pakistan's support which former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff admiral mullen called it a veritable arm of the isi is a major cause for u.s.-pakistan relations reaching it's lowest pace. we need to understand the intelligence community's assessment of mack stan's strategy with respect to these insurgent groups and the reconciliation process as to pakistan's power to determine -- and as to pakistan's power to determine outcomes. the u.s. campaign against the global jihadist movement as director clamper's opening statement called it had a number of notable exception -- these successes struck major blows to al qaeda senior leadership into one of its most active affiliates. as a result of these operations, and sustained pressure in pakistan, yemen, somalia and north africa, al qaeda and it's affiliates are showi ining stre. we would be interested in the committee's -- whether it signals an increased threat to the united states and our interests from somalia. sued presidential study director tim which identifies the prevention of mass acrossities and genocide as a core national security

he's the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. the highest ranking military officer in the united states. we'll hit all of the hotspots, syria, iran, china, egypt, and more. later in the show, the u.s. rolled out the red carpet for china's next president but what is going on behind the scenes between the two rival nations? we have a great panel of china watchers. also, believe it or not, the eurozone crisis is solved. how, what? stay tuned, we'll explain. first, here is my take. we're hearing a new concept these days in discussions about iran. the zone of immunity. the idea often explained by ehud barak, israel's defense minister, is soon iran will have enough nuclear capacity that israel would not be able to inflict a crippling blow to its program. israeli officials explained that we americans cannot understand their fears that iron is a exosential danger to them. but, in fact, we can understand because we went through a very similar experience ourselves. after world war ii as the soviet union approached a nuclear capability, the

dempsey, united states army, chairman, joint chiefs of staff. the honorable robert, if i heal, tunds secretary of defense, and controller of the department. thank you for being here. mr. secretary, the time is yours. >> thank you very much, members of this committee, always nice to be able to return to the house i'll ask that my statement be made part of the record. >> no objection, so ordered. >> i appreciate the opportunity to appear before you to discuss the president's budget request for fiscal year 2013 for the department of defense. these brave men and women, and they are, for anybody that's gone to the battlefield and talked to those in uniform, they are without question, the next greatest generation of individuals. along with the department easy vilian professionals who support them, they've done everything that's been asked of them and more during more than a decade of war and, again, i thank you for the support you provided to them. if fy 13 budget request for the department of defense was, indeed, a product of a very intensive strategy

you saw them there, head of homeland security our joints chief of staff -- chairman of the joints chiefou saw the lieutenant there. all of these guys saying be careful, this is not the way to go. but when you turn on your television oftentimes you see images like this here. where you have people in lab coats and they look like they are working on nuclear weapons. but they are working on nuclear energy. not weapons. they say later they could be making weapons. so for the people that are pushing for this -- because this doesn't happen by accident. you think all of a sudden we have all of this propaganda to start a war with iran? no, so who are they? so let's go one by one. everyone is familiar with the conservatives who were in favor of attacking several middle eastern countries. and iraq should be first, and then iran. a lot of people are familiar with that. but not a lot of people might know what the christian evangelical angle is. there is a sing call chunk of the community that says we have to protect israel at all costs. and this could be the coming of jesus. >> that's why jesus toda

point that when it comes to our military our generals when it comes to the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff they're the ones that seem to be urging a little bit of caution here we have a clip of general martin dempsey who's the chairman of joint chiefs of staff. it's not prudent at this point to decide to attack iran with ministers this being our counsel to our allies the israelis well known well documented and we also know or believe we know that the iranian regime has not decided that they will embark on the cave good the efforts to weaponize i think it's premature to take a decision to arm the opposition movement in syria because. i would challenge anyone to clearly identify for me the opposition movement in syria at this point and let me all right if he's saying let's have a little caution. but this is exactly what the military said about libya remember it and then secretary of defense mr gates and it didn't have any influence because these are decisions made for political reasons for optics not because it's serious national security matters yet so we're just seeing the same the same st

governor branstad to read also if i can add i'm very pleased we now have as a part of the joint chiefs of staffthe head of the national guard, general mckinley and it's something that we have fought for years and we are appreciative you are there to represent the art of the joint chiefs of staff so it has been a year of success but we have no work cut out for us to do more to this mix before, governor. governor branstad? >> i would just add i'm really honored and proud to be part of a group of governors that has had a chance to play a role here in this very important deutsch will force mission, and we -- i think the comment has already been made about the importance of the national guard to our states, and especially important to the air national guard, and i am really pleased to see the governors and the generals all coming together with a statement about how critically important it is that we not diminish the very important role that the air national guard place not just as part of our national events the could defense but the plaintiff state level as well so we think you for that and i am pl

from the navy, from the air forks from the office of science technology policy, from the white house, the joint staff to the chairman of the joints chief of staff, from several of the national laboratories and others. there were reviews or at least interactions with technical experts in britain, france, and other countries in the nato alliance and other allies. these concepts and plans were briefed to the most senior russians who had many technical experts present. so the notion that the -- that the ballistic missile defense review report was completely unrelated to any technical input is factually not correct. >> no, you didn't address that question. the fact that you're appealing to different organizations playing a role, i've been in the pentagon, i've watched these charades put on. you go and you talk to a bunch of different people. you select what you want to say and you say it. now, if you have some facts -- are you willing to say, for example, that the current missile defense system is defending the united states right now? do you believe that? >> that is a different point. >> no, no. you can't get into it. talk about appeal to

do you each of the joint chiefs of staff first of all fully support the new strategic guidance? >> yes, senator, we do. do you and each of the joint chiefs of staff fully support the president's fiscal year 2013 budget request. yes, senator, we do. >> can you tell us why? >> we addressed in the order you present it with. sprigg and the reality of the new fiscal environment, we took a look at our strategy and we made what we thought were important adjustments not just based on the fiscal reality but based on the lessons of the war and we thought it would take us in the out years. as you know, i'm an advocate of looking beyond this particular budget submission out to 2020 wally the service chiefs and the combatant commanders and then having to decide on the strategy we built the budget to support it and so for that reason we support it. peery >> he made reference to the risks that are increased when the budget reductions. would you expand on that as you did in your prepared testimony as to whether those risks are acceptable and why. >> i've never in my 38 years' experience any stra

first we saw the president of the joint chiefs of staff go to tel aviv.over seas and held key meetings with israel. now james clapper is heading to tel aviv. why are they all going to israel right now in advance of netanyahu's visit to the white house? national security correspondent jennifer griffin is live at the pentagon. >> in a bizarre twist two days after there were reports that iranian destroyer vessels docked in a syrian port, we are being told by pentagon officials that there is no evidence in fact that those iranian war ships ever made it as far as syria. we are told that in fact they loiter in the mediterranean. they did not go as far as the syrian port. and now those vessels have made their way back through the suez canal and it's not clear why they turned back it many not clear whether they had fuel or mechanical problems. they did not make it to syria. this comes as a general in the iranian armed forces threatened a preemptive strike against israel and its allies. quote, our strategy now is if we feel our enemies want to endanger iran's nati

joint chiefs of staff chairman general martin dempsey along with britain's foreign minister today said an attack on iran would have grave consequences for the entire region. israel fears iran is close to building a nuclear weapon. still, the u.s. wants israel to give economic sanctions more time to work. iran, meantime, was demonstrating its own resolve today. we have two reports beginning in tehran with nbc's ali aruzi. >> reporter: lester, iran remains defiant in the face of international pressure. the oil ministry announced that that it was cutting off oil supplies to britain and france after the european union imposed sanctions on iran's fuel exports. there are few signs that iran intends to back down from its nuclear path. western diplomats say iran is moving to expand its production of enriched uranium at an underground facility but lacks some of the key equipment. the international atomic agency has not commented but is due to start a three-day visit tomorrow in its latest attempt to assess the scope of iran's nuclear program. meanwhile iran flexed its military muscle again toda

in the weeks since the president and the secretary of defense and the chairman of the joints chief of staff and the chiefs stood altogether at the pentagon to introduce the new strategic guidance, this document has generated a fair amount of speculation, and this is washington, afterall. are we adhering to the two war foresighting construct or abandoning to it? as we commit to the asia pacific will other parts of the world be neglected? by shifting away from the foresighting the ground forces for large scale operations, are we turning our back on the hard-fought lessons of the last decade? and most important of all by slowing the historic post 911 military spending

in the weeks since the president and the secretary of defense and the chairman of the joints chief of staff and the chiefs stood altogether at the pentagon to introduce the new strategic guidance, this document has generated a fair amount of speculation, and this is washington, afterall. are we adhering to the two war foresighting construct or abandoning to it? as we commit to the asia pacific will other parts of the world be neglected? by shifting away from the foresighting the ground forces for large scale operations, are we turning our back on the hard-fought lessons of the last decade? and most important of all by slowing the historic post 911 military spending as congress required us to do, are we signaling somehow that we are entering a period of american global en trtrenchment and retr from the world? as i mentioned earlier, the new strategy to sustain global leadership was quite deliberate. we are retaining full capability to confront more than one aggressor anywhere in the world even if we are engaged. in large scale operations we will be quickly to identify the objectives of an op

in the case of the medal of honor, it comes to the joint chiefs of staff, then the secretary of defense, and the secretary of defense takes it to the white house. now, it's presented by the president in the name of the congress. and that's generally how the system goes. and it has worked very well and as i said, it's -- people have got to see it, people have got to write it up. i have to admit that i feel bad as a commander. there are young whipper-snappers out there that have done phenomenal things and didn't get awards. a number of reasons is -- the battle went on for ten days. by the time it was over, then people forgot about what sergeant smith did. and didn't sit down and write it up. so i think in the fog of war there are great soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines that do phenomenal things but they don't get an award. so as i said, someone's got to see it -- bob carrey, governor of nebraska, now president of the new school, navy s.e.a.l. says to get the medal of honor, you have people who have to have seen it, they have to be able to write and they can't be your enemies, they got fo

. >> defense secretary leon panetta and joint chiefs of staff chairman martin dempsey testified before the senate armed services committee on tuesday. the focus was the defense department's 2013 budget request. it calls for a 1% decrease from last year, part of an effort to save $487 billion over a decade. you can watch the entire hearing on our website at c-span.org. here are the opening statements. this is just under one hour. >> good morning, everybody. the committee this morning welcomes secretary of defense leon panetta and chairman of the joint chiefs of staff general martin dempsey, for our hearing on the 2013 budget request. the associated future year's defense program and the posture of the united states armed forces. the committe also welcomes, and the undersecretary of defense -- the committee also welcome the undersecretary odefense. let me thank all of you for the commitment to the nation our soldiers marines, and airmen around the globe, and to their families. they are truly deserving of the nation's affection and support. your testimony marks the beginning of the committ

but in an interview broadcast today, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, general martin dempsey said that the u.s. is a against a military strike. >> we think that it's not prudent at this point to decide to attack iran. i mean, that's been our counsel to our allies, the israelis, well-known, well-documented. >> last week iran's president said again that iran's nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only. few western politicians believe that. but for the moment they argue that bombing iran's many nuclear installations would only slow the program. businesses in iran have a hard time getting international financing and the price of food and essential goods is rising fast. the price of meat, say tehran shoppers, has doubled in three months. iran is also wrestling with restrictions to it oil sales. restrictions brought about by sanctions. tonight, there are signs the pressure may just may be working. even as the war games got under way, iran's leaders offered to reopen negotiations on their nuclear program and to meet in tehran with inspectors from the international atomic energy

joint chiefs of staff said over the weekend that you know it was not prudent at this point to attack iran and a strike at this time would be stabilizing but he also admitted that you know israel might not be convinced of the same notion talk about you know the role of israel and. you know why there is such a huge tug of war going on right now will the u.s. government right up to the president cannot continue to give israel billions of dollars worth of weapons promised israel to veto all measures of accountability for its abuses and crimes at the united nations and pretend. to be trying to persuade israel not to strike iran the united states has the obvious capability to influence influence israel and is choosing not to use it while continuing including through the president's own mouth to push the same propaganda that makes the war more likely it would not be prudent to start the war today it would also not be prudent to continue down this path that allows the momentum to build with threats back and forth between us and iran that makes the war more and more likely as the months go by

joint chief of staff, martin dempsey, told cnn over the weekend it would destabilize the region and would not be prudent. >> an independent country can have an opinion from time different from us. >> reporter: today on the ground national security adviser will be meeting with ehud barak, the latest u.s. official to conduct high-level meetings with israelis on the iran issue. evidence that this growing tension is affecting the global economy the price of oil today shot up to a nine-month high. stephanie gosk, nbc news. >>> compelling video out of iran shows a dramatic rescue by a tv crew that happened to be in the right place at the right time about you can see men jumping from a ship that has caught fire. literally swimming for their lives. this is off the coast in iran. they're swimming toward an iranian film crew that happened to be nearby shooting a documentary when they found the ship on fire. it took almost two hours to put out flames. no word on injuries or deaths. >>> american stock markets closed today, though scott mcgrew says not exactly because it's presidents' day. >> well goo

do you each of the joint chiefs of staff first of all fully support the new strategic guidance? >> yes, senator, we do. do you and each of the joint chiefs of staff fully support the president's fiscal year 2013 budget request. yes, senator, we do. >> can you tell us why? >> we addressed in the order you present it with. sprigg and the reality of the new fiscal environment, we took a look at our strategy and we made what we thought were important adjustments not just based on the fiscal reality but based on the lessons of the war and we thought it would take us in the out years. as you know, i'm an advocate of looking beyond this particular budget submission out to 2020 wally the service chiefs and the combatant commanders and then having to decide on the strategy we built the budget to support it and so for that reason we support it. peery >> he made reference to the risks that are increased when the budget reductions. would you expand on that as you did in your prepared testimony as to whether those risks are acceptable and why. >> i've never in my 38 years' experience any stra

. >> quijano: in egypt joint chiefs of staff met with the ruling council today. they discussed egypt's planned prosecution of 16 americans which is jeopardizing $1.5 billion in u.s. aid. in cairo's tahrir square, a low- key demonstration marked the first anniversary of the ouster of former president mubarak. now to campaign 2012. tonight, maine's republican party announced mitt romney as the winner of their caucuses. romney captured 39%. ron paul followed with 36%. newt gingrich and rick santorum did not actively compete in the race. chip reid is tracking the g.o.p. race in washington, d.c. tonight. good evening. >> reporter: good evening, elaine. that victory in maine is some much-needed good news for mitt romney in a roller coaster week that has had some big ups and some big downs. only two of the four republican presidential candidates campaigned in maine today, ron paul and mitt romney. >> it is good to see you. >> reporter: who kept his focus on president obama. >> i'll be able to debate president obama effectively and knock him on his heels when we're talkin

but in an interview broadcast today the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff general martin dempsey said that the u.s. is against a military strike. >> we think that it's not prudent at this point to decide to attack iran. i means that's been our counsel to our allies, the israelis, well-known, well-documented. >> reporter: last week iran's president said, again, that iran's nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only. few western politicians believe that. but for the moment they argue that bombing iran's many nuclear installation was only slow the program. britain's foreign secretary william hague supports, instead, further tough diplomacy. >> i think israel like everybody else in the world should be giving a real chance to the approach we've adopted. a very serious economic sanction and diplomatic pressure, and the readiness to negotiate. >> reporter: sanctions lead by the united states are starting to bite. businesses in iran have a hard time getting international financing. and the price of food and essential goods is rising fast. the price of meat say tehran shoppers has doub

as some of our chairman of the joint chiefs of staff is that our biggest national security issue is our debt and we are seeing now the pentagon pull back on spending, warships because of our debt, because of her inability to pay for these and we need to rethink how we spend money in the military. there's no question about it but we should not have to weaken our defenses because we have spent so much money in other areas with no return. so the fiscal situation is definitely related to our national security. >> this will have to be the last question. >> a lot of the times conservatives are known to be on the -- rhetoric and the debate going on in washington as a prominent member of congress how do you turn around this idea that conservatives are selfish and that they know the difference between selfish and individual liberty and he said economic mobility. how do you change the debate so we know there's a difference between selfish behavior and being able to be successful economically versus having economic ruin? >> it's a great question because i know that a lot of americans are busy and

and then we'll reair defense secretary leon panetta and joint chiefs of staff chairman general martin dempsey testifying about the pentagon's 2013 budget request. several live events to tell you about tomorrow. energy secretary steven chu will take questions about his department's budget request from members of the senate energy committee. that's on c-span 3 at 3:30 a.m. eastern. also on c-span 3 at 2:00 p.m. eastern, treasury secretary tim geithner will return to capitol hill to testify about the president's 2013 budget. he's before the house budget committee. >> booktv is live saturday from the savannah book festival. coverage starts at 9:30 eastern with tom clavin on the last hours of the vietnam war followed by karl marlantes on what it's like to go to war and scotty smiley at noon. at 1:30 eastern, the changing israeli/palestinian conflict and irshad manji and toure on "who's afraid of blackness" and the rice and fall of the comanches on c-span 2's become tv. >> c-span radio's "washington today." over the next 90 minutes a look at today's top stories including the president's tri

. >>> in a few moments, defense secretary leon panetta and joint chiefs of staff chairman, general martin december si dempsey talk about the pentagon's 2013 budget request, in a little more than three hours, c-span's "washington today" program and more about the administration's budget request in a hearing with trej a cr

and over on c-span, defense secretary leon panetta and joint chiefs of staff chairman general martin dempsey will testify before the senate armed services committee on the defense department's budget. it calls for $525 billion in discretionary spending, which is a 1% decrease from last year. that gets under way at 9:30 eastern. former mississippi governor haley barbour spoke monday at a weeklong conference hosted by general electric on u.s. manufacturing and competitiveness. during his 30-minute remarks, governor barbour discussed the need for an educated workforce and mississippi's effort to attract more manufacturing jobs in the wakes of hurricanes katrina and rita seven years ago. >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome chairman and ceo of ge, jeff immelt. >> thank you. thank you very much. it's my distinct pleasure to introduce today's luncheon speaker and that's governor haley barbour. all of you know haley was a two-term governor of mississippi. as i mentioned earlier this morning has been a great partner in attracting business and really has been focused on workforce training

cia leon panetta the secretary of defense the general did martin dempsey the chairman of the joints chief of staff i mean among the sixteen intelligence agencies these people in a high profile positions have come out and said in the media we don't think that iran is trying to build a nuclear bomb in the run up to the iraq war you know our politicians and our media failed us they were constantly parroting talking points with no basis in reality the same thing is happening today years mol basis in reality and huge amount of exaggeration and fear and she let's make some more money for the military industrial complex we desperately need the voices of peace to be speaking up and speaking out and say wait a minute let's look at peace rather than. coming up after the break conservatives like rick santorum and marco rubio will tell you americans becoming america's becoming a nation of conservatives is really the case are they sorely mistaken. if we just put a picture of me when i was like nine years old i think that you know a little truth. i confess and i am a total get of friends that i love traveling h

chief of naval operations what to do? >> here is the way it works. chief naval operations report through me. they also are members of the joint chiefs of staff who are directly advise the secretary of defense and president. three service secretaries, a navy, army, and air force are charged to recruit, train, and equip the force. the combat commanders, and the commander and a central command which includes afghanistan or the specific command, and they are the ones that control the ships at sea, troops on the grounds or what ever. the service secretaries -- it is the service secretaries response ability to get the people, and the equipment, to buy it, to do the budget, to train, and to get the force ready and acting on whenrders of the president' they request troops, to have them ready. >> we found is the idea from the marine corps. -- we found this video from the marine corps. >> with the holidays around the corner, mr. ray mabus has taken time to travel around afghanistan. >> i'm glad to see them here. did they are long way -- they are long way away from their families. i just want to see how they're doing and if there's anything they need.

chief of the national guard bureau. in his role as a member of the joint chiefs of staff coming serves as a military advisor to the president and secretary of defense. he provides direct communications with the department of defense, governors, and there are generals assembled here. he first received his commission and in 1974 upon graduating from the reserve officer training program at southern methodist university. a combat pilot, he served as the assistant deputy chief of staff for programs in washington and director of the mobilization and reserve affairs at the u.s.- european command in to to guard, germany. general mcanally serve as the director -- in stuttgart, germany. is joined byey the director of the air national guard. on behalf of my colleagues, thank you for doing this and we are interested in hearing from you. [applause] >> thank you. >> excuse me, general. that is what the script says. >> it is my pleasure to introduce crag few gate -- craig fugate, fema. he has worked with alachua county fire rescue. he has served in several key positions in the state of florida. he was appointed bureau chief for the florid

in fact the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff said this. >> a strike at this time would be destabilizingchieve their long-term objectives. israel has national interests that are unique to them and of course they consider iran to be an exso sten shall threat. i wouldn't say we have persuaded them that our view is the right view, and they are acting in ill-advised fashion. here is a long list of people who agree. that is a long list of people saying don't do it! david, i'm going to start with you here. the problem isn't that we say, okay. israel do whatever you want. no. the problem is if israel attacks iran aren't we stuck because they are going to counterattack. and then will we really say good luck to you? >> i think the reality is the u.s. has the same position as israel on a lot of these things just publicly it would be a mistake to say so so it ends up appearing that we oppose this. but the reality is all along, under the surface, the goals are basically the same. >> i genuinely believe that president obama does not want to go to war with iran. but the problem is jimmy if he goes tha

do you and each of the joint chiefs of staff, first of all, fully support the new strategic guidance? >> yes, senator, we do. >> do you and each of the joint chiefs of staff fully support the president's fiscal year 2013 budget request? >> yes, senator, we do. >> can you tell us why? >> because we addressed it in the order you just presented it. faced with the reality of a new fiscal environment, we looked at our strategy and made it what we thought were important adjustments to it, not just based on the new fiscal reality, but the lessons of 10 years of war, and where we thought the security and are meant to take us in the out years. as you know, i am an advocate of looking beyond this particular budget commission out to 2020. we did that with not only the service chiefs but also with the combatant commanders. and that having decided on what adjustments to make to our strategy, we build a budget to support it. for that reason we support it. >> general, you made reference to the risks that are increased when there are budget reductions. would you expand on that as you did in your test

enough what he's doing is a very dangerous game he's not making a clear stand even though his joint chiefs of staff dempsey and the military i think are very much opposed to the danger that israel israel preemptively striking iran obama has only stood by and said we are you know an ambiguous the supporting israel we're working hand in hand with them this is not a clear message or a good message we do not want to let israel instigate something that can escalate into as i said the world war i think obama has to be much clearer and trying to first of all we're already to war with iraq we're at war with iran where economic sanctions now an economic war exactly in the point is that you can't you can't engage people diplomatically if you're already trying to isolate them and what are you basically creating is more radicalism on their part because you're trying to push them into a corner and that was the test that they've been running by for example killing their scientists in tehran this was attacked act of terrorism by mossad dean is working hand in hand in tehran if that had happened in america for exa

not only is the head there, we had a chairman of the joint chiefs of staff issue a similar statement e had the most recently retired head of the joint chiefs of staff, you know, this is our -- america's highest ranked military official saying no, we shouldn't -- there's been a steady chorus of officials and why is that? because certainly, in my discussions with people in washington, there's a real fear that israel will take a strike sometime in the spring. >> all right. well, that might deter the program or delay it at the very least but look, there are many members of congress who suspect that president barack obama not withstanding his insistence that he will never allow iran to have nuclear weapons has every intention of tolerating a nuclear capable iran with an ability to strike with nuclear weapons. what do you think? >> well, i think we have to draw a big line here and i know there's a lot of confusion around this concept between the capability and a bomb program. you know, lots of countries have the capability. germany, japan, brazil, you know, on and on, but because they have