dr. buchy served for three decades as as a pentagon official, commander of the third battalion fifth special force, had e led deployments to south asia and the persian gulf. in july 2001 he assumed the duties of military assistant to defense secretary donald rumsfeld and worked daily with the secretary for five and a half years. retiring from the army in 2005, he continued at the pentagon in a civilian capacity as secretary of defense for homeland defense in american security affairs. before joining us here this year, dr. buchy was a lead consultant to ibm on security policy. please join me in welcoming my colleague, steve buchy. steve? >> good afternoon and welcome to the heritage foundation. we are really glad to have everyone here. this particular subject is a very important one. it -- a year ago, the heritage foundation wrote a really fine report on the tragedy that occurred in japan. and now one year later, they have written a new one, which is again, an excellent analysis of what went on