central command region. i have submitted a written statement and request it to be accepted into the record. >> it will be. >> it's my privilege to appear today alongside an admired leader and good friend, admiral bill mccraven. no two commands work more closely together than u.s. special operations command and central command. let me begin with what i see today in the region. the arab awakening is manifesting differently in each country. while we may hope for and certainly we firmly support all efforts for more democratic governments in the region, the awakening's origins are not necessarily a rush for democracy. rather, this awakening stems from a breakdown in the social contract between governments and their people. unjust or unresponsive regimes have fallen or are in the throws throes of falling as is the case in syria. however, the transition to a democratic government is never easy, as we see in egypt. further, it is not clear what the resulting governments will look like. challenges remain, beyond the

central command and central operations command.zing americans of every service who carry on the fight after a decade of war. admiral mccraven, this is your first time testifying before this committee as the commander of socome. and it's fitting that you do it alongside general maddus, a seasoned veteran of this committee's hearings, who has the scars to prove it. nowhere is the work of america's special operators more persistent and important than in centcom's area of responsibility. these forces play an instrumental role in ongoing counterterrorism operations, both in the region and around the globe. while al qaeda's senior leadership has been diminished by sustained pressure against them in pakistan, al qaeda's global operations have become increasingly decentralized and no less deadly. region affiliates seek safe haven in countries beset by weak governments and internal instability, particularly places like yemen, the horn of africa, and the transahel. this is why this remains a vital component of our strategy to disrupt and def

central command in the u.s. >> he is a u.s. marine corp general officer who served in 2007 to 2009, in which capacity he graced our speaker's platform at our 2009 july general meeting. we are delighted to welcome him back in his capacity as commandser, u.s., central command, ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming general mattis to our podium. [ applause ] >> thank you, ladies and gentlemen, and for all of you, it's great to be back here once again. general walt, and general sir david and all of you, dr. coenthank you for asking me back, in light of some of my remarks i do not get invited back. i have to recognize my old friend general amult and ambassador anderson, two friends that were great advisers for what seemed like a 17 year assignment to nato, it was only two years. but it's an honor to follow minister mckay, anyone who sat in brussels is very much aware of just how fortunate canada is to have an articulate, unapologetic minister of defense who has the ability to express what we with all have feel about a civ

central command, and admiral vilma craven, commander of the u.s. special operations command. thank you both for your dedicated and distinguished service to our nation. also on behalf of the committee, please extend our heartfelt gratitude to the military men and women serving if you. many have served multiple deployments, often directly in harm's way. we thank them for their dedication and courage. we thank their families. as reflected in the president's budget request of $88 billion for overseas constituency operations, in fiscal year 2013, the conflict in afghanistan remains our military's foremost security challenge. the afghanistan mission is entering a critical phase of transition. the drawdown of the 33,000 u.s. search force is scheduled to be completed by the end of the summer him and turning 68,000 u.s. troops in afghanistan are to continue to be reduced quote at a steady pace, there after through 2014, according to present obama. u.s. and coalition forces have begun to move from the combat lead to an advise and assist role in support of the afghan national security f

central command gave testimony on the house and senate first time for the first time since the koran burning institute and when staff sergeant balancees can accused of having killed 17 afghan civilians, that's increased calls for folks to say, hey, look, it's time to get out of afghanistan. when the french lost a few soldiers a few months ago, president sarkozy says we're going to withdraw a year early. yet the administration is sticking with this 2014 date and saying u.s. troops are going to stay well beyond that. where's this debate going in washington? >> the key thing is that the administration did not overreact. if you're going to change your policy, you don't want to do it under duress. the other thing that happened is this enhances president kars i-'s bargaining power -- karzai's bargaining power. you've seen us agree to transfer more of the prisoners from bagram. you've already seen us willing to say we'll put some constraints on the night raid and if you want to stay past 2014, you're going to have to do that. öz#f forces in afghanistan is saying i need all nonsurge troops t

central command and special operations command.amazing americans who carry on the fight after a decade of war. admiral mcraven, this is your first time testifying before this committee as the commander and it's fitting that you do alongside general mattis a seasoned veteran of the committee hearings to have the scars to prove it. nowhere is the work of america's special operators or persistent and an important than centcom's area of responsibility. they played an instrumental role in ongoing counterterrorism operations both in the region and around the globe. while al qaeda senior leadership has been diminished by sustained pressure against them in pakistan al qaeda's global operations are becoming increasingly decentralized and no less deadly. regional affiliate's seek safe haven in the country is beset by weak governments and internal instability, particularly in places like yemen, the horn of africa. this is why the ongoing efforts to build the capacity of partner nations and the troubled regions remain a vital component of our

if israel were to strike, would central command forces be prepared, could they communicate, would that be command and control? certainly this was not the most dire scenario because they could have used hezbollah strikes and that type of thing. it gets increasingly complicated and this as we say in the story, general mattus thought this turned out scary enough. they're thinking of the possibilities that could be scarier. >> well, thank you very much, both of you. we appreciate it. >>> next on "out front," the search expanding for the gunman in france. after horrific, grabbing a little girl by the hair. when the gun didn't work, grabbing another gun and killing her. could he be planning another attack? >>> and the shooting death of a teenager, trayvon martin. who he was on the phone with before he was killed and what she heard. here's a chance to create jobs in america. oil sands projects, like kearl, and the keystone pipeline will provide secure and reliable energy to the united states. over the coming years, projects like these could create more than half a million jobs in the us alone

central command has served as the u.s. pacific command, the u.s. fleet forces command. and general david sanger. >> ole what's his name. >> who knows a lot about everything. he's the chief washington correspondent for the new york times, one of the newspaper's senior writers. he really isn't a general. i forget in this day of the internet there are no jokes. he's reported from new york, tokyo and washington. he's author of several books. you haven't seen his bi-line lately because he's in the process of writing another book. what is your -- let's just start off and give you a little plug. >> the new book is a look at the obama administration's national security policy, it deals with with afghanistan and pakistan, it deals a lot with iran, as you would imagine, a bit with the arab spring and china. mostly it's an effort to try to explore what's new and different about this administration versus the bush administration. how you compare the promises that they came in with with what actually happened. the world's been a little busy in the years since the president was inaug

our pentagon correspondent jim miklazewski is with us tonight from central command headquarters in tampa, florida. good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. >> he is concerned about security for his family and him. i can't give you much detail about his identity. until the government does. he is a highly decorated, professional soldier. never been in trouble any time before. happily married, despite rumors to the contrary. >> reporter: according to military officials, this staff sergeant is accused of going on a shooting spree killing 16 afghan civilians, including nine children. there is no known motive for this shooting incident. we are learning more about this soldier tonight. that he had been injured at least twice on three separate combat tours to iraq, and that he told his fellow soldiers he was actually reluctant to go on this fourth combat tour to afghanistan. it's highly unlikely he'll ever go back to afghanistan to be tried, but that military officials are saying he could very well be shipped back to the united states to face court-martial. they are saying he could be cha

central command and special operations command. amazing americans with a free service to carry on the fight after a decade of war. admiral mcraven, this is your first time testifying before the committee as a commander of so, and it's fitting that you do so alongside general mattis, a seasoned veteran of this committee's hearings to have the scars to prove that. nowhere is the work of america's special operators more important than an centcom's scirica of responsibility. the forces play an instrumental role of an ongoing counterterrorism operations both in the region and around the globe. while the senior leadership has been diminished by sustained pressure against them in pakistan, al qaeda's global operations are becoming increasingly decentralized and no less deadly. regional affiliate's seek safe haven in the country's set by the weak governments and internal instability particularly in places like yemen and the horn of africa and the trans, this is why the efforts to build the capacity in the nation's in the troubled regions r

pattern of practice of refusing to give estimated date of completion, and that was mudded versus central command. that's the opinion that y'all have why yo have in your packet. for the first time since payne, payne was a big brouhaha and then everybody i think forgot about it and there were three or four cases that ever mentioned it between it coming down and mudded, and in muddit, judge baryl hel, another one of the new barack obama appointees said yes, this is something that is a policy that would violate foia, and so it can be sued on the government had actually argued, because he wasn't harmed, because payne had to do with exemptions, and this had nothing to do with exemptions,' not litigable. she said no any violation of foia that say consistent violation can be sued under payne as long as you can be proved there is a policy. so the state department reversed their policy and instituted a new policy that said we will now give estimated dates of completion. and so that was really the beginning of what i would say, you know, what i'll call the cia cases, the four cases that i alluded to that m

years in iraq and afghanistan where special operators around the globe have been assigned to the central command of responsibility, it's obvious that special operations and other parts of the world have been thinned out. >> they are asking for greater ability, flexibility and building forces in the globe back to around today want to be. you didn't get into it in detail in your testimony. or the shift to special operations around the globe? also another sequestration, i'm interested in your interpretation of across the board cuts. you said you would have to throw out your strategy. how are you interpreting it right now if worst case

central command which would conduct a strike says it's much more complicated. >> there are a lot of targets. this is not a one-time shot. it will take a fair amount of work. >> reporter: israel is capable of a one-time strike. but only the u.s. has the air power to go back and hit targets again and again. still, not even the u.s. could wipe out iran's nuclear program. >> even if you could, again, you're not going to kill the intellectual capital to just rebuild the centrifuges someplace else and continue on. >> reporter: iran has plans to build ten more enrichment plants which is why israel, with its relatively small air force, has said it cannot afford to wait much longer before it strikes. the u.s. can afford to wait, but that would leave israel entrusting its security to another country-- something it has never done. >> pelley: david, thanks very much. on yet another front, republican senator john mccain today called for u.s. air strikes on syria to topple the 41-year-old dictatorship there. mccain, the ranking member of the senate arms services committee, said an air assault would alou

central command informed the armed services committee said it would be hard to establish a no-fly zone over syria because of the sophisticated nature of the anti-aircraft weapons. thousands of syrians have died during a government crackdown that began last year. p captioning performed by vitac >>> let me try that one again. good morning, everybody. the committee meets today to hear from secretary of defense leon pa net take and martin dempsey to update the committee on the situation in syria and discuss the policies of the administration with respect to syria. it was nearly a year ago that demonstrations in syria peacefully demonstrators took to the streets. to call for an end to the rule of president assad and demand an opportunity to choose a leader through a free and fair democratic process. since those first days of the uprising, the world has watched as the syrian people have continued to challenge the assad regimite tyranical ways. according to the united nations estimates, more than 7500 people in syria have been killed and at least 100 more people are being killed each day. the

>> well, one thing that would happen is that syria would be split from iran and the head of central command said that if assad failed it would be the biggest blow to iran in 25 years. cut off lebanon from iranian influence, hezbollah would probably wither. it would be a seismic event. but most importantly, look most importantly people are being massacred. children are being maimed, raped, tortured, 10,000 people estimates are 8,000 to 10,000 people have already been massacred and the united states does that have ability with other nations to bring this to a halt as we were able to do in libya. all situations are different but the principle is the same. same reason we went into bosnia, same reason we went to kosovo, it's what america is about when we can do something about it. >> do you consider this a national security issue as well? >> the president has stated that prevention of massacre and ethnic cleansing is a national security issue and it should be. so every other president. so, yeah. by definition it's a national security issue. >> gary? >> you know, senator can we just talks politic

military officials explained the incident was not intentional and president obama and central command chief general jon allen have apologized but doesn't appear to have quelled afghan rage. was this a simple mistake that could have been covered with better cultural sensitivity training. nick dowling specializes in this kind of military training. he's a former member of the national security council during the clinton administration. welcome to the show. >> thanks, vago. >> let's start out. what do we know about this incident and why do incidents like this appear to happen in a fell swoop to sort of reverse months of gains that we made? >> right. it's obviously a huge, huge mistake, general allen's very fast apology demonstrates we wanted to quickly take responsibility and that's one of the first things you do when you make a mistake like this, and we as the force made the mistake. what exactly happened here, the investigation will work through the details of that. but what you saw with general allen and then with president obama apologizing is trying to very quickly quell the anger an

the central command has a requirement to have two carriers on station. the navy has been working that hard, but it's been a bit of a struggle. 1.7 is more sort of the presence that you can find and the fleet forces commander, admirable harvey has suggested that the navy at some point may have to say no, that this kind of sustained pace is very, very hard to do or deployments are going to get longer. how's that going to break in your estimation? >> well, you know, obviously we have a finite number of resources in terms of aircraft carriers, usually 11, one is usually in a major overhaul, 10 carrier air wings. those are the hard numbers where we are right now. it really comes down to a question of two things, demand signals, where the carrier is most needed which right now are in the 5th fleet or the middle east as well as the pacific theater and then finally, you know, where is the mission sets that they bring most needed. you know, historically we are operating under six-month deployments. i think the navy is now of the understanding that most of our dep

probably can maintain current security levels this year despite manning shortages and overly centralized command and control. despite perceptions of sectarian violence and a need for logistics, intelligence and tactical communications training, iraq security forces are putting forces on theecurine sites and they are conducting intelligence driven targeting. however, sunni insurgent and shia militant groups likely will remain serious challenges for iraq and remaining u.s. personnel until more comprehensive political reconciliation reduces lingering tensions among religious and tribal constituencies. more broadly across the region, popular forces weekend the middle east and north africa are demonstrating the potential to reorder long-standing assumptions, relationship and alliances in a way that invites risk and opportunity for the united states and our allies. arms domestic opponents pose an unprecedented challenge to the al-assad regime in syria and its collapse would have serious implications for iran, hezbollah, hamas and lebanon. turning to asia, north korea's third generation third-generatio

your two commands come before us, though you do not get as much attention publicalsly as the central command, as was indicated you are involved in matters that are important to the security of the united states and to the people of the united states, and so i'm concerned about the extent to which the cuts in funding in the, in the defense budget, or the pressure to defense budget is constricting your ability to do the job, that we need you to do. general frazier, i wanted to start with you, i noticed that last week, you told reporters that south com at this point, can only step in on 33% of transiting of the region on route to the united states because of what i take to be insufficient assets or personnel. i'm going to quote you, we intercept 33% of what we know is out there and it's a limitations on the number of assets. more is getting through, end quote. so i want to ask you to aexpand on that, and if you would indicate to the committee, what specific as sets would with you like to see more of at south com that would help you and your success or to fulfill the man dp date and responsibili

me as your two commands come before us, those you don't get as much attention publicly as the central command, for instance, as the question of chairman levin or mccain indicate you're involved to matters important to the security of the united states and to the people of the united states. i'm concerned about the text he not to which the cuts in funding in the defense budget, the pressure on the defense budget is con stricting your ability to do the job than we need you to do. general frazier, i noticed that last week you told reporters that southcom at this point can only check the transiting in the region en route to the united states because of what i take to be insufficient assets or personnel. i'm going to quote you. we interpret abocept about 33% we know is out there. that's a limitation on the number of assets. more is getting through, end quote. i wanted to ask you just to amplify for a minute, in a very specific way p if you would indicate to the committee what specific assets would you like to see more of at southcom, which would help you and your successor fulfill the mandate, the

the ground zero of the russian election from from from the central command point where it's all happening so you know when as we just heard the the situation there was pretty much stable of sixty plus something for putin a seventeen something for for the runner up who was who was the communist leader at the moment. so we have started talking about the possible protests about the possible accusations after the elections and jim said that he would like to see that happens or not if if the people will be complaining about the legitimacy of the election well this is this is already started here that we hope our earth has already stated there that he has reports of thousands of irregularities do you think that something will happen close to what we saw after they leave this and move actions you know that. this is the the game is not an idiot because you know we know the winner but the responsibility of all participants of this presidential paul is quite obvious. for candidates i believe they should recognize the results because it's a really transparent free and fair elections maybe through us

central command and he testified before the senate armed services committee. back in a minute with more "washington today." >> on march 26th, 27th, and 28th the u.s. supreme court will hear oral arguments and challenges to the health care law. you'll hear arguments cited in several of the pending health care cases saturday on c-span radio's historic supreme court oral argument. from 1997, county sheriff's j. prince and richard mack petitioners versus the united states respondent. >> in the federal state context this court has upheld laws passed under the spending power, the commerce power, including the power to preempt state legislation, and the article 6 duty of state judges to hear federal causes of action. the intern provisions of the brady act at issue here is not an exercise of any of those powers. the court of appeals from that circuit held that in essence congress may commandeer the sheriff's departments of our country as long as the laws concerned do not interfere unduly with their duties. >> mr. holbrooke answers in oral argument are i believe fully

forces, in the central command area of responsibility i have never witnessed it, change is the only constant and surprise continues to be the dominant force in the region. well, transformation is under way across the region as a result of the asia wakening, malign effort business other regional actors, particularly iran to influence the outcome represent greatest immediate and long term threat to regional stability. and then i'm skipping here. again, i thought interesting perspective. maybe we missed in all the timult in the region. there is only one state in our aor actively seeking to destabilize the region and that is iran. i think that helps us put things in context. let me go back to something that senator mccain touched on. i want to ask you to go into it in a little more detail which is this is about syria. can you describe in more detail what is the extent of both iranian and russian assistance to the military assistance to the outside government at this time? >> senator, the russians provided very advanced integrated air defense capabilities. missiles, radars, that sort of thing tha

ever prominent leader of the liberal democratic party but he was really lost to a very doing central command eccentric contains a very loud and harsh statements in his. rhetoric in his political life for the last twenty years also a veteran of the election campaigns in russia and we also have the leader of the fair russia party so given all of us to be the head of the upper house of the russian parliament what those two candidates are seen as actually very little chance of them they can get into the possible second round runoff a very interesting race and it's coming to a head very soon we'll be having some exit poll results at nine pm local time the latest information will certainly be updating all of you. world war all right artie's let's air show ski checking in for us from red square thanks for that update. millions of people are cross russia now fulfilling their civic duty by casting ballots for their chosen candidate in for the first time anyone can watch the democracy in action why nearly every single polling station equipped with a webcam streaming live this is live video from one so

senate arms services committee and the testimony of marine general jam mattis, he's the head of central command getting questions from senator mccain who is as you heard growing angry over the argument that the u.s. and others want to figure out who the syrian opposition is before providing greater aid to them. a lot of people will die before that happens. you heard his quote a moment ago. meanwhile, from the u.n. in new york the security council and morocco meeting behind closed doors today urging an end to a krcrackdown on demonstrations. the debate continues among the security council members. according to reuters it remains unclear whether the u.s. draft resolution which follows two condemnations of damascus that china and russia vetoed has any chance of success which has been deadlocked over serious military obligations over protesters for almost a year. this is "washington today" on c-span radio. he make as plea for an fbi agent that went missing five years ago. they're announcing a $1 million reward. the reward coupled with a new publicity campaign across southwest asia represents what t

of going to war with syria and there being the general mattis for example with the head of the central command has already said that technically it's not feasible to have an intervention in syria because of the anti-missile defense of. when i was also to be very careful about the news that are given by the western media about syria because there are a lot of facts which you can prove have been for as they have been demonstration in hama where somebody a knew was there and he counted a few thousand people he took pictures and everything published them and the media reported five hundred thousand people which are certain to those who announce that they're being a missile attack in the headquarters of the bad party in the manson either a picture of somebody standing in front the next day with the newspaper printed the next day in front of those headquarter and showing that you know such we say like and that was reported on al-jazeera and all the western media there are several examples of media lies about syria which would make us care full about what we know about the kountry we don't know much

the central command isn't commenting on the medical examiner role in the strike. >>> syrian presidentbashar al- assad told visiting kofi annan today there can be no political dialogue while there are armed "terrorists groups." the obama administration is resists call for military aid or drone strikes to stop the bloodshed by al-assad forces. >> the president feelss strongly that we should continue the international pressure against syria, because we think that it is having a significant impact on al-assad and is weakening his regime and that is the way to go. >> the un says more than 7500 people have died in syria since the pro-denying protest began nealy a year ago. >>> one of the world's most famous comic artists died today in paris. he contributed to numerous science fiction films. in the united states he is most famous for his work on the "silver surf ore. . >>> a founding member of the beloved comied strop theater has died. >> bergman with three friends created fireside and were a cult favorite, especially among college students. >>> people who order the new ipad on-line will hav

in syria, it's even more impactful because the head of our central command, general mattis testified before the committee that if syria was -- if assad was overthrown and syria went in another direction, it would be the greatest blow to iran in the last 25 years. so there is a national security implication to have of this, as well. as obviously, you know, iran is causing a near international crisis because of their continued efforts to build a nuclear weapon exacerbated relations between the united states and israel, et cetera. so there are some differences, but you know, our fundamental facts remain, 7,500 conservative estimate of syrians have been massacred. they -- the iranians are there on the ground as well as bringing arms. and the russians are supplying arms. so it's not a fair fight, steve. it is a -- it is a bloodletting that's going on and the city of homs, major city in syria has just been turned into a killing ground. so i think it's very important to recognize that it is an affront to everything we stand for and believe in to watch this unfair fight go on. that's why air

best case you've got to switch some troops out bring others in i talked to a former commander of central command this directly and you can't move much faster than twenty thirty without said if you're telling it's all about you're leaving those who are left there to take on this thankful mission will be left in more danger than ever i think we'll see more of them. like this unfold gentlemen thank you so much for joining us tonight and other horrible events from this war thank you. guys time for a quick break we come back i'm from i'm a hangover we're going to ask whether or not americans for crash the justice system and if we can just ignore all that pesky u.s. intelligence when it comes to ron. if you want to learn. from. our guys it's monday and we have quite a few things on our plate to discuss the rest allowed after this big weekend as the obama administration blocks a texas voter id law and the c.p.s. taking their case against a voting laws all the way to geneva before a u.n. panel that an author friends and an author of penned an op ed in the new york times suggesting that if everybody actu

case you've got to switch some troops out bring others in i talked to the former commander of central command on this directly and you can't move much faster than twenty thirty without said if you're telling the taliban you're leaving those who are left there to take on this thankful mission will be left in more danger than ever i think we'll see more of an unfortunate like this unfold our general allen thank you so much for joining us tonight and definitely another horrible event from this war thank you. our guys aside for a quick break but when we come back from firm i'm a hang over for gas whether or not americans should crash the justice system out of which is just ignore all that pesky u.s. intelligence when it comes to iraq. same. people calling what you said for free and fair elections. and they're still reporting from the letters right as you can hear behind me loud explosions. and. gave the. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so. you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else and here's some other part of it and realize that everything is ok. i'm sorry t

central command and ray mavis. >> days after north korea announced to freeze its nuclear program thesion about nuclear proliferation focusing on north korea and iran. discussed in north korea after the death of kim jong-il and what this week's announce the means for restoring a dialogue. this is an hour and a half. >>> good morning i'm steven, a senior at bookings. welcome to our panel of discussion on countering proliferation, the challenge of the nuclear rogues. if you look back to the end of the cold war sense then, the issue of prohibiting nuclear weapons has been at the top of washington's agenda. if you were to ask the obama administration or the clinton administration, a list of their top ten security challenges you would find in each case nuclear proliferation in the top three or four. in the context of last two decades, the biggest challenges have been posed by north korea and iran. if you look at, for example, the american relationship with russia, going back to the 1990s iran is always figured as a big issue on that just as in the u.s. relationship with china, north korea

his position is the same as the three previous leaders of the central command have warned against preemptive iran. they don't think it will be best thing for the country. >> i served on the armed services committee. i asked the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. he said it's not so much they acquire the nuclear weapon. they are the largest state sponsored country of terrorism and if they get a nuclear weapon to a terrorist group and that is real risk the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff that was a real risk if iran acquires a nuclear weapon and the world cannot stand that. if we have another attack or terrorist group. >> he is cautioning against it. he is cautioning against an attack. >> i do not believe that we can be in a world where iran has a nuclear weapon with what they have done. >> i can assure you governor romney is president, he will not allow iran to get a nuclear weapon. >> speaker gingrich has been out spent by romney and this is one of the best campaign ads for newt gingrich. >> only one man stood up to the deficit. only one man people off of welfare and got them back