desert fox part of the centcom centcom -- and fox was the one we used this time. but the supreme leader in the iranian government was absolutely convinced that this was somehow gearing up for a major strike in iran. they looked at the headline in "the new york times" and they realize what the u.s. was about and somebody said that set the time apparently the supreme leader subscription has lapsed. that misunderstanding and mischaracterization is always there and there is always the potential for danger. >> host: why don't we take a short break and we will be back in a minute. >> guest: thank you. >> host: among the stories you tell are the stories that there are debates within the military in addition to between militaries and civilians in our government on how to manage this iran problem. how do we act in a way that sends clear signals to the iranians about our red lines in their limits without being so confrontational that the only option is to escalate military tension? i thought your book had some really original material on some of these debates within the mil

a couple years ago i was done at the centcom headquarters in tampa, talking to general alan, who was not a senior commander in afghanistan. he was then deputy could hurt a central command and we were going over a memo in different u.s. goals and options for iran. when i read it, i was stunned and i had to say general, you know, i can pull a memo from 1983% is almost identical things you are saying here, written by one of your predecessors. while that makes her great relevant history come it doesn't say much for the current state of our affairs. >> host: just a few smaller counterparts. disinterest in some of the hostages, living at the time of the revolution cannot they themselves would like to not be captives of history particularly to refine equilibria barmaids of engaging cabrini and society. but help feel so true from the iran-contra forward, there were subsequent perusing chapters in u.s. aranda relations. so it's not just 79 to 80. this more recent bruises or scars the two sides are feeling. >> absolutely. in fact, the way described as we built the u.s. and iran have built a re

the people in centcom who were deployed in the gulf where iran looms large, i mean, over the decades as one of the most important threats to not only u.s. military presence in the region, but also to our allies and partners in the gulf countries. um, how much opportunity is there for kind of normal interaction? do military -- i've heard a little bit of naval stories of how there are some very limited protocols of how american or british, you know, allied ships can interact with the iranian ships. so what is it like in terms of the protocols of actual contact military to military? >> it depends. iran has two navies. it has a revolutionary guard corps navy which is part of the revolutionary guard, much more try dealt, much more dedicated to the regime, and they have a regular iranian navy, islamic republic of islam regular navy. it genesis was the u.s. navy. i mean, a lot of their early officers have been trained by the u.s. navy, and it's only recently -- most have retired, but there's an institutional memory there. the interaction with the regular navy's very professional. it's stand

petraeus came back to centcom in 2008, and i was intrigued by how this individual had galvanized the transformation in the army and had shaped this new doctrine the units that were going to the war shaped the training and equipping on the forces and so forth coming and i was looking at this from a management perspective how does an insider affect transformational organizational transformation and i asked him if i could use him as a case study in my doctoral dissertation, and he agreed. so, i began to interview him through e-mail for approximately a year and a half and we had a chance to go for a run and i asked if i could interview him on the run and i brought a tape recorder and this is a test in the preface of the book that basically shows i think why i gained report with him. i could keep up with him on the run and we ended up getting down to a six minute mile. we left to say i didn't transcribe that interview. it didn't turn out as heavy breathing. so, we consider that e-mail correspondent and i was writing and incorporating his thoughts and i was able to take advantage of my dri

each one of these you know, areas of responsibility whether it's centcom, the central commander whatever four stars are saying i need to carry out my mission. aircraft carriers are in the mix so we are having the same discussion pre-9/11. which is why do we need at that time i believe we had 12 aircraft carrier so why do we need aircraft carriers now that the soviet union is gone? so the first thing we leaned on in the face of we need to start conducting strikes now as people is people are walking into afghanistan cia caseworkers and green beret, where does that support come from? the uss enterprise in the uss -- naval aviation improves utility in this asymmetric world comprehensively so you know this is the trick was trying to pre-stage with the requirements are going to be. c-span: we only have a couple of minutes. very quickly what is the status of the refueling tankers, the discussion that went on for -- is a proven? >> guest: started with an air force officer going to prison for certain insider trading and not fair play. so that caused it to be processor than it was raped. there was

www.fox news flash claw and centcom/power play >> thank you, shannon. shannon: a fox news alert. moments ago, governor mitt romney speaking to carl cameron. reacting to condemn criticism by president obama. here is what president obama said. >> it is like ramen robin hood in reverse. it is romney good. shannon: a very catchy line rolled out last night. >> it is a battleground a bumper of bumper sticker one-liners here as we get into closing days of the vice presidential selection and the sprint that comes post- labor day. mitt romney today talking about welfare reform and accusing mr. obama of liberal extremism going back to old-school democratic politics, pre-bill clinton and opposing welfare reform, requiring a work requirement. i had an idea to speak with mitt romney about the trend to quit. >> we have been watching the presidency a lot of things about me and my policies for. if i were to coin a term it would be "obamaloney." he is serving up a dish that is in contradiction to the truth. it helps the middle class to tax policy, it is just things that are not accurate. >> so th

i've written about presidents, general centcom christ desired to be the best was very pronounced. c-span: you talk to chuck colson. what did you learn from him? >> guest: he was very nice to me before he died in florida. i learned that colson states an unrepentant pro-nixon person. he regrets the nixon tape. he is embarrassed when i read to them transcripts of white house tape about walter cronkite. colson reject it back, but he was the pinnacle of richard nixon and colson was onto this idea that they had to bring down the power victory. they liked cronkite. nixon personally liked walter cronkite socially when he saw him, the recognized cronkite to the surprise some that really spoke the entire state. if you could can't walter cronkite, you tend to go up and from the nixon white house as the liberal media that became quite a square off between cronkite and the nixon administration and particularly chuck colson. particularly from the tapes on nixon's interest in bringing cronkite down a notch or two. >> host: here's a piece of video from the 1997 took notes with walter cronkite. >>

without an ounce of politeness or kindness they're the greatest sitcom writers on television a lot of centcom programming is more acute than funny. there is a whole network that will remain nameless for the monolithic sitcom is one that boy joke after another which works, it's popular. they are printing money over there but the writers are the smartest best comedy writers on television bar none in the last seven years and so of course they took this and came back in the season six and everybody loved the riding. they're in a predicament and the need to probably scrape all of the paint off the building and start all over again because they got their pride. the family and the comcast people who've taken over like anybody else in the media their competitive and they don't want nbc to stay in this predicament. i will just finish this by saying that i mentioned this to someone else working for nbc was not insignificant in my decision. i did not know her that well before the show began. i met her on saturday night live who had little to do with her because she was a head writer and you didn't inter

they probably sent three or four canadian ships each year to participate under centcom within the jointer-agency task force and they embark law enforcement attachments from the u.s. coast guard. we will provide the vehicle. we will fuse with the united states navy and the u.s. coast guard and with the law enforcement intelligence information there, u.s. law-enforcement will operate from canadian naval vessels and conduct label operations. that is a classic example of the seamless operations which delivers law-enforcement for arc -- together. >> admiral jacobsen. >> i was promoted. [laughter] >> a question, couple of questions. one, focus on resources. we are looking to canada as a resource of water, energy. talk about coastal issues. who are we? what kind of people are we? what kind of changes do you see have happened in the past and what is going to happen? >> let's talk about resources. canada is a country that is amazingly rich in natural natural resources, amazingly rich. it's a fast country. it has pretty much every form of natural resources one could want. the natural resource tha

they probably sent three or four canadian ships each year to participate under centcom within the jointnter-agency task force and they embark law enforcement attachments from the u.s. coast guard. we will provide the vehicle. we will fuse with the united states navy and the u.s. coast guard and with the law enforcement intelligence information there, u.s. law-enforcement will operate from canadian naval vessels and conduct label operations. that is a classic example of the seamless operations which delivers law-enforcement for arc -- together. >> admiral jacobsen. >> i was promoted. [laughter] >> a question, couple of questions. one, focus on resources. we are looking to canada as a resource of water, energy. talk about coastal issues. who are we? what kind of people are we? what kind of changes do you see have happened in the past and what is going to happen? >> let's talk about resources. canada is a country that is amazingly rich in natural natural resources, amazingly rich. it's a fast country. it has pretty much every form of natural resources one could want. the natural resource t

those early days you couldn't communicate on a long-range basis, but now hs has a data modem and centcom has a data mode, so with cpdlc of long-range communications and other products produced by satellites, the airplanes themselves can report the weather conditions that to the ground stations, so you have excellent global weather capability today. the pilot's role, how does it change? it used to be 88, navigate, communicate. but navigation and communication rules are now largely automated. but the pilot still has to do the basic a feeding task and the new task has been required of the pilot and that is to manage the overall mission. systems today have been largely automated and those of you that have rent on the 727 no and you have a manual pressurization system you are freezing for modern airplanes have a system to manage mission means the public not only has to consider everything going on with his particular flight in terms of once you are airborne let the airplane to the navigation's and the communications, but what you want to do is manage that flight to get it to the exact positio