erskine bowles, john podesta, leon panetta was on the phone, so was bill daley.he point of this, the reason it was secret was because obama didn't want to be accused of measuring the drapes in the oval office before he was elected. but heho knew how important it s to figureor out who his white house chief would be. unlike some other presidents. and he -- and so is erskine bowles, who was on this phone call, marvelous arely and kind of unforget by, the first thing he said was, listen, leave your chicago friends at home. they will only cause you grief. well, everybody on the phone was from chicago practically. david axlerod, valerie jarrett, bill daley and all the res. he did not take that advice, needless to say. he appointed rahm emmanuel who was, i think, a good choice at the time for the first part of the obama presidency. but my point here is once again that presidents often learn the hard way that you have to empower a white house chief. obama understood this, i think, from the beginning, and that was one of the, one of the reasons, i think, including his goo

the was well, forgive me, i oversimplified, but i guess my my point would so be that when when leon panetta came in as a result of an interview in effect, that was led by hillary and robert reich, all of the all of bill clinton's close advisers, or many of them, you know, leon and omb director like jack, didn't want to be chief of staff. they had to basically take him to camp david and lock him in a cabin until he agreed to do it. but when he did, he really the clinton white house around in my view? no, i don't i don't disagree that. and he also continued to be omb in some ways. we had a conference on that here a few years. yes, we did. it. lessons for the future. it's very i think that, you know. yeah, the point about the basic structure from the nixon years enduring i think is very true but every president is different in terms of what their temperament is, what their i mean joe biden was in the obama administra he's a different person. there's different way of briefing him. it's a different way of making sure he has what he if your chief of staff you have to be just focused on, what does

the nac didn't exist. >> forgive me, i oversimplified but i guess my point would be so that when leon panetta came in as result of an intervention and effect that was led by hillary clinton and robert reisch and all of bill clinton's close advisers, or many t of th, leon and omb director like a jack did want to be chief of staff extended basically taken them to camp david and locking in in a cabinin it's really great o do. what we needed he really turned the clinton white house around, in my view. >> i don't disagree with that and heto also continued to be ob director in some ways. we had a conference on that here a few years ago. >> yes, we did. >> lessons for the future. the point about the basic structure from the nixon years enduring i think is very true. but every president is different in terms of what their temperament is, i mean, joe biden was in obama administration. he's a different person. there's a a different way of raising him. it's a different way of making sure he has what he needs. if you are chief of staff you have to be just focused on what does the president need? and you

leon panetta, over the weekend says the response by the biden administration has been too selective. he is understating the fact and everybody sees attacks they have given up to now are hitting empty warehouses and that is not appropriate. for this response, the bottom line is that what the houthis or the other iranian proxies operating in iraq and others, even hezbollah, soon as they fire anything against u.s. targets, they will be killed and respond and be overwhelming response so they will not think about attacks u.s. forces here. >> griff: in a statement released by central command on the u.s.s. carney, specific language says this, these attacks represent direct threat to maritime security and jeopardize the lives of crews around the world. we have every reason to believe the attacks, while launched by houthi in yemen are fully enabled by iran. putting iran's direct connection there, which we all know, is not something i have seen before temperature may have been, but definitely not the usual case they put iran on notice in writing. is that significant toto you? >> once again, yo

reagan national defense forum in simi valley last weekend, i was in the attendance, and, of course, leon panetta very strong words, to this administration. and we do need to be more aggressive and pushing back against iran, this will continue to escalate if we have such milquetoast response from department of homeland security to close a loophole laws chinese nationals to enter united states territory without a visa you know that there are are arriving own northern marianna islands 450 miles away from guam. that chinese spies could be trying to infiltrate united states military bases nearby, senator ccp is coming at us from all ends right now. and again a weak response from biden. we don't even have any deliverables from that meeting between joe biden and xi jinping said a great breakthrough militaries are going to economic joint chiefs of staff told us they have not started communicating with the united states. >> proof is in the pudding we see, absolutely no proof of moving forward, with any sort of agreement with the ccp, this is very dangerous. chinese nationals have access without advise to

leon panetta over the weekend, a democrat, well-known. attacks have been soft and should be -- he said they should be more specific so that those who are going after us know that we are willing to kill them if they continue to do it. strong words, hasn't really happened but i did just show the example from the weekend, sir. >> sure, we should be taking catastrophic action against the iranian backed groups attacking our groups in syria and iraq and houthis in yemen attacking commercial ships and shooting at our military ships and also our ships that are intervening in houthi/iranian backed groups shooting toward israel. they are engaged in the region. everyone is worrying that the administration is not being decisive attacking those who intend to do our troops harm. because of that, because we've been successful in thwarting or avoiding the effects of their attacks, the administration has been soft and they need to be firmer. >> bill: from the reagan forum over the weekend in california. lloyd austin addressing that. >> we will not tolerat

director defense chief leon panetta said that the response should have been more aggressive. >> i thinktle too selective. we hit some ammo dumps, hit some other targets. i want to go after those who are firing missiles at our troops. and make sure they understand that when they fire a missile, they are going to die. >> bill: powerful statement there. the u.s. carried out strikes in iran and syria. >> harris: powerful, very clear. opinion pieces are criticizing president biden one reads about the non-terrorist houthis, a u.s. warship is forced to defend itself. another failure of biden administration deterrents. president biden must face reality. it's time to act versus iran. lieutenant colonel peter lerner for the israeli defense force is with me here. it is confusing when you look at what they are doing and yet our government isn't necessarily calling them terrorists. what is your take on us getting hit in the middle east? >> obviously it is not for me to judge the u.s. position and the u.s. administration's activities. what we are seeing throughout this region is that iran is a bad ac

leon panetta, bill clinton, barack obama. he is a democrat. here is his answer on the response to iran. >> we have to go in and hit those that are responsible for doing it. so i would be much more aggressive about going after those that attack our u.s. forces. >> do you think to date that our response has been too soft? >> i think it's been a little bit too selective. we hit some ammo dumps. we hit some other targets. i want to go after those who are firing missiles at our troops. make sure they understand that when they fire a missile, they are going to die. >> bill: soft or selective or take your pick. >> i know secretary panetta well and on his policy board while he was secretary of defense. we have to relook at the strategy dealing with iran and the middle east. our policy of attempting to play indicate them and appease them with hostage payments, sanction relief money, reducing the trump sanctions and just recently since october 7th we let the embargo for ballistic missile development curbing iran's behavior in that expire. this is the ap

. >> bill: i asked leon panetta over the weekend why the response has been soft.you think it is, mark? >> well again, bill, i think the theory of the case from jake sullivan and president biden is we can de-escalate and iranians won't hit us. they want to keep this conflict confined to gaza. they don't want israel going after hezbollah in the north even though 80,000 israelis have left their home in the north and hezbollah could do more damage to israel than hamas did to israel in gaza. they try to contain the conflict and they show american weakness and not steel. the more supreme leader in iran is escalating. we need to strike his navy like ronald reagan did in response to interference with the international shipping president reagan sank half the iranian navy and all those interference stopped. >> bill: soleimani was taken out the first week of january of 2020. nothing happened. the world held its breath and nothing happened. you write that president biden after dozens attack issued a sanctions waive are for $10 billion. the $6 billion ran some payments and 30

. >> at the reagan national defense forum, former cia director and defense secretary leon panetta says the u.s. response should be more aggressive. >> yeah, i think it's been a little bit too selective. i mean, we hit some ammo dumps, hit some other targets. i want to go after those who are firing missiles at our troops. make sure that they understand that when they fire a missile, they're going to die. >> u.s. forces did carry out an air strike in northern iraq sunday killing five iranian proxy fighters who they say were preparing to launch a drone towards a u.s. base in iraq. centcom used an unmanned drone to kill the militants. >> neil: thanks. the widespread furor over this on going war continues to dominate our newsroom and our streets. just outside here where not far away across the east river in brooklyn, another demonstration is going on. this is a pro-palestinian rally. these are sort of crop out of in where. senator john cornyn, senate finance committee kind enough to join us. with everything going on right now, this is the latest rally that shows that a lot of these who prot

leon panetta was very critical in his statement over the weekend at the ronald reagan library.hat is different when it comes to this administration and the way it responds to acts of aggression vs. the 3 presidents that you serve? >> the president presidents i served would have been very decisive in what the response was. they would have sent if you do this you will die. that's what we need to do. we need to kill some of these people and take out sites people launching this stuff. not just responding in the local area. not killing these proxy terrorists. iran doesn't care about proxy terrorists. if four or five of them die in a u.s. airstrike. they don't care. that's not going to deter them at all. we need to strike -- we need to cut the head off the snake, essentially. that's what i have seen done in the past. i have seen decisive action taken and a message sent that if you continue to do this, the response will be overwhelming. it will be more than what -- than what they are doing. so if they do something to us, we should do something that is above and beyond what's been done

. >> before we take a step forward, america, before we go forward, leon panetta added robert o'brien to make up. [laughing] jemma, thanks. secretary panetta, stephen hadley, thank you. [applause] >> thank you. thank you. >> you bet. >> ladies and gentlemen, this concludes the tenth annual reagan national defense for me. please proceed to the main courtyard for closing reception. thank you. during the break don't forget to visit the hospitality tent and media center. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> life down to conversation on calendaring chinese communist party influence operations in the u.s. we will hear from republican congressman mike turner chose house intelligence committee, congressman mike waltz and china policy advocates. live coverage on c-span2. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

reagan national defense forum on saturday and interviewed leon panetta who served as defense secretarynder barack obama. he supports a more aggressive attack on those forces in the middle east. listen. >> i would be much more aggressive about going after those that attack you are u.s. forces. >> do you think, to date, that our response has been too soft? >> i think it's been a little bit too selective we hit some ammo dumps and other targets. i want to go after those who are firing missiles at our troops and make sure they understand that when they fire a missile they are going to die. >> lawrence: i mean, it's such a good point. our response right now goes against everything those men and women on the ground stand up for. if you talk to any infantry man or operator or special operators, they say the reason we agree to go overseas and fight these battles so the battle is not brought home they are attacked and tbi after tbi only a matter of time before they lose their life. we are do absolutely nothing but striking weapon depots. that really doesn't deter our enemies and if you are the

the constant barrage from the houtis and proxies, former secretary leon panetta. >> i think it's been a little too selective. we hit some ammo dumps and other targets. i want to go after those who are firing missiles at our troops. >> and make sure they understand that when they fire a missile,e they are going to die. >> maybe a tougher response. your thoughts on this? >> there has been over 75 attacks on american forces since october 7. right now, a lot of the middle east, they have no deterrence with the united states, because there hasn't been serious consequences, and one of the things that i'm so confused about by the biden administration is them still not redetecting the houti rebels as a foreign terrorist organization. when biden took office in his first month he decided to de list them as a terrorist organization when president trump listed them as a terrorist organization. so a lot of the foreign policy isn't is making much sense, trace, but i think right now even to your previous clip, it seems like the biden administration is playing politician at the risk of israel's safet

former obama cia director and defense chief leon panetta spoke at the reagan national defense forum on a panel hosted by fox's bill hemmer. panetta wants to see the biden administration respond more forcefully. >> i would be much more aggressive about going after those that attack our us forces. do you think, to date that our response has been too soft? >> i think i think it's been a little bit too selective. >> i mean, we hit some ammo dumps, we hit some other targets . i want to go after those who are firing missiles at our troops and make sure they understand that when they fire a missile, they're going to die. >> the us military carried out another airstrike today in iraq in what the pentagon called self defense. at the white house, lucas tomlinson, fox news and the us military central command released a statement following the attack, saying they have jeopardized the lives of international crews representing multiple countries around the world. >> we also have every reason to believe that these attacks, while launched by the houthis in yemen, are fully enabled by iran . the united

former obama cia director and defense chief leon panetta spoke at the reagan national defense forum on panel hosted by fox's bill hemmer. panetta wants to see the biden administration respond more forcefully. >> i would be much more aggressive about going after those that attack our us forces. >> do you think to date that our response has been too soft? >> i think i think it's been a little bit too selective of i mean, we hit some ammo dumps, we hit some other targets. but i want to go after those who are firing missiles at our troops and make sure they understand that when they fire a missile, they're going to die. >> the us military carried out another airstrike today in iraq in what the pentagon called self defense. at the white house, lucas tomlinson, fox news, the reagan national defense forum is in california this weekend and national security interests relating to china are at the forefront of conversations. >> alexandria hoff has the story . >> there was a broad range of topics covered this year from military recruitment to funding. but every one of these public conversations c

. >> john: what leon panetta said over the weekend. >> we have to go in and hit those that are responsible for doing it. so i would be much more aggressive about going after those that attack our u.s. forces. >> so you think to date that our response has been too soft? >> i think -- i think it's been a little bit too selective. i mean, we hit some ammo dumps, other targets. i want to go after those who are firing missiles at our troops. and make sure they understand that when they fire a missile, they are going to die. >> john: well, five iranian-backed proxies, or five members of the proxy, got the message over the weekend, they were trying to launch as jen griffin was saying a drone and one of our drones took them out. we are a little tougher but do we need to get a lot tougher? >> i'm telling you, john, the best thing for american national security is remove the point of vulnerability so we don't even have to worry about whether americans are killed, but i do strongly agree that if individuals do take americans under fire, no matter the circumstances, it should be those people we go aft

clinton's, almost all of bill clinton's former white house chief's, erskine bowles, john podesta, leon panetta was on the phone, so was bill daley. anyway. the point of this, the reason it was secret is because obama didn't want to be accused of measuring the drapes in the oval office before he was elected. but he knew howor important waso figureus out who his white house chief would be, unlike some other presidents. ..go the call was up from chicago. david axelrod, bill daley at all the rest. he did not take that advice needless to say he appointed rob emmanuel who was i think a good choice at the time for the first part of the obama presidency. but my point here is once again that presidents often learn the hard way that you have to empower a white house chief. under obama understood this from thebe beginning. that was one of the reasons i think, including his good choices of chiefs of staff over the eight year. i think one of the reasons for his fixed success. >> peter everyone spent welcome back i'd like to say we missed you since this morning. [laughter] secretary lou spoke about the butt

tehran remains demonstrably undeterred as prem's former secretary of defense leon panetta put it last week, i would be much more aggressive. so effective deterrence requires both capabilities and credibility and america can't hope to deter our adversaries if we signal hesitation and fear of escalation. consider the enemy we're up against. one of hamas' top terrorists in gaza told the media recently that the slaughter of israelis on october 7 was, quote, just a rehearsal, a bloody rehearsal that left 1200 innocent people dead and hundreds more in terrorist captivity. these savages mean what they say about erasing israel from the map, but this is not just israel's fight. today at least eight americans are still being held hostage in gaza, and if iran and its proxies get their way, there will be more americans killed and captured. this is not, not a time to go soft on terror. this is not a time to put constraints on israel. this is a time to support your friends and stand up to your adversaries. as the senate considers urgent national security priorities, our adversaries in europe, asia,