welcome general dunford. i want to follow up on senator king's line of questioning with regard to north korea. as you're aware, all six of north korea's previous nuclear tests have occurred under ground. that contains the fallout, but kim jong-un has since threatened to conduct a test in the atmosphere. can you talk a little bit about what the global risks and implications of a nuclear weapon detonated would be and they are reportedly considering and if you were speaking to the north korea people right now, what would you say to them regarding the risks of detonating a nuclear weapon in your atmosphe atmosphere. >> i think the best experience we have recently would be the nuclear reactor in russia. and even with something that isn't anywhere near what the north koreans are suggesting, we had significant health challenges for many years. obviously the loss of life. it would be a provocative thing for them to conduct a nuclear test as they have suggested. and i think the people have to realize how serious it wo

welcome, general dunford. as you're aware, all six of north korea's previous nuclear tests have occurred underground. that obviously contains the radio active fallout. but kim jong-un has since threatened to conduct a test in the earth's atmosphere. can you talk a little bit about what the global risks and implications of a nuclear weapon detonated in the atmosphere as kim jong-un were considering? and if you were speaking to the north korean people what would you say to them regarding the risk of detonating a nuclear weapon in the earth's atmosphere? >> i think the best experience we have recently of course would be the nuclear actor in russia some years ago and the incident that took place in japan. even with something that isn't anywhere near what the north koreans are suggesting, we had significant health challenges for many, many years. and obviously the loss of life. it would be an incredibly provocative thing for them to conduct a nuclear test in the pacific as they have suggested. and i think the north

. >> ladies and gentlemen, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, general joseph dunford, jr.ies and gentlenhe secretary of defense james mattis. [applause] ♪ ♪ ♪♪ >> ladies and gentlemen, the president of the unitedtates and the first lady. >> please face the flag for our national anthem. oh say can you see, by the dawn's early light, what so proudly we hled, at the twilight's last gleaming. whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight, o'er the ramp arts we watche were so gallantly streaming and t rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. oh say does at star-spangled banner yet wave, o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave. ♪ ♪ >> ladies and gentlemen, the united states air force chief of chaplains, major general costin. >> let us pray together. heavenly father, we bow our head this morning withur feet fixed on sacred soil, consecrated on september 11, 2001 by 184 innocents who perished in an instanut who legacies will never die. whereas moses was commanded on ly ground to rescue

thank you general dunford for your service.in the uncertainty that bases our men and women in uniform have been deeply unsettling to members of the committee. chairman mccain, ranking member reed, senator susan collins and i have introduced a bipartisan bill that would prevent the department of defense from separating transgender based on their jolt transgender identity. if they were told by the department of defense they would be allowed to serve openly and continually in the military chris. many worked diligently within their chains of command to meet every requirement by the former administration. now they have been plunged into a career of uncertainty and their service and sacrifices have been unfairly tarnished. many of us on the committee are deeply disturbed by the development of the last few months. do you agree that are thousands of openly serving transgender men and women have served their country with honor and valor? >> i do, senator. i would just probably say that i believe any individual who meet the physical and

general dunford is president trump's chief military adviser. no washington politics in this one visible. this is a military message. there's politics behind all of it, of course, but the optics here are this is mattis and dunford, it is not politicians in the administration delivering the message. very interesting couple of points here. every word would have been carefully crafted, but secretary mattis said any threat by north korea to the u.s. or allies would be met with massive military response. north korea is already a threat. it is interesting why he didn't say any attack. he may not have wanted to put that word out there. he also was very specific in saying the u.s. was not looking for the total annihilation of north korea but make no mistake, what the u.s. is looking for is for kim jong-un to change his ways and to convince him he will be annihilated going back to the first point if he threatens or attacks the u.s. or its allies, that the u.s. does have the military options to get him out of power, basically to annihilate him and his reg

[applause] >> thank you, general dunford. mr. president, mrs., our first lady, fellow secretaries of the president's cabinet, distinguished guest, first responders, ladies and gentlemen, special heart-felt welcome to the 306 family members gathered to remember their loved ones lost 16 years ago today. we are here to honor those 2977 lives claimed by the brutal attacks of september 11, 2001. men and women who woke that day never anticipating an attack on their place of work or against this country. innocents who hailed from 90 nations and all walks of life, attackers perpetrating murder that fateful day. heroism is compassion were boundless on 9/11, patriots from all backgrounds and all walks of life responded with speed, with courage and with compassion. in the aftermath of the attack our service members, our nation, rallied together as one, for while we had never asked for this fight, we are steadfastly committed to seeing it through as president trump has made abundantly clear. with no more temporizing, as our example of leadership, galvanizes

. >> coming up, general joseph dunford testifies on his nomination to serve another term as chairmanof the joint chiefs. the oversight hearing looks at securities and exchange commission. >> general joseph dunford testified before the senate arms service committee to serve a second term as chair of joint chiefs of staff. this hearing is two and a half hours.

>> if you start to our military leaders both secretary mattis and general dunford that they have the capacity to do that, but make it clear this is diplomatic effort at this point. that is the best approach at this point. up fortunately the diplomatic effort i think is being horribled because of lack capacity -- hobbled. we don't have ambassador tore for south korea. don't have confirmed assistant secretary for the region. we have other stories about state department, lack of personnel and focus. the other issue in terms of the diplomatic approach is, a lack of coherent message. we've seen that from the beginning when the president tweeted about the south koreans paying for the thaad system, when in fact they had done a lot of political effort to get it into the country. we have seen it in terms of free-trade agreement. all of that is presented to, just incoherent messages in many respects. and then, in terms of coordination and cooperation, we've got to develop a several tracks, informal tracks, back channels, which i hope are there because in these types of crises, that they come i

you saw a very restrained james mattis with general joe dunford standing at his side. it is well worth noting, both of these men have decades-long relationships with john kelly, the chief of staff. all three having served in the united states marine corps. all three men are personal friends. i don't think it's too far to go out on a limb to suggest that kelly, who is well understood to be a pretty calming influence in the white house operation probably had something to do with this. this is framed very much as a u.s. military message, and, again, every word would have been looked at for total meaning before they came out and secretary mattis read it. what really struck me, when you listen to it, he said that the u.s. was not looking, not looking, for the total annihilation of north korea. but the u.s. is looking for kim jong-un to change his ways, and very much send kim the message that he can't survive his regime will not survive if he were to attack the united states or its allies. that is what this is all about. i think sending that very clear message to kim and sen

if you talk to our military leaders, both secretary mattis and general dunford, they have a plan and have the capacity to do that, but they this isvery clear that a diplomatic effort at this point. that is the best approach at this point. unfortunately, the diplomatic effort is being hollowed because of a lack of capacity. we do not have an ambassador in south korea, we do not have a confirmed assistant secretary for the region. we have heard stories about state department lack of personnel and focus, and the other issue in terms of the diplomatic approach is a lack of coherent message. we have seen that from the beginning, when the president paying about south korea them back, when they have done a lot of political effort to get it into the country. we have seen it in terms of the free trade agreement, all of that is presented incoherent messages in many respects. and then in terms of coordination and cooperation, we .ave to develop several tracks in formal tracks, back channels, which i hope are there -- informal tracks, back channels, which i hope are there because in these kind o

general dunford has stated this. you talk to any service branch chiefs. they stated this as well. with continuing resolutions we can't do our job as the military. you can't plan long term. we can't sustain maintenance. we can't engage in the types of activities that we need to engage in when we are operating on a three-month continuing resolution, or six-month continuing resolution. that down work. i challenge business partners out in private industry, ask them if they operate on a three-month budget or six-month budget? they have no idea beyond that. we have got to get back to regular order. we have got to take it seriously. if for no other reason then to make sure our nation stays strong. >> ask you as we're waiting for questions on another domestic issue, news came out this week at the air force academy where there were racial slurs directed at one of the soldiers there, one airman there i should say. and the, the come mander came down incredibly eloquently and hard on the perpetrators, and anybody who was engages in that kind of behavior. talk about the military as being where

wrote and put congress in the hot seat over iran but according to dunford point out of this agreement would basically shake the world's trust in america that our word is no longer our bond so that could ultimately lead to a threat to national security in the future at and a big date coming up over six calculation thanks minow appreciate it over ninety percent of iraqi kurds voted for independence from the central government in baghdad baghdad considers the vote illegitimate as they have before in turkey in iraq have conducted joint military exercises in an attempt to intimidate the kurds for more on this we turn tonight to namo abdulla used the washington bureau chief for the kurdish network rudolph great to have you with us saying it intimidation is the word that comes up will the kurdish people be intimidated by these joint military exercises i thing it is very hard to intimidate the kurds after the ice is bad you know turkey's the second most powerful army of nato iran is definitely a powerful country so is maybe not see in iraq as much but these two countries can easily invades ku

dunford is till active in the marine corps.he other two were in the marines and are no longer there. it is a military focus, but i wouldn't read too much into that, in part because through the pentagon, throughout this entire back and forth from north korea, we've always heard the premium on diplomacy and sometimes they say don't check with us, check with the state department. guys? >> all right, nbc's hans nichols. hans, thank you so much. >>> coming up next, new developments in the russian investigation. a letter that could shed light on the white house's thinking behind the firing of former fbi director james comey. ♪ new charmin ultra soft! it's softer than ever. new charmin ultra soft is twice as absorbent so you can use less. and it's softer than ever... so it's harder to resist. okay, this is getting a little weird. we all go, why not enjoy the go with charmin? you don't let anything lkeep you sidelined. come on! that's why you drink ensure. with 9 grams of protein, and 26 vitamins and minerals... for the strength and en

and i think that general dunford put it best. you have to really remember what that flag stands for. i was talking to somebody who lost a loved one overseas in combat. and basically said there is a reason that the flag comes back, that that coffin comes back to andrews air force base draped in our american flag. and that really, i think, brought it home for me. brian: so much going on about this. but it has started in 2016 when president obama was president. this didn't just start. this president brought it forward. the question is being that at least seven nfl owners are so passionate for donald trump, they actually gave to his campaign probably more. knows a lot of them personally. do you think the president will be open to hearing from those owners with some select players and union members to try to work a way through this? because right now both sides are talking at each other and they seem both dug in and the fans are in the middle. >> well, this president is always open to speak to. steve: here we go. >> any number of peop

these are very -- rex tillerson, general dunford, general mattis, you could not have a higher quality national security team, and many people have said this in the establishment, around the president. and they have information that i'm not privy to. so i'm saying i have tremendous respect for them, but i'm just giving another alternative and that is the logical alternative. the solution to korea runs through beijing, and we have to engage beijing and, by the way, they're saying we're doing everything we can. it's not good enough. >> rose: thy being -- the chinese. we have tremendous leverage to force china -- >> rose: whaled you do? i think we have tremendous leverage on sanctions, tremendous leverage in capital markets. i think we have tremendous leverage with chinese banks, tremendous leverage with the chinese financial institution. we have tremendous leverage. >> rose: behind we used it? you don't use it lightly. by the way, it would have an impact here in the united states, to doubt about it. >> rose: in terms of jobs in the united states. >> i didn't say that. in terms of capital

it is what general dunford said this week in congressional testimony.t is what all of our experts are saying. but the president has come out with this bombastic language -- charlie: destroy your nation. >> it is too hot for the united nations. it was his friends. it almost makes kim jong-un to be the victim. i think with the president has been able to do with mattis and tillerson is move the chinese a little bit. we have got to practice strategic deterrence. we have to develop in their hub, the south koreans and japanese, instead of what the president said about canceling free trade. let me say something positive about the trump administration. in the last week, they have announced two sets of sanctions. this week, sanctions against individual companies, some chinese, trading with the north koreans. this is what president bush or president obama did so effectively with the iranians. they increased the leverage and the pain. they raised the cost to the iranians and drove them to the negotiating table. sanctions piece is critical. if the chinese central b

coming up this morning, marine corps general joseph dunford testifies before the senate armed servicesommittee on his domination to survey think arm as chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. watch live starting at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span3, online that c-span.org, and on our free c-span radio app. today, former national intelligence director james clapper talks about his career in the intelligence community. live coverage from george washington university in washington beginning at 6:00 a.m. eastern on c-span3. >> c-span, where history unfolds daily. 1979, c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television companies. and is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. >> next, the senate finance committee hearing on the republican proposal to replace the affordable care act. with testimony from the lead sponsors of the bill, senators lindsey graham and bill cassidy. the start was delayed 20 minutes while the u.s. capitol police removed protesters, many of whom were wheelchair-bound. this was 3.5 hours. >> we think this is an important hearing. kind yo

general joseph dunford testifies before the senate armed services committee on his nomination to survey second term as chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. c-span3, online on c-span.org, and on our free c-span radio app. >> tuesday afternoon, former national intelligence director james clapper talks about his career in the intelligence community. live coverage from the george washington university in washington, d.c., beginning at 6:00 p.m. eastern on c-span3. >> senator rand paul of kentucky told reporters that he remains the revised senate republican health care proposal referred to as the graham custody bill, saying the plan does not reveal the -- the graham cassidy bill, saying the plan does not repealed the aca. >> hello. hello. we've come to talk little bit about what we can do on health care. my opinion from the get go on the graham cassidy repeal is that it is fake repeal. it keeps ever 90% of the spending, 90% of the taxes, simply reshuffles the formula. i think that if we do this the end result will be we will have a food fight over the formula party takes over. i do not thi

he'll be joined by defense secretary james mattis, and joint chiefs chairman, general joseph dunford. breaking news at 5:xx out of texas - at least eight people are dead, after a mass shooting at a home in plano. and we're learning new details. neighbors tell "the dallas news".. the violence broke out during a dallas cowboys watch party. police say a gunman opened fire, killing seven people, and wounding two others. a police officer who responded fatally shot the gunman. all of those killed and injured are believed to be adults. and also to home - a woman hit by a vehicle in northeast d-c. it happened just before 11:30 last night on 21st street and benning road. d-c police say the vehicle did stay on scene. no word right now on the woman's condition. hurricane - irma weakening, as it moves over the western florida peninsula - next update from nhc at 5am - increasing clouds from irma today - cloudy & cool tomorrow; few showers late - unsettled work week; warming late week today: sunny and cool start. increasing high clouds. highs: 74-77 winds: ne to e 5 mph tonight: mostly cloudy. wind

dunford made the comment to the senate armed services committee today.sident trump has directed the pentagon to indefinitely extend the ban on transgenders and the u.s. military but he has left the fate of those already serving up to defense secretary jim mattis. president trump's attorney general talking about civil rights, freedom of speech, political correctness on college campuses today. james rosen tells us what attorney general sessions is saying and how it being receive received. >> good evening. attorney general sessions charged today that american colleges and universities have become "echo chambers for political correctness." speaking at georgetown university law center, sessions lamented a recent incident at kellogg community college in michigan in which two students were arrested and briefly jailed for handing out copies of the constitution on campus without a permit. sessions also cited a recent survey of 450 colleges and universities conducted by the foundation for individual rights and in education that found 40% of those schools maintaini

secretary mattis went out and on behalf of the administration with general dunford, promised massivetion. if north korea used these against south korea, japan, or united states forces in guam or the continental united states. we need to have the north korean -- make a north koreans believe that threat is credible. and we have to be arm in arm with our allies. i thought president trump very unwisely accused the south koreans of appeasement. in a tweet over the weekend. he also threatened to withdraw the united states from the south korea free-trade agreement. if there was a time when you needed a united front -- japan, south korea, the united states, against north korea, it's now. third, i think they will have to wrestle with washington, whether or not we could enter into some kind of negotiation down the road, not right now, that would lead to some satisfactory outcome, some kind of freeze on north korea's program, very difficult to achieve. it would be extremely irresponsible to drive this if you hadn't given what david ignatius was talking about. secretary tillerson wanting to get

rex tillerson, general dunford, general mattis.not have a higher quality national security team. many people have said this in the establishment. they have information that i am not privy to. i have tremendous respect for them, but i am just giving another alternative. to me, the logical alternative. the solution to korea run through beijing. we have to engage beijing. they are saying we are doing everything they can. it is not good enough. charlie: they being the chinese. steve: we have tremendous leverage to force china. charlie: what would you do? steve: we have tremendous leverage on sanctions and capital markets. i think we have from leverage with chinese banks, with chinese financial institutions. we have tremendous leverage. charlie: why haven't we used a? -- used its? steve: you don't use it lightly. it would have an impact here in the united states in terms of capital markets. most people think it would get into a trade war with china it will have a detrimental effect on both economies. steve: i'm not advocating a trade wa

thank you, general dunford.ent's cabinet, distinguished guests, first responders, ladies and gentleman and a special heartfelt welcome to the 306 family members gathered to remember their loved ones lost 16 years ago today. we are here to honour those 2977 lives claimed by the brutal attacks of september 11 claimed by the brutal attacks of septemberii hummer2001. men claimed by the brutal attacks of september 11 hummer 2001. men and women awoke that they never anticipating an attack on the place of work or against this country. innocents who failed from all walks of life. attackers perpetrating murder that fateful day. but heroism and compassion were boundless on 9/11. patriots from all backgrounds and all walks of life responded with speed, with courage and with compassion. in the aftermath of the attack, our service members, our nation rallied together as one, for while we had never asked for this fight, we are steadfastly committed to seeing it through as president trump has made abundantly clear. and with no

. >> reporter: secretary of james mattis and general joe dunford, chairman of the joint chiefs, making that extraordinary appearance in front of the white house. mattis delivering a very carefully worded message, saying that the u.s. does have military options. that any threat from north korea to the u.s. or its allies would be met with a massive military response. he was very clear the u.s. isn't looking for total annihilation of north korea. but make no mistake, they are looking to send this very stern, grim message to kim jong-un that if he does not give up his nuclear weapons, if he threatens or attacks, that the u.s. would take him out. the u.s. strategy at the moment if there is a military strategy is to try and convince kim jong-un that he himself and his regime could not survive if they were to attack south korea, japan, guam, or the united states. on the other hand, it's a message we've heard before. none of it has worked to change kim's mind. and by all accounts, this latest underground nuclear test is a massive step forward. it is a larger test than anything north korea has

everybody says there is no military solution but is there something that the military when general dunford talks about, you know, we have all these kinds of possibilities and options, what does he mean, david ignatius? >> well, obviously, we don't know. there had been a war plan for north korea for decades, now. it's updated every year. it's elaborate. the problem with it is it takes almost two months for the forces that would be involved in the operations against north korea to get in place to act. so you have to start a clock ticking, announce the world that you will begin to move all this equipment and personnel into the theater. there are other shorter terms, special forces operations we can oment speculate about. they're the most secret things our government does but would involve going in and taking out certain facilities or leadership targets, and then there's this completely unknown realm of exotic, silver bullet, new weapons, cyber weapons. david sanger is a real expert on this so we should turn it over to him, but that's the range from, you know, heavy, big-tail operations that w

. >> tomorrow, marine corps general joseph dunford testifies before the senate armed services committee on his nomination to serve a second term as chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. watch live starting at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span3, online at c-span.org, and on our free c-span radio app. >> tuesday afternoon, former national intelligence director james clapper talked about his career in the intelligence community. live coverage from the george washington university in washington, d.c. beginning at 6:00 p.m. eastern on c-span3. >> c-span, where history unfolds daily. created as aan was public service by america's cable television companies and is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. --on glenn ochal was real angela merkel was re-elected for a fourth term as german chancellor in the weekend elections that also sign the rise of the far right party learnt for germany or a.f.d., which will now hold a place in german parliament. chancellor merkel held a news conference the day after the election to talk about the result. this is courtesy of germany's english news

box on relations are at an all time low only today joseph dunford a top u.s. general expressed his peace something i do not believe that we can attain or objectives in afghanistan chairman and less we materially change the behavior of pakistan now the u.s. does not believe obvious honest answer is to fight terror saying that the pox on it in a simple or easy let's stress the foreign minister also stated that despite what the u.s. thinks there is no military solution to the conflict. so did this this sort of thing that more than a sponsor led to today's wars mortars sponsible approach is needed to solve this problem and it has to be politically you know military patrols share in the boston last three four decades in this region has not worked. from nine eleven we again became an. american effort in afghanistan instead of recognizing our contribution reach today when we look back in hindsight really can see. full of confidence that it was a mistake after nine eleven we again it appeared the same mistake and what happens today that americans are accusing of harbo

[applause] >> thank you, general dunford, mr. president, mrs.our first lady, fellow secretaries of the president's cabinet. first responders and a heartfelt welcome to the 306 family members gathered to remember their loved ones lost 16 years ago today. we are here to honor those 2,977 lives claimed by the brutal attacks of september 11th, 2001. men and women who woke that day never anticipating an attack on their place of work or against this country. innocents who hailed from 90 nations and all walks of life. attackers perpetrating murder that fateful day. but heroism and compassion were boundless on 9/11. patriots from all background and all walks of life responded with speed, with courage, and with compassion. in the aftermath of the attack our service members, our nation rallied together as one, for while we had never asked for this fight, we are steadfastly committed to seeing it through as president trump has made abundantly clear. with no more temperizing as our example of leadership galvanizes other nations to stand united against this

six bank workers living outside of north korea are being hit by a sanctions now when he testified dunford made clear that economic sanctions were not the main tool of pressure and that military solutions were on the table if sanctions did not work if the sanctions did not succeed in in making north korea act in the way u.s. officials would like it to act then they have military options that are also on the table now donald trump has been quite vocal about the use of military options people recall his statement before the u.n. general assembly which you referred to the leader of north korea kim jong un as rocket man and we now have his statement on twitter in which he says a little rocket man won't stay much longer and we have a responses from north korean officials who have responded with threats of their own in early september north korea tested its first hydrogen bomb taking their nuclear proliferation to another law. eval and north korean officials have now talked about testing another hydrogen bomb this time in the pacific ocean we hear have a heated war of words that continues from n

secretary tillerson called her and discuss the situation with her, but general dunford said, we've had a relationship we but it cannot continue. reporter: you have been very vocal on the shortcomings of the iran deal and iran's behavior. the strictond confines of your job here. where does that come from? is this your own direct opinion after hearing about iranian behavior here? or through conversations with the president? just talk a little bit about that. ambassador haley: i had conversations with the president. he was very concerned about iran and the deal. so i went to learn about it. to look at the resolution, to look at the violations. it was digging deep on the situation of what we found, and that is why gives a speech on the scenario that the president is being faced with the decisions to be made. this situation is not easy by any means, because you look at north korea and you look at the fact that for 25 years, we were looking at bad deal after bad deal after bad deal and broken promises. here we are again, and we do not want to be dealing with the next north korea. that is why

is karen dunford president of the german marshall fund a think tank dedicated to transatlantic cooperation good evening to you karen is good to see you let me ask you from where you're sitting tonight. how does our goal america look to you. so i think we here in washington were surprised that the union parties did not do better than they did so it does seem that there was a tiredness of the grand coalition of tenth america and i think we're seeing that in the final numbers but for most americans because we have a presidential system here in the u.s. we're focused on the fact that chancellor merkel won a fourth term the world has looked at particularly in this age of dog will draw as as a killer point or a counterweight to the troubled ministration. is that now under threat. i hear right that various american publications have called her the leader of the free world but that was a title that chancellor merkel never embraced herself so she might be comfortable with having expectations of her or less and a bit but she has very much focused on the importance and centrally of the values that un

them into a corner where they feel threatened now it's also important to note when he was testifying dunford said while the political space is clearly very charged right now we haven't seen a change in the posture of north korea north korean forces which we watch very closely now there's been quite a quite a war of words between north korea's leaders and the president of the united states it's been an ongoing situation now we've seen north korea recently tacit the beginning of september their first hydrogen bomb and there is now talk of a hydrogen bomb being tested in the pacific there's been a call for a double freeze with russia and china proposing that north korea and its nuclear proliferation and provocative missile tests with south korea and doing its military exercises and getting rid of the strike enabling fad missile system which has been erected in the south but that proposal doesn't seem to be really recognize the international community and others just haven't followed behind this proposal and. hear these heated words coming from the you to the president of the united states and t