea i want to actually play a portion of last night's marathon news that he kept citing over and over again about the use of drones abroad. i think when you're in a battle you don't get due process if you're shooting at americans drones can hit you any missiles can hit you there is no due process in a battle this is a big debate because many of said the battlefield is here because the battlefield is her

the 78-year-old who chairs the armed services committee says he wants to continue serving his country, but did not want to deal with the distraction of another campaign. as the longest serving senator in michigan history, levin's departure leafs a big opens for republicans in a state where they are looking to make gains. one gop official floated four possible names to politico including congressman mike rogers. democrats maintain an effective 55-45 majority over republicans in the last election cycle to keep the senate firmly in their control. jay rockefeller and tom harken are added to the mix. the senate becomes all more vulnerable for the democrats. wait and see. >>> later today, osama bin laden's son-in-law will appear in a new york city courtroom where he faces charges of conspiracy to kill americans as a member of al qaeda. abu ghaith who appeared alongside bin laden and claimed responsibility for the 9/11 terror attacks will stand trial in u.s. federal court instead of being detained in guantanamo bay. many gop lawmakers were quick to oppose the decision to keep ghaith in the u

the leaders of the arms service committee suggest using precision air strikes to target the military's aircraft without putting american troops on the ground. >>> harry reid made it clear that the senate's gun control bill will include provisions that would expand background checks to private gun sales. reid plans to bring the bill to the floor next month. he said he is hopeful that a bipartisan compromise can be reached on background checks. reid also called for amendments on banning assault weapons and high capacity magazines after those measures were left out of the final bill. the proposals in the senate may not be enough for joe biden. in an appearance with michael bloomberg yesterday, he invoked the memories of the newtown shooting and implored lawmakers to ban assault weapons. >> for all those who say we shouldn't and can't ban assault weapons, for all those who say the politics is too hard, how can they say that? when you take a look at those 20 beautiful babies and what happened to them and those six teachers and administrators. tell me how it violates anyone's constitutional

four members of the panel are to be appointed by chairman and ranking of the senate armed services committee and the house armed services committee, and so it's -- and it will be subject to faca, i believe. it's on a much more extended time frame. so we'll do an internal effort, and then there will be this external, independent panel effort. and that, of course, time frame ultimately is up to you. >> is your ais accessment something that you can share with us at the end of this month? >> that -- >> i assume it's march 27th of this year. [laughter] >> yes, it is. >> okay. >> that, of course, would be up to the secretary. >> well, i would like to make a request on my behalf, others may join, in asking that it be made available on march 28th or as soon thereafter as possible. i know i don't have authority to issue subpoenas the way i did when i was a prosecutor, but i hope that the secretary of defense will share the sense of urgency that we have in moving forward as quickly as possible. >> you've been asked about the rates convictions are overturned. do you have any numbers on the rates of con

. >> the house armed services committee is calling for a full investigation into dropped rape charges against a man who fatally shot to santa cruz police officers. congresswoman jackie speier from san mateo, is calling for a capitol hill hearing on why charges into a army court marshals brought against the jeremy goulet in 2006 were dropped in exchange for a " less than honorable " discharge. goulet had been accused of raping two women several years ago. goulet shot and killed santa cruz police detective sgt a loran "butch " baker and attack elizabeth butler last month while they followed up on a report of a misdemeanor sexual assault. he was later killed in a shootout with authorities. >> we will be right back. wow,wo i've been claritin cler for 10 days! when yenour allergies start, doctors recommend takingng one onnon-drowsy claritin evey day during your allergy season for cor ntinuous relief.f. 18 day ds! 12 d12ays!s! 24 d24ays of continuous relie. live claritin clear. everevy day. good. no, not good. he's a vegetarian and he's going to be here in 20 minutes! [ mom ] don't stress.

to the offices of carl levin and say where are you you're supposed to be the head of the armed services committee and you're letting the cia have this rogue drone program that just is killing all kinds of people overseas giving such a bad name to the u.s. causing so much blowback and why are you speaking out against right and that's i think what was really shocking is how is this a partisan issue this should not be a partisan issue our civil liberties our constitution the fact that killing people with drones is counterintuitive and against the law morally and legally i mean all of these things it's a legal framework created around this why are we seeing more democrats oppose this is mind blowing medea i want to actually play a portion of last night's marathon use that he kept fighting over and over again about the use of drones abroad. when you're in a battle you don't get due process if you're shooting at americans drones can hit you any missiles can hit you there is no due process in a battle this is a big debate because many of said the battlefield is here or because the battlefield. with the

as chairman of the house armed services committee, i'm happy to see us voting to include a full year appropriations -- defense appropriations bill, as well as full year milary conruction and veterans affair bill. this is very imrtant. at least we have one committee that can do regular order still, and i think that is very important. enacting a full year d.o.d. appropriations bill is the first step toward restoring funding for our military which has been whip sod by the dual combination of the sequester and the c.r. we are operating under. none of our currently serving overseas, the chief of the army, navy, air force, marines, including the chief of -- all of the svices, in their time have ever operated under a real budget. most of the members of congress haven't served uer regular order in seeing how we have really done. so this is a step forward to get us back to regular order. a full year appropriation will allow the service chiefs to cancel programs that we have already caeled in the defense authorization act. it allows them to restore critical shortfalls in their operation and ma

armed services committee that by two thousand and fifteen forty online support teams will be ready for action thirteen of those units will be designed designated rather to attack other countries this after highly publicized cyber attacks on american companies and military computers talk about all this i'm joined now by andrew blake he is our web producer here at r.t. hi andrew so thirteen teams for authentic action what kinds of action are we talking about that's a really good question because keep in mind this is news coming from general keith alexander the head of the n.s.a. and the head of the u.s. cyber command the n.s.a. is the same agency that won't even tell americans if they're being spied on they won't even admit how many americans are spying on their one of the most secret organizations within the united. government so we're not actually hearing a lot about what they're doing and on top of that layer of secrecy what we know about the u.s. cyber of this attacks goes back to an executive order not to the cybersecurity executive order but the policy directive cited by obama last

four members of the panel are to be appointed by the chairman and ranking of the senate armed services committeeand the house armed services committee, and so it's -- and it will be subject to faca, i believe. it's on a much more extensive time frame. so we'll do an internal effort, and then there'll be this external, independent panel effort. and then, of course, time frame ultimately is up to you. >> is your assessment something that you can share with us at the end of this month? >> that's -- >> from i assume it's march 27th of this year. [laughter] >> yes, it is. >> okay. >> that, of course, would be up to the secretary. >> well, i would like to make a request on my behalf, others may join, in asking that it be made available on march 28th or as soon thereafter as possible. i know i don't have authority to issue subpoenas the way i did when i was a prosecutor, but i hope that the secretary of defense will share the sense of urgency that we have in moving forward as quickly as possible. you've been asked about the rates convictions are overturned. do you have any numbers on the rates of convi

telling the senate armed services committee that he thinks 20,000 u.s.s should stay in afghanistan beyond 2013. that includes nearly 14,000 troops from the united states. he reportedly pushed out because of policy differences. well doctors are now saying giving infants food including peanut butter and eggs may help prevent food allergies later in life. under new guidelinesaller gists recommend introducing these foods as early as 4-6 months old. this is based on the study of children under undeveloped countries that have a lower rate of allergies. >> thanks heather for the first time since 9-11 you will be allowed to take small knives on airplanes. the tsa loosening the policy on certain items you are able to bring on board. this move is concerned about the central safety. >> the tsa is making a change to the policy. >> we are modifying the prohibitive item list. >> souvenir buys ball bats, golf clubs hockey sticks and other sports equipment will be permitted. the new policy change allows workers to focus on more serious threats to safety. >> the idea tha

like senator jeanne shaheen, who are bringing a fresh voice to the senate and the senate armed services committee to make sure this doesn't happen again. and when it does happen, that these scum are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. >> patrick, we talk a lot about women making progress in terms of integration, in terms of our armed services on the battlefield. 18% of national guard and reserve personnel are women. that probably is more than a ray

armed services committee, senator carl levin, agrees with me on this. there is no conflict between the defense appropriations and defense authorization committee. keeping the funds in this bill supports the senate's clear position on giving to our military the authority they need to protect our troops and to lessen their need for using these energy sources. reducing d.o.d. energy costs and reducing the volatility of gasoline supplies are critical, critical to make sure that the best military in the world is the safest military in the world. the defense department is the federal government's largest energy consumer by far. the events of the arab spring and iran's continuing threats to deny access to the strait of hormuz demonstrate the security risk of relying on foreign oil sources. that is why this is a critical decision, it is a life-and-death decision to look to other energy sources. the senator may say we can move $60 million to operations and maintenance, i'm sure they need it, but they literally need much, much more than that. it is better we keep

as chairman of the armed services committee, carl levin is the nation's most respected voice on national security and the most powerful advocate for men and women in the united states armed forces. and as chairman of the committee on investigations, he stouth truth on behalf of american -- south the truggete on behalf of american families time and time again. basic credit practices. and abusive credit card practices and a long, extensive, extremely enlightening bit of work on the enron collapse. they have three daughters and six grandchildren. i'm confident carl is looking to spending more time with these grandchildren, taking long walks through his, his and sandy's tree farm. it's a wonderful place they go. they don't harvest anything. it's just a bunch of trees. and they love that tree farm. i so admire senator levin. clearly when he retires in two years, the united states senate will lose his powerful voice for military families and investigating things that need to be investigated by this body. michigan is a much better place because of carl levin. our country, the united states, s a

year-old has been in the senate since 1979 and currently serves as chair of the powerful armed services committee around the country including san francisco ed lee coming together in new public service announcement on gun violence. >> no more family to console. no more neighborhood in mourning. no more make shift memorial. >> 900 marries from 45 states take part in this p sa demanding that congress demand that -- demand that go congress pass legislation requiring background check for all sales limiting military style and high capacity magazine and make gun trafficking a federal crime. >> let's go back and talk about the story we reported at the very top and that is that moving memorial today for 2 fallen police officers if santa santa cruz. mayor of santa cruz spoke at today memorial for the 2 fallen officers and sentiment echo the thoughts of so many. >> we have lost 2 wonderful friends, 2 individuals who protected and cared for us. and who gave their lives so that we could continue to live in safety and security. officers baker and butler were part of the community. they were our neighbors. and

working together, they went back to ibn sheikh al-libi-- and this is all according to the armed services committee-- and they asked him, "why did you lie?" he said, "well, i gave you what you want to hear. >> smith: he complied. >> absolutely. >> "i want the torture to stop. i gave you anything you want t hear." >> smith: but the consequences of that... >> tragic, absolutely. the rld is different. look at all the blood that we lost in iraq. look about how the iraq war helped al qaeda, both with recruits and financially. a lot of people are uncomfortable with enhanced interrogation techniques. >> would you have been in favor of it, if you'd known that it was working? you'd known that >> if it was saving lives? i don't believe... look, if it was saving lives and i saw it saving lives, i hate to tell you and probably i will be attacked, but yes, maybe. >> smith: yes, maybe? >> yeah. it's very hard. but if somebody in doj is telling me this is legal and saving lives in the united states or abroad, i think... i think, yeah, maybe. again, yeah, maybe. because i know for a fact it didn't. >> ofrontline..