here's an example, this week while we're speaking the head of china's international development agencyisited nicaragua and inaugurated a public housing community in which china is helping nicaragua build 12,000 public housing units for poor and working nicaraguans. the u.s. has the agency for international development which in the 1980s was used to send weapons to the contras on so-called humanitarian aid flights reported by the new york times. and since then usaid has given its so-called development funding to exclusively right-wing opposition organizations against the government. it is a no-brainer. china through its belt and road initiative which nicaragua is now part of is building infrastructure in many countries in the global south including public housing units for poor people and nicaragua and china are building an inter-oceanic canal to challenge the monopoly of the panama canal and that is going to bring a huge rise in economic growth to china and more international commerce. that is why it makes perfect sense for nicaragua to work with china and then of course their governme

memorandum was signed by the united states financial development corporation dfc and the international development agency on support for attracting investment to ukraine for the implementation of priority reconstruction and development projects, one of the key topics of discussion during this visit is the recovery plan for ukraine, such recovery begins already this year and we need to mobilize 14.1 billion us dollars for relevant recovery projects, we received confirmation from the us treasury secretary janet ellen about the allocation of one and a half billion dollars for rapid recovery plus 800 million dollars for energy recovery, one of our key partners in recovery is the world bank, we have agreed to activate joint thematic programs for the reconstruction of our country , there is no decision on raising electricity tariffs yet , but there will be an increase and this is a forced step, the minister said of energy herman galushchenko , due to the systematic destruction by the aggressor of electricity generation and transmission facilities, the company lacks funds for restoration and revenues from the p

this week, the head of china's international development agency visited nicaragua and inaugurated a publicsing community in which china is helping nicaragua build 12,000 public housing units for poor and working nicaraguans. the united states has the usaid, the u.s. agency for international development which in the 1980's was used to send weapons to the contras on so-called, military and eight flights -- that was reported by the new york times -- since then the usaid has given its so-called development funding to exclusively right-wing opposition organizations, against the government. for nicaragua, it is a no-brainer. china, through its belt and road initiative, is building infrastructure in many countries in the global south, including public housing units for poor people, and nicaragua and china are building enter oceanic canals to challenge the monopoly of the panama canal. that will bring a huge rise in economic growth to china and more international commerce. that is why it makes perfect sense for nicaragua to work with china. and then of course, their governments are both led by soc

s. agency for international development, which in the 1980s was used to send weapons to the contras on so called humanitarian aid flights that was reported by the new york times. and since then, usa id has given its so called development funding to exclusively right wing opposition organizations against the government. so for nicaragua, it's a no brainer. china, through it's built in rhode initiative, which nicaragua is now part of is building infrastructure in many countries in the global south, including public housing units for poor people. and nicaragua and china are building an inter oceanic canal to challenge the monopoly of the panama canal. and that's going to bring a huge rise in economic growth to china and more international commer. so that's why it makes perfect sense for nicaragua to work with china. and then of course, their governments are both led by socialist parties. so there are ideological similarities. but i mean, the idea that nicaragua is going to give up its territory is absurd, considering that there is no indication of that whatsoever. and furthermore, in hond

was hinted at in during the hearing in the house of representatives inspector of the international development agencyaid that 11 months. 178 signals of potential corruption in the development of aid to ukraine and in germany, officials from the northern lands were suspected of misappropriation of funds received from new appropriations. how do you use these phones to mitigate the consequences of the war in ukraine for the federal state, while the german economy continues to weaken against the backdrop of anti-russian sanctions and rising inflation, adding fuel to the fire not only trade unions organizing strikes due to low living standards, but also ordinary citizens, who do not cease to worry at rallies to stop the supply of weapons to ukraine, there is no murder on the face after all, if the supply of weapons does not stop, then the killings will not stop either. we kill people all conflicts end only at the table negotiations, and this one is no exception, but our participation only prolongs the suffering. an open letter was previously called for to find ways for coast guards with russia on the ukra

stakeholders meeting that i included the african union, the arab league, the i gad, international development agency, as well as leaders of various countries in the region and the european union representative was there, as well as the secretary general said, there is a strong consensus that the cessation of hostilities needs to happen over ede for 3 days, so that the assistance can get an assessment can be done. i and he also pointed out through his spokesperson that the security council has been quick to act in this situation as well, with a presidential statement shortly after the violence broke out, calling for a cessation of hostilities as well. so the hope is that this unified message will begin to resonate with the players in that country, as well as the direct engagement that's happening now with other leaders in the region to get them to rethink their strategy even though we're not seeing any signs of that any further action on the part of the international community likely would have to come from the security council. and that is always a somewhat slow and laborious process. but we know di

agency for international development. samantha power posted by the u.s. chamber of commerce. this is just over an hour and a half. >> i'm the senior director for europe here at the u.s. chamber of commerce and it is my great privilege to introduce the distinguished panel to talk about the best practices and reconstruction. we have the head of the state agency for restoration and infrastructure development, the senior vice president and general manager, andrew, president for central and eastern europe middle east and africa, andrew patterson, principal vice president and global manager of marketing business development and maria coordinator of u.s. assistance to europe and eurasia at the department of state. thank you all for joining us today. and i would like to start for a moment reflecting on the history of the national reconstruction program. as we have heard this morning partnership between international allies and between governments and the private sector has resulted in some extraordinary successes in the development and rebuilding. that is particularly true one of tho

agency for international development, doctor isabel coleman, the director for the center for accountableents at the international private enterprise and let me start if i might with you, doctor coleman, as we just had the honor of hearing from the administrator giving us some thoughts about the next steps. given the conversation around the public-private partnerships and what each entity can bring to the table what are two or three critical steps that can be taken to improve the ukrainian investment climate for the companies? >> it is a pleasure to be here. thank you so much. i want to start by emphasizing the theme you've heard from several others including the administrator powers. it's really remarkable what the ukrainians have done in war with their economy. we were talking about how it is fully functioning, the government is fully functioning. the financial system, the courts, everything is fully functioning. i had the opportunity to spend several days in ukraine and it is remarkable. certain sectors have been growing even though they've lost 20% of the population and many millions

past natalya this is a very important issue of jesus in them also as we heard from the agency of international development, and today i spoke with the deputy and also spoke with the minister of finance of ukraine , serhii marchenko, and he said that it is indeed a guarantee and that we are constantly working to improve it , and that you have freed yourself from corruption, the war gave us a chance to implement all the necessary reforms, we are ready to impose strict punishments for corruption, but because, unfortunately, not everything depends on me personally, there are many cases when people with representatives of businesses who did not leave ukraine, they continued fresh, there are many risks, but there are benefits and returns from leading for in order to really be one of those first investors in ukraine. let 's listen to what he told me that there is a risk, but here we need to find a balance between the risk . let's start, however, as a number of analysts are saying today, in particular, and i spoke with the president, she says that in fact there are now a number of regions in which active hostilit

trip to the usa , a memorandum was signed with the united states development finance corporation (dfc) and the us agency for internationalevelopment (usaid) regarding support for investment in priority reconstruction projects. among the key topics of discussion during this visit is the recovery plan for ukraine, such recovery begins this year and we need to mobilize 14 billion us dollars for relevant recovery projects received as confirmation from the secretary of the treasury of the united states janettelen about the allocation of one and a half billion dollars for rapid recovery, plus 800 million dollars for energy recovery , one of our key partners in recovery, the world bank, we agreed to activate joint thematic programs for the reconstruction of our country already now , electricity tariffs will be increased, but the decision when exactly will there be so far no increase and this is a forced step, stated energy minister herman galushchenko due to systematic destruction aggressor of electricity generation and transmission facilities, the company does not have enough funds for restoration and income from the potential

strengthen control, then how kiev uses the funds transferred by washington , the us agency for international development that another package of military assistance from the united states for 2.5 billion dollars was sent to ukraine in early april at the same time , the us department of defense published documents stating that the baidan administration. for all the time , it provided military assistance to kiev for almost 36 billion. but what happens then is of interest many earlier, even the american media had information about how the ukrainian elite is buying up large quantities of luxury real estate in europe, but recently the american journalist seymour hurge, on his page , citing cia sources, revealed one of the profit schemes used by ukrainian officials. they used this data to withdraw millions. dollars that were earmarked for the purchase of diesel fuel, according to analysts from the intelligence center . the amount of embezzled funds reaches at least $ 400 million per last year, another expert called the level of corruption in kiev comparable to what it was during the afghan war. in the pacific

the united states a memorandum was signed with the development finance corporation of the united states dfc and the united states agency for international development usaid , it is about supporting the attraction of investments in priority reconstruction projects, let's let's listen to the direct language, one of the key topics of discussion during this visit is the recovery plan for ukraine, such recovery begins already this year, and we need to mobilize 14 billion us dollars for the relevant recovery projects. rapid recovery plus $800 million for energy recovery one of our key partners in recovery the world bank we agreed to intensify joint thematic programs for reconstruction of our country already now well, i wanted to hear from vasyl the specifics , not only the numbers that stand out and are unknown to us. a penny of our international donor partners and if the reconstruction starts already this year , then present the specific projects you are talking about and not such information, maybe it is only for international donors, this is general information, ukrainians would like specifics, as for me. perhaps someone has the opinion th

saved about 30 million tons of fuel, and this is confirmed by the international energy agency in comparison with the industrially developed countries members of the eurasian economic union. belarus is in a leading position. turkey is waiting for the discovery of new gas and oil fields in cherny sea ​​in the country sure the potential for this exists so in 2020. in the black sea, off the coast of turkey, a gas field was discovered, the volumes of which were estimated

possibilities as a city can support itself to help the city rebuild the united states agency for international developmentusa involved the international architectural bureau gensler american specialists interviewed local residents and found out that the main priority is the invented security system and the restoration of the economic capacity of irpen , in addition to rebuilding landmarks and the guardianship and memory of what happened . understanding how people feel, what are their aspirations, vision of the future, the leaders of these places understand that the victory is not complete until the reconstruction is completed, because then people will be able to again to live our lives and we know that together we can create the future homeland that will revive the joy and prosperity that the people of ukraine deserve. the world bank and the european bank for reconstruction and development are helping to calculate the losses, because 90% of the city has been destroyed, today we have a certain understanding of what no longer exists which school was destroyed in mariupol, which hospital, which building, but

s. agency for international development. now the document claims more than 3000000 people in the c a. r in need of military and aiden predicts nearly half the country's population will face severe food insecurity in 2023. the nation's also crippled. the paper concludes by conflicts between militant groups which displaced almost 60000 people in january alone. for the press secretary to the central african republic president told us it's still possible for the country to be impoverished despite its wealth of resources because of the thirst of external states for africa's natural riches moves up. oh, our land is rich in gold, diamonds, iron, manganese, and oil. when it comes to agriculture, we can grope hot coffee, produce wood products. this should have made the population of the central african republic prosperous. but unfortunately, we see how some nations are plunging our country into poverty. it has not gone anywhere. we still live in an unstable situation with the crisis. rubble, groups, and military formations are presid

that is, according to a new report by the us agency for international development. the government report claims over 3 at 1000000 people in the c, a r r in need of humanitarian aid, and predicts nearly half the country's population will face severe food in security this year. it's also crippled by conflicts between militant groups which the place are almost $60000.00 at people in january alone this year. while they yeah, press secretary to the countries presidency. it's still possible for the country to be impoverished despite being rich and natural resources. news of all our land is rich in gold, diamonds, iron, manganese, and oil. when it comes to agriculture, we can grow cotton coffee and produce wood products. this should have made the population of the central african republic prosperous. but unfortunately, we see how some nations are plunging our country into poverty. it has not gone anywhere. we still live in an unstable situation with the crisis, rebel groups and military formations. a president says those are the reasons for the continuing poverty in the co

live just at the expense of these stock e various ones, this is useit, and the us agency for international development for the development of democracy, oak foundation, ford, and there are many, many, many. let's now find out more details about this very island with us in touch now, acting minister of natural resources and ecology kherson region. nikolay yurievich bystyantsev. nikolai yuryevich we are glad to welcome you to our program. tell us, please. yes, please tell us in more detail about this natural park. well, a specially protected natural area, which is inhabited mainly by animals. today, hunting is there, in principle, because , taking into account the peculiarities of conducting one ’s own , civilians cannot get there with weapons in principle . ukrainian propaganda claims that the main activity in this park is hunting, capturing and shooting wild animals. well, let's just say that wolves and foxes also belong to wild animals . however, they are carriers of various diseases that can infect people, so these animals are directly related to controlling the physical situation to save people's h

agency on international development testifying. from the house foreign affairs committee this is three hours. [background noises] [background noises] brexit committee on foreign affairs will come to order. the purpose of this hearing is to assess the accountability mechanisms and ensure the american taxpayer money is being spent as intended in ukraine. i now recognize myself for an opening statement. it has been a year since vladimir putin launches unprovoked war of aggression in ukraine. and in response europe has provided significant must continue to do more to keep the government of ukraine from defaulting and ensure it's able to prosecute the war. additionally congress has provided a significant amount of assistance to ukraine to ensure potenza grabbed a stop at ukraine's border and a nato ally is not next. i have supported u.s. assistance because of victory by putin and ukraine would further embolden americans adversaries. from charm and she beijing to the ayatollah in an kim jong-un own and north korea however it's imperative

agency. on the eve of international development , us deputy secretary of defense kulinkal said that the militaryt has limits. in the pacific ocean, as part of a sudden check of combat readiness, the forces of the pacific fleet deployed nuclear submarines according to the scenario of the exercise, which is carried out on the decision of the supreme commander-in-chief. they left the base in kamchatka anti-submarine ships in the sea of ​​​​japan, among which the loud corvette destroyed the submarine of the imaginary enemy, but first , the tactical group of the crew of the k27 helicopter, after completing the task, landed on the map. france is on fire again president emmanuel macron in the body of the appeal announced that the pension reform will come into force in the autumn. especially since the constitutional council last week. she was approved even when the macron delivered his speech on the street. protesters gathered who rattled feminine dishes and lit flares, then these torches flew into the police stations , burning garbage cans began already from the traditional skirmishes with the special

agency for international development julian called the despised comedians to help organizations build credibility and provide access to critical information. star. >> it got quiet in here. hello, how are you? good to see so many faces, there's plenty of people during is ongoing today. welcome to our event and how young and behaviorally to express. it's great to be here, i am here in washington. specializing in climate and in terms of the media, news media, journalists and communities and countries in the people around the globe of the climate crisis so it's an honor to be here to speak today to listen toer everyone's story and meet in person and hopefully verbally as well in climate change. every passing year end every passing month and week we are facing for more strongly the realities of the climate crisis in our country especially for those of us based here in the united states where we are starting to feel most more and more and lovely been seen for a long time. a quick story of my own, the way we begin to experience life, my original home is in california and i remember a couple

international aid to afghanistan will drop sharply this year due to the taliban's draconian restrictions on women, and that's expected to worsen the already catastrophic social and economic situation in the country, the un's development agencyys. if international aid falls by 30% then afghanistan's gdp would contract by 0.4% and so far the humanitarian aid plan is only 5% funded for this year, capita annual incomes could fall to just over $300 next year. which would mark a 40% drop since a year before the taliban takeover , the u. n warns there will be no escape from poverty without women in the workplace. engagement continues. we speak to them every day, and we present the numbers that we are presenting to them, showing how detrimental the absence of women in public life education and work is to the future of the afghan economy. but at the moment, we don't see any positive response. women's rights are among the many policies the taliban have dismantled since taking power and ordinary afghans are describing all sorts of brutalities committed by the hardline rulers, cnn salma abdelaziz explains. he was tortured by the taliban, he says , just for reporting the truth. i was thinking of death every moment. i thought this is the

agency for international development and the special inspector general for afghanistan reconstruction and many others to develop annual oversight plans, issue quarterly reports that transparently provide information regarding operation and our oversight of it. with the sunset end of u.s. military presence in afghanistan lead ig continue the mission to conduct over the horizon counterterrorism operation engage in regional partners. to date we and our partners at issue 31 quarterly reports on ofs and oes. the dod oig has issued 223 audit evaluation reports and advisories led to afghanistan oversight containing approximately 1500 recommendations to improve dod programs and operations. last fall we issued lessons learned report on u.s. security cooperation activities that analyze the total of 66 reports from my office and our partners to identify significant challenge areas including deficiencies with training and advising, the afghan security forces ministries that overreliance on u.s. and coalition forces. and a lack of accountability and control rio supplied equipment. in the latter ar

global developments affecting the world after the international energy agency predicted that global demand met by improving china's consumption. the international energy agency also warned that recent cuts could exacerbate oil supply shortages and hurt consumers. recently, in order to reduce production by an average of more than 2%, its allies have cooled the weekly method. according to the monthly report of the energy agency, the global demand for oil in 2023 increased by 2 million barrels per day and reached a record of 100.1 million barrels per day. will be greatly affected china's consumption will be after the lifting of corona restrictions in this country. in the monthly report of this agency, it is stated that consumers who will be under more pressure with higher prices for basic goods , this will not be interesting for economic recovery and growth. according to reuters, the number of drilling rigs the oil and natural gas of the united states decreased to 748 rings in the week ending on 14 april and reached 748 rings . the value of these transactions is more than 25 thousand toman cl

us agency po international development says it's investing another $20 million to strengthen oversighte are confident that this generous support goes directly to the ukrainian people, to whom it belongs in general, in order to reduce american spending on ukraine you just have to die. here the dutch are literally a knife in the back of ukrainian propaganda. they talked to the ukrainian military and officially reported that the ukrainian army was bursting at the seams, and they were not ready for any military operations at all. ukraine sends completely unprepared soldiers to the front, one of them named aleksey said that all his combat training was reduced to one evening with a drunken instructor and a kalashnikov assault rifle with three rounds in his detachment there were 27 people, of whom after 8 hours of fighting were alive eight left the whole battle, it came down to the fact that after each arrival of russian shells. he and his friend were shouting to each other in the trench whether they were alive or not. and so it went on until the friend stopped answering, but the germans also

with the agency for international development and international financial corruption on supporting theon of priority restoration and development projects, one of the key topics of discussion during the working trip , we will begin to restore ukraine's restoration plan this year. and for this we need to attract 14.1 billion dollars, yes, but before we can restore , we must destroy, and the united states is also helping in this and allocated another package of military assistance for 325 million dollars, the best for restoration have already been postponed in advance. uh, so that we can restore it with this money, if necessary, but they have their own formulas, zelensky’s adviser podolak named the factors on which ukraine’s success on the battlefield depends and the most important factor. what would you think? no, this is not even western aid, this is not negotiating with russia today, everything to heal today, everything depends on the supply of weapons. this is the first. second everything depends on the effectiveness of the work of the general staff, in particular scenario plans. thir

i hope we can make similar progress in authorizing foreign assistance and the agency for international development. i don't see moving these types of bills as optional or as favors to department of usaid. rather it's it's core to our job off the risers. in discussions to run the budget i am concerned by some of the extreme proposals emanating from the other side of the aisle. that if implemented would threaten the united capacity to carry out bold diplomacy and development work that is impacted so many lives. across-the-board cuts that i hear coming from my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are arbitrary councils are most serious needs. some the extreme voices the claim and one breath does not do enough to counter china development budget necessary to outcompete china. which is it? as president biden famously said do not tell me what your value, show me your budget and i will tell you what you value. if my colleagues truly went to address the rise of china not to mention many other complex global challenges, cutting our diplomatic capacity and the funding of soft power is exactly the wrong

economic, but also environmental, the international maritime organization of the un expressed concern about the development of the shadow fleet, informs bloomberg news agencyf sanctions restricting their sale of russian oil, the number of shadow oil tankers has increased, the publication notes the lawyers of the organization demand that ships who turn off their transponders were subjected to additional checks moreover, the legal team also sees fit abolish the practice of pumping oil from ship to ship in the open ocean, as this increases the risk of pollution of the waters of coastal states. an attempt to take away vera, we have no-pechersk lavra, was sent under house arrest for 2 months with wearing a bracelet. at the same time , the metropolitan himself is far from kiev of the pechersk lavra. pavel said that the court's decision is nothing more than a political order at the address to serve no term, no communication, no warmth, no light, no mugs. this is how they act in our country with him praying for presidents in the elections, and today certificate. in addition, the court forbade the metropolitan from communicating with believers the sbu accused him o

the end of this year because the 31st international quran exhibition it's going to be march 1402 vali nematian of sed and sima news agency, the deputy of the development of people's participation of the aid committee, said that more than 95 thousand people registered in the ikram orphans and mohsenin project in the holy month of ramadan, according to mr. he gives, there is nothing higher than love, the essence of pleasure is nothing higher than love, love is good and blessed , seeing in their lives the blessings of life, big and small , and my children, it doesn't matter how old you are. greetings, two boys, two girls or be the first to decide for yourself there were three of me trapped and akram orphans and feeding mahdavi music was also discussed in the economy table. 436 thousand orphans and orphans across the country were registered on the akram.emdad.ir site, which is about 1.2 million and 200 thousand supporters. they are directly supporting these children of atom and mohsenin . they are pensioners under the support of this organization. they are supposed to be taught fishing . they can get a job to continue their work , except that their educat

agency for international development gillian caldwell talked about using the the media to organizations build credibility and trust and provide access to critical information systems. the discussion focused on ways the media can promote action on climate change. [inaudible conversations] >> it got quiet in here. how are you? good to see so many faces and, of course, although we can't see the faces there's plenty people joining us on why did israel such great to have you here as well. welcome to our event and action, a meaty and behavioral insights can address the i climate crisi. it's great to be here as well. my name is carl nasman, i am a bbc news based in washington, d.c. and also senior journalist specializing in climate changeor reporting. just to start off, in terms of the media in the news media, we climate journalists are often focusing on communities and countries and the people that are affected around the globe by the climate crisis. so it's an honor to be here to be able to speak today to listen to article one stories and to meet in person and hopefully virtually as well so

remain ineffective, and the cooperation between the law enforcement agencies of the two countries will develop fully , the minister of internalairs said. vladimir kolokoltsev, at a meeting with his armenian colleague vaga kazaryan, discussed with the head of the russian department issues of cooperation in the law enforcement sphere, according to kolokoltsev, now, in connection with the current situation, the sco csto is becoming increasingly important. and the eurasian economic union discussed in detail the situation around their own, as noted by the head of the ministry of foreign affairs, the head of the russian ministry of internal affairs, after the start of a special operation on the territory of ukraine , elements of transnational organized crime became more active. the so-called foreign call center located on the territory of ukraine, which worked on the territory of the russian federation , uh, carried out all their fraudulent schemes. and accordingly, they received income from this e already in their country, so this must be taken into account, because in this form there are no borders as such, criminals can be in on

latest positions of our country regarding the developments in the afghanistan-palestinian region and also the cooperation between iran and international agenciesomic energy and iran's view on how to lift the sanctions, sudanese people and foreign nationals of this country continue to flee from the conflicts and many of them and foreign immigrants are following the clashes between the army and the rapid response forces of this country to the port city of peru and badan. to leave sudan by ship, the deputy spokesman of the united nations announced that following the fighting in sedan, about 20 thousand tomans have fled to the country of four. and sudan's rapid reaction forces are considered though that the two sides of the hip announced the extension of the 72-hour ceasefire. recently, to investigate the cause of beethoven's death at a young age, some parts of new york from a museum in germany obtained the test of the genius of world music, beethoven, 56 years old. kurd, bust and full-length statues of you are everywhere, his music is performed in concert halls and on the so-called golden records recorded by spaceships and headphones , he may ach

senior deputy assistant administrator at the bureau for global at the united states agency for international development. she's a senior research associate at the center for ethics and culture at the university of notre dame. her clinical career has focused on caring for women in underserved and disadvantaged populations. especially african americans and native american communities. with a focus on women's medical, social and psychiatric problems. thank you. >> thank you, senator graham. let me lay at the mechanics of today's hearing. after we swear in the witnesses, each witness will have five minutes for an opening statement. then senators will have an opportunity to ask questions for up to five minutes. can i ask the witnesses to please stand and raise the right hand? do you swear and affirm the testimony you get before this testimony will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you god? let the record reflect to the witnesses have all answered at the affirmative. our first witness will be nice zurawksi. >> chairman durbin, ranking member graham and members of the senate comm

senior deputy assistant administrator at the bureau for global at the united states agency for international development. she's a senior research associate at the center for ethics and culture at the university of notre dame. her clinical career has focused on caring for women in underserved and disadvantaged populations. especially african americans and native american communities. with a focus on women's medical, social and psychiatric problems. thank you. >> thank you, senator graham. let me lay at the mechanics of today's hearing. after we swear in the witnesses, each witness will have five minutes for an opening statement. then senators will have an opportunity to ask questions for up to five minutes. can i ask the witnesses to please stand and raise the right hand? do you swear and affirm the testimony you get before this testimony will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you god? let the record reflect to the witnesses have all answered at the affirmative. our first witness will be nice zurawksi. >> chairman durbin, ranking member graham and members of the senate comm