mary kennard who is our general counsel and was general counsel at other universities before she came here can give me two both the federal, state and the local level. now, if i were to ask my general counsel as a ceo of any major company might, how the law pertains to something important we do, let's say it's the protection of animals in biology, or psychology labs. or the exposure of my colleagues in an aspect of our physical plan, the hazardous substances or materials. mary kennard who is our general counsel and was general counsel at other universities before she came here can give me two things to read. she can give me the united states code that applies to that area. and the code is the compilation of all the statutes written by congress. and we can find it in the appropriate statutes those things that apply to, let's say, the composition of rugs in classrooms. trust me, you won't find much. the other thing she can give me to read is the code of federal regulations. and that code of federal regulations is very different from the united states code. it's written by agencies of th

prior to joining dhs secretary johnson served as general counsel for the department of defense, where he was part of a senior management team that led to more than 10,000 military and civilian lawyers across the department -- a big law firm. secretary johnson oversaw the development of legal aspects of many of our nation's counterterrorism policies, spearheaded reforms to the military commission system at guantÁnamo bay, and co-authored a 250 page report that paves the way for the repeal of "ask, don't tell" in 2010. -- "don't ask, don't tell" in 2010. secretary johnson was general counsel of the department of the air force from 1998-2001, and served as assistant u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york. i first knew of secretary johnson from reading the memoir of former secretary bob gates. secretary gates has been around a long time, seen a lot of impressive, and maybe not impressive people, during his time in town. secretary gates has this to say about secretary johnson, and i am loading. he is the finest lawyer i ever worked with in government. a straightforward, clean-

the general counsel's office that if spirit of america has a request for informati about the needs ofocal nationals, military personnel m respond. that is what happens. it still happens today aired we ask what is needed and how we can help. military personn should be able to respond to that he read that is the regulation and popolicy that is established. >> there is one person articulates why there should be a sovereign wealth fund of the unitedtates. many nations have it including china and norway. he says as opposed to giving military aid or security aid, it might be that are to have n just a government funds but also a rapid reaction venture capital force they can put investments into an area to stababilize and create jobs to create that stability. do you think that is a good idea? >> the thing that we have learned in spirit of america's wo is the ideas that work in our private s sector, the ideas that made our economy dynamic and innovative and is a source of envy throughout the world they really do work. those ideas work abroad also.o. to the extent we can apply those ideas in so

as general counsel of the air force, i had the obligatory f-15 orientation ride.ally got the obligatory ride with a pilot who is an academy graduate named sumo. i have -- as secretary of homeland security, flown commercial from time to time. our men and women in tsa. enjoy through the ts a line like everybody else. my staff was not so excited with me doing that. so the first time we went out to reagan national, a couple months after i took office a year ago. we went through the ts a line without incident. we got to gate 42, or 44. without incident. and then my flight was canceled. i won't mention the airline. but i flew commercial, again, last week. thank you for the opportunity to be here. i wanted to take this opportunity to preview some of my thoughts for a state of dhs speech that i intend to give in about two weeks. and some of my overarching thoughts about our department's mission i intend to focus on aviation security in particular. but i did want to preview some of the things that are on my mind about the state of the department i'm privileged to lead. the

i would like to ask our interim general counsel and deputy director to walk you through the scope of this item. >> members of the commission, my name is [indiscernible] director [indiscernible] has summarized resolution before you quite succinctly. it is a straightforward employment contract you are considering, only complicated by the application of the calpers law, state law that governs how calpers retirees are to be employed after they retire. the basis of this is borne out of dissolution of redevelopment which is primary for these services. with this dissolution you are aware the agency real estate assets have to be disposed of and there are two primary ways. through a sale or transfer to a entity for governmental purposes. there are some others but those are the two primary tasks. you are aware that the redevelopment agency over a 30 or 40 year period acquired and developed significant assets in downtown san francisco composed of open space, cultural facilities, children's playgrounds, bulling alleys, ice-skating rink and other uses and includes both profit generating businesse

his chief of staff general counsel, conservation of natural resources and padro cortes is back as secretary of state. >> a brouhaha. >> a before a had a had a. new -- a brew had a had 00 brouhaha. no yuengling at the govern's inauguration. yuengling a pilots based company older lager in the country who doesn't like a good yuengling. >> a tip to the hat of those in the city who come out on the day of service for martin luther king. it's truly impressive. we'll see you next sunday. >> >> i'm nydia han along with eva pilgrim. >> breaking news, icy conditions cause deadly crashes. a massive pileup killed one. >> pennsylvania state police say two people were killed on the blue route. >> flooding in delaware causing more problems for drivers. >> "action news" crews are fanned out across the area, we'll have the latest look and updates, plus chris sowers has the latest forecast next on "action news." at perdue, we pride ourselves on the freshness of our chicken. well, not that kind of fresh. but i can guarantee the freshness of our chicken because we go beyond what the usda requires... with extra

so it's that clarity i am looking for, and i want to thank your general counsel for putting the context on this, but we're really just talking about how to get the message right because it's going to be used and that's good. we want to make sure folks understand what it is that we're talking about. having observed some of the feedback that marin clean energy has gotten when you talk to folks who chose not to be part of that program they chose not to be part of marin's program in part -- of what i am hearing from people -- things weren't made clear that it wasn't as transparent for them, and so i am sensitive to that i want to make sure that we get everything off on the right foot and move beyond the study phase so we can all understand what it is that this program offers, this concept could offer to san francisco. >> thank you. so my follow up question is these readers, those on the commission, the only concerns you raised today were to commissioner's campos' point seem to be more form and i am curious are those the only concerns they have that you heard and if so are they suggesting th

i am the associate general counsel in the office of general counsel for the smithsonian. i just celebrated my 29 th anniversary with the smithsonian, so i like to say sometime

i was the general counsel of the republican party of virginia for about four years before i joined the federal election commission, and a lot of people characterize the parties as smoke-filled rooms, overtake organizations -- overtake -- opaque organizations, but the truth is to the contrary. they are the most ordinary organizations were any ordinary person can walk in and get involved and half, i daresay more influence and access to elected officials as a party member with no financial contribution at all, but just to participation and efforts. there are a lot of saturday meetings, a lot of efforts to go knock on doors for candidates, but the political parties are essential. they are critical to the health of our democracy. what the ground of us did -- what the crime the bus did was recharge -- host: and the charge is money? guest: excuse me, the charge? host: what you recharge it with his money? guest: yes, the parties need more money. it created three new accounts for the democratic national committee, the republican national committee, as well as their affiliates, the campaign comm

i am the associate general counsel in the office of general counsel for the smithsonian. i just celebrated my 29 th anniversary with the smithsonian, so i like to say sometimes that i was there at the creation of nmai. the last panel was a walk down memory lane because i intended -- attended that 1987 hearing where secretary adams was asked by senator inouye was asked about the remains and was able to participate in many of the discussions that led to the creation of museum. but more about that in a minute. let me also say that the issues of repatriation of which i've dealt with many of them over my almost 30 years have provided me with some of the most interesting and rewarding work of my career. i think for those of you who are here and are able to hear about this process that has gone on for 25 plus years, i am sure that you share that view that these issues are so interesting. with that, i am honored to be here to moderate this panel. today we are joined by four panelists. kevin gover the director of the , national museum of the american indian. a citizen of the easte

i was a long time city attorney and made it as a attorney here and went on to the be the general counsel of sfo and learned about development, major transactions and i think that's the reason why two years ago the mayor asked that i consider an appointment for the excision on community investment and infrastructure and i have to stay that the two years have gone by quickly. i don't want to repeat all of the things that the commission has done and commissioner mondejar has done well and i would love to continue in the work. i don't think i would have said that two years ago but i learned a lot in the affordable housing area, an area i was new to and no longer a student in affordable housing and i think i can bring value, new thinking, new strategies. i appreciate the comment supervisor yee and now on affordable housing for families and what looks like. i raised my children in san francisco. i myself as a child was raised in san francisco so i would love to continue that work also i think the commission is doing wonderful efforts with the staff on work force development and critical to the

. >> and if i could i think what we are experiencing here is of course the corporate general counselor saks is going to react that protects saks' interest when in truth i don't think this represents saks' position. >> i'm sorry. i look at it in two tracks and i don't know all the facts i'm not going -- certainly if she was working and being discriminated by coworkers you know being treated improperly in front of customers yes she should fight. if it is a situation where your employer whether you are straight transgender gay, this is what i'm hiring you to do do this job and if you don't come through with it i will dismiss you. >> the lawsuit is suing because she was being pushed into the gender roles and harassed and nasty things were said to her on the job. >> i wonder why they -- did she start there before she had transgendered? but i mean so she walks in as a woman and they want her to be a man. where does that come from. >> exactly why she is filing the lawsuit. >> and tell me how that behavior should be treated across the country? >> it's the same thing when you look at the law

but the general counsel of one of those is the place henry got this. and he had given this person a commitment not to reveal his identity. so that was pretty good information. i took that information back to haldeman not knowing what he'd do with it, but i realized when i was listening to the tapes that he shared it with nixon. the, there was -- this is one where stanley cutler had done a partial transcript on it. and so i looked at henry -- at stanley's transcript and then was listening to the tape, and there's one point in the conversation where the president is reacting to what haldeman's tone is. you know what i would do with feldt, bob? and then cutler has cutler has an expletive following that. so he just drops -- which is not a surprise. but i hear something totally different. and everybody who's listened to the tapes agrees. when he says you know what i would do with feldt bob? ambassadorship. this is exactly what he'll do with helms, the head of the cia, appoint him ambassador to move him out so he's still loyal and what have you. this never w

that years through 2008 as general counsel for the dnc. on the gore recount committee in 2000. now, i guess you didn't know how to count votes on the supreme court or something. i don't know what happened. but he was involved in that for two months in florida. so he was on the inside of that. he's the co-chair of the election law committee of the administrative law and regulation. he was for the apa. we worked together on the task force on lobbying regulation as i've mentioned before. and i enjoyed that very much. there are many other things that you've done but we don't have time to go through all of them. welcome, joe. >> thanks very much. thank you. and thank you, professor, and i will say that only professor therber couldcjs federal lobbying law was an exciting enough topic to put at the end of a friday afternoon when you guys have been sitting here for a full week. but hopefully this will be -- >> a friday afternoon at 5:00. >> exactly, 4:00. hopefully this will be of some things that are -- of int

after consultation with the office of general counsel, i will determine whether compliance with the subpoena is consistent with the privileges and rights of the house. the honorable the speaker, house of representatives, sir, this is to notify you formally, pursuant to rule 8 of the rules of the house of representatives, that i have been served with a third party subpoena for documents issued by the united states district court for the eastern district of louisiana in connection with united states vs. rainy, a matter currently pending before that court. after consultation with the office of general counsel, i will determine whether compliance with the subpoena is consistent with the privileges and rights of the house. signed, sincerely, fred upton, member of congress. the honorable the speaker, house of representatives, sir, pursuant to the permission granted in clause 2-h of rule 2 of the rules of the u.s. house of representatives, the clerk received the following message from the secretary of the senate on january 28 2015, at 12:22 p.m. appointment, joint committee on taxation with best wi

mary kenard who is our general counsel and was general counsel at other universities before she cameshe can give me the united states code that applies to that area, and the code is the compilation of all the statutes written by congress. we can find in the appropriate statutes those things that apply to let's say the composition of rugs in classrooms. trust me you won't find much. the other sheet she can give me to read is the code of federal regulations. that code of federal regulations is very different from the united states code. it's written by agencies of the federal government, written by people who are not elected written by people who are deeply expert in how much of what kind of substance you're worried about in this rug is safe for a human being to be exposed to. and that code of federal regulations is developed in a process i'm going to talk about in a moment. and 99 times out of 100 -- maybe 100 times out of 100, mary is going to give me the code federal regulations to read and not the u.s. code. because the code of federal regulations contains the most specific stateme

the office of general counsel of the fec said this is exempt under the 2006 rule, and the commissionit in a vote of 3-3. my two republican colleagues and i, matt peterson caroline hundred, and i, voted to follow the advice of the general counsel and free those youtube posts from regulation under the 2006 rule. host: i want to read some quotes from the current chairman has this -- debate has played out on whether internet statements should come with disclosure. she writes "some of my colleagues seem to believe a statement that she put out last october. in an interview in december, she said "my passion is transparency, and i am frustrated that has not been the same willingness on the part of some of my colleagues at the fec ." guest: right. this has been a lively debate fec at the. let me say chair ravel have had a great relationship and agreed on several issues. this is one where we respectfully disagree. she believes her needs to be more reporting on online political speech. i believe this is one sphere of human endeavor, human activity and political speech, that can go unregulated b

microsoft's general counsel says that this shows the microsoft system can work and that snooping shouldppen if strictly regulated. present obama will address u.s. cyber security concerns tonight. the president recently pushed new cyber initiatives and discussed cyber intelligence sharing with prime minister david cameron this week. well improving cyber security seems to be a top priority for the president, others may not feel the same way. this goes says 75% of chief information security officers feel their tools are very effective. but attacks are only becoming more effective as you political attacks increase. john stewart joins me right now. john -- why do these companies think that they are good when you think that they are not? >> kind of recent developments. first, with an industry that is only about 25 years old, what we're looking at is experience that has not been built up throughout all of the companies. our data is starting to show that there is a perception and reality gap where top leaders will see the strategies and operations will be concerned they have not gotten over the

of talking to the former general counsel lou: john served at the ncaa lawyer for about 34 years and was the top layer with the cia interrogation and techniques were authorized also author of the book company man. thank you for being here. start with the report the insistence of democrats with the senate intelligence committee and senator feinstein the report obviously has been a bipartisan effort but what was your reaction? >> the timing of the release. i was surprised especially when i had learnt that secretary of state john kerry a democrat from my own state of massachusetts felt obliged to call chairman feinstein personally a few days ago to a paris mayor urged her not to release the report at this time because of the ensuing threats. a secretary of state does not do that unless there is serious intelligence evidence. i found that quite telling. lou: so they would not be releasing this without the approval of secretary carries boss president obama? >> absolutely not. i don't understand. lou: retry touse square it up with 6,000 marines as a result put on high alert it is more troublin

of talking to the former general counsel these ally bank ira cds really do sound like a sure thing but i'm a bit skeptical of sure things. why's that? look what daddy's got... ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!! growth you can count on from the bank where no branches equals great rates. so ally bank really has no hidden fees on savings accounts? that's right. it's just that i'm worried about you know "hidden things..." ok, why's that? no hidden fees from the bank where no branches equals great rates. ah, got it. these wifi hotspots we get with our xfinity internet service are all over the place. hey you can stop looking. i found one. see? what do you think a wifi hotspot smells like? i'm thinking roast beef. want to get lunch? get the fastest wifi hotspots and more coverage on the go than any other provider. xfinity, the future of awesome. lou: john served at the ncaa lawyer for about 34 years and was the top layer with the cia interrogation and techniques were authorized also author of the book company man. thank you for being here. start with the report the insistence of democrats with the senate intel

as nixon's general counsel put it you were a rising figure. here you are, all this time later, still rising. thank you for your contributions to america. thank you for that vote and so many other important votes and ideas and policies that you have helped to promote through the years. i rise and toast you. john conyers, and every enemy of richard nixon, thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you, congressman grayson. we may have another member or two trickling in through the cold. one member of congress who was not able to be here tonight and sent her remarks asking to be read to you this to conyers, is barbara lee. congressman barbara lee sent this message. "to my progressive brothers and sisters, i am very sorry i could not join you today to celebrate the legacy of my friend, a true progressive hero and a role model to so many in congress, congressman john conyers. but i did want to share a few thoughts about my dear friend. yesterday, i had the privilege of attending congressman conyers' portrait unveiling in the judiciary committee room

. >> i was general counsel of the army in the 1963 march. initially, robert kennedy, john douglas was hip representative we met, john douglas and i with bayard rustin. bobby kennedy did not want to march to take place. vance did not want to march to take place. the kennedys saw this as a political issue. bobby kennedy was really tough on this. we came back from that meeting and said, this march is going to happen. at that point, there was terrible concern about the march. we had military people in the crowd. we closed all the liquor stores. we literally called hotels -- they didn't want anybody to stay overnight. come and go. we couldn't take the chance. we asked hotels to impose outrageous prices for their rooms. i got in an argument with the cardinal in washington because the catholic church was providing cots. it really gave you a sense of that. i watched the march with vance in the army war room. we had people on top of the lincoln memorial. it was all really scared about violence. something nobody really wanted. if only king wouldn't do

repeal conscience protections for religious schools located within the district and the district's general counsel believes it will with stand legal scrutiny. skeptics disagree. >> it's a sense of lawlessness. they don't care what the law is. they don't care about first amendment. they don't care about the religious freedom restoration act. >> d.c. mayor vincent gray has yet to sign the repeal measure. if he does congress has 30 legislative days to weigh in. blocking the d.c. measure would require both houses of congress to pass a joint resolution, which would then need the president's approval. >> is the obama administration going to call for a do over for the russian reset? fox sfaursall-stars is up next and we'll be banning selfies. >>> i would like to present you with a little gift which represents what president obama and vice president biden and i have bern saying and that is we want to reset our relationship. >> let's do it together. >> so we will do it together. >> thank you very much. >> you're very welcome. we worked hard to get the right russian word. do you think we got it. >> you got

. >> the attorney filing this suit is a former assistant general counsel for the metro system. >>> vice president joe biden and d.c.'s new mayor will be touring the underground tunnel ten stories below the potomac river. >> delia goncalves is live to tell us why they are touring the anacostia river tunnel project. good morning, delia. so what's up some. >> reporter: good morning. well, you know, they're touring the tunnel to talk about the importance of really investing in our country's infrastructure. there really is no better example than this massive project that is happening underground which is really all designed to kind of keep this beautiful river clean and beautiful for many more general rations to come. -- more generations to come. the $2.6 billion project is the largest project since metro. it's designed to catch all the storm water that usually pollutes our waterways, the potomac and anacostia river but it's not just storm water. d.c. is just one of several hundred communities in the country that still have a combined sewer overflow system. that essentially means rainwater a

to the immigration and naturalization service including a general counsel during the bush administration that outlines the precedents for this action pointing out that there is nothing that is unconstitutional there's nothing that is a departure from past precedence, and some people may not like what the president did i understand that people can disagree. but it is not unconstitutional and it is not a massive departure from from what prior presidents have done. i would note this although i very much disagree with the litigation. it might be wiser for people who disagree on this subject to allow the litigation that's currently pending in the federal district court in texas to proceed and find out the answer to the question, rather than tying up the entire budget of the homeland security department. >> ms. lofgren, again, i heard whether it was -- i think it was the gentleman from pennsylvania refer to the president's actions as amnesty. i just ask has the president granted amnesty to anyone? >> the president does not have the legal authority to give amnesty to anyone. what he has done is

the general counsel of epa has kind of agreed with us and has started to release that information. by the way, for years they would not release it or it part of the regulatory reform concerns we have had on the standard-setting where epa says, our analysis and science tells us and we say can we see it? the game is, the university did it, we not own it. the university says we did it for the epa and we are not permitted to give it to you or it we are like a ping-pong ball going back and forth. we are saying that in those instances, the epa should bring for those analyses and studies. we would like to see in them real cost-benefit analyses over all in terms of the entire impact on the economy. i think you guys know that we did a study over several years on the suit and settle game and identified more than 350 projects i the way interestingly, over half of which were for alternative and renewable energy intersection projects they got stopped because of the sioux and settle game -- sue and settle game. the epa needs to be more transparent. >> the national law journal and corporate couns

attorney kim brooks rodney former assistant general counsel for metro, is hand thlg case. why is it being file sodd so soon without all the facts on the table? filing it so soon because frankly we need to know what the heck happened in that subway tunne >> reporter: the ntsb still investigating, a preliminary report expected in the coming days. at this point everything points to a massive electrical situation that produced the overwhelming amount of smoke. coming up at 6:00 we're getting our first look to see if this event has had any impact on metro rail ridership. reporting live at l'enphant plaza, adam tuss news4. >> thanks a lot, adam. now to exactly how long those passengers waited and what was happening while they were stuck in that smoky train. the city just released a new time line today that shows the first 911. >>3:18. by 3:45 people were still looking for help and it took anothe minutes before the woman who died was actually take on the hospital. >> reporter: chris, district officials are working on a review of what unfolded on monday afternoon. it begins at 3:1

i didn't just decide this on my own to grant anonymity to someone from aqap, our general counsel reviews, our editor in chief and to senior editors we all discussed this issue and ultimately made it the decision that granting anonymity in this case was the responsible thing to do. >> on sunday, you appeared on cnn hosted by brian stilts are. >> or think it gets into really fear generating territory is when you have the so-called terror analysts on the air for many of them also work for risk consultancy firms that benefit from the idea of making us afraid. i don't think that cnn, msnbc and fox news do anywhere near a good enough job at revealing the potential conflict of interest of some of the on-air analysts who also worked in the private sector and it money off the idea we should be very afraid. >> you understand that these people want us to be frightened inappropriately, for unnecessary reasons. >> i've spent a lot of is investigating. you'll have retired generals come on air and talk about the danger of a terror group in a particular country, and they are on the board of a huge weap

. >> i think i was general counsel of the army at the time of the '63 march and initially robert kennedy, who john douglas was his representative and cy vance, secretary of the army we met -- john douglas and i met with two others and bobby kennedy did not want the march to take place vance did not want the march to take place. the kennedys saw this as a political issue. there was no -- i mean, bobby kennedy was really tough on this, but we came back from that meeting and said this march is going to happen. and at that point there was terrible concern about the march. just to give you a sense we had military people and muftee and the crowd, we closed all the liquor stores in washington. we literally called hotels to tell them you need to cancel events. we don't want anybody to stay overnight. come and go, in and out. we can't take the chance. we asked the hotels to impose outrageous prices for their rooms. i got in an argument with the cardinal in washington because the catholic church was providing cots. we didn't want any cots in the gyms. [laughter]. it really gave you a sense that i

>> certainly, senator from my experience in advising companies, boards, and general counsel, i understand the importance of corporations being empowered to act on their own behalf and protect their intellectual property and trade secrets. i haven't had the opportunity to study the bill that you discussed but i certainly look forward to doing so and having further discussions with you. >> i appreciate that. victims' services, another area that has been of some concern. last year congress passed the victim of child abuse act re-authorization. i was pleased the sponsor of the bill agreed to include an important provision that clarified congress' intent that the money from the crime victims' fund should only be used to assist victims of crime. will you commit to follow that new law and direct the victim advocates in the u.s. attorneys' offices that this money only be used for victims? in the past we've seen it used for witness travel and other administrative duties and not actually focus on the victims. >> certainly the management of the issue of how to provide not only restitution but suppor

he has served on capitol hill as general counsel to the judiciary. he was a clerk to a ninth circuit judge, harvard, harvard law school, most of you in this room, i suspect are familiar with ed's writings and with his views. he's also the president of the ethics and public policy center. and i'm very much looking forward to hearing his perspective on this. to my right is tracey george who is a professor of law and political science. she's probably also delighted at the weather here in washington, although it probably can't be much warmer there, right? >> right. >> right. >> so she is a professor who brings a broad range of expertise to this topic. federal courts, illegal education. she's written numerous articles about the federal judiciary and the courts. and teaches a course that i would probably want to take if i were at school there, life of the law. which is, seems pretty interesting and probably isn't as boring as most law courses could be. and then to my far right is matt menendez, who is counsel at the brennan center, one of my colleagues. he

far more often they are made by the general counsel's office and the legal department's office. when a company decides to share information with the government, there is almost always a lawyer in the room saying this could come back to haunt us. this could be a liability for us. this could be a legal problem for us. private companies want to share information, but they need legal cover and protection or incentives or advantages to get government contracts. the government will not get a lot from these companies. >> jordan robertson, thank you very much. i want to bring in my guest toast for the hour. he is the ceo and finder of our crowd. he has invested in a number of security companies. he has views on this. john medved, welcome to the show. it's been an issue. tech companies don't like the idea of having to turn over consumer information because they see this as an infringement on freedom of speech. >> the issue is not whether tech companies are going to make data available. it's whether it's secure. both the government and corporations need to make the requisite investments t

his real name was yaxsov came to the united states under the pretense that he was the general counsel of the soviet union in new york city. pretended he was a lawyer. this is really his cover for his activities as nkcbd senior case officer for this spy network. what makes him interesting and very important in this case is that his specialty was scientific and technological intelligence. you don't want to just send anybody if you're going to run an atomic spy ring. atomic weapons are very complicated, especially in the 1940s when very few people understood what was going on with nuclear fission. you wanted somebody that understood scientific and technological intelligence which made him the perfect person. then then alexander feklisov. he was the resident in the 1960s and where a lot of people may know his name is that he was the back channel for the cuban missile crisis. he was the man who robert kennedy and others spoke to to try to create this deal to trade the jupiter missiles in turkey for the missiles in cuba. his book is fascinated, called "the man behind the rosenbergs." the ti

general counsel at ustr. he worked at the department of defense in the 90's with then defense secretary bill cohen with was senator cohen, senator collins and senator frist. john, thanks for doing this, thanks to our panelists. take it away. >> thank you for being here. thank you for wita for putting this on. i want to open with a few remarks. the title today is thawing of u.s./cuba relations. i wonder how many in the audience saw thawing and thought it would be a good place to duck into on a morning like this. whatever prompts you to join us, we're glad you're here. the turnout for this is consistent with other cuba-related events. not only since the president's announcement but over the years, cuba has just captures the imagination. i remember back when we were trying to get support for the u.s. colombia free trade agreement which i know enjoys support from folks on this panel and folks in this room colombia represented 8 , times the market opportunities. but generating interest was always limited compared

general to advise him on legal issues. that's delegated, again to the office of legal counsel. and it's crucial for that function to be performed with as much integrity and independence as possible. at the end of the day, the president can disagree with the attorney general, can overrule the attorney general, can even fire the attorney general. it's essential for the attorney general to say no if necessary. to say, mr. president, i have explored every legal option, this is something you cannot do, this violates the constitution. >> professor turley, i know that senator grassley asked you questions about your representation of the united states house of representatives in a lawsuit. as you probably know, there's also a lawsuit pending in brownsville, texas, brought by 26 different states challenging the president's executive action relative to what we've been discussing here this morning. obviously, any lawsuit that's brought, the plaintiff has to establish standing to sue a claim of harm to them and not to the public generally. i remember that much of my law school. but my point

give spoke to them i checked with the general counsel of the house to see fit was okay. they said it's a congressman's job to gather information and ask questions. that's how the conversation came about. that conversation more or less reinforced what i had been hearing from other sources that the intelligence that was available did not support an intervention. bill: let's follow up on that in a moment. ultimately you were unsuccessful. you failed in your effort to prevent u.s. involvement. now a report saying the pentagon was operating outside the state department because it did not trust secretary of state hillary clinton. if that is true, what does it do for american foreign policy to speak with two different voices on such a critical international issue? >> ultimately the decision is made by the commander in chief. i think there are probably differences of opinion inside the pentagon. i'm sure there were differences of opinion inside the intelligence community. what i was concerned about is that the american people were not being given the truth about a cause for war