track and i expect it was national service and something that general us democrats still admiral mike mullen both talked about and then valerie jarrett picked it up and you can see it moving through the festival a series about the draft because i do believe doing what. if someone has to serve it should be everyone has to be at least in a position to be like it should not be left to the weakest part of a community. so let's add a ricks to the list and explain his plan he argues that there should be three options for men and women fresh out of high school number one they could do eighteen months of military service with low pay but with post service benefits like free college tuition number two they could opt to they could opt to not be deployed and instead they can perform office style tasks that are currently held by contractors for example doing paperwork money lawns driving generals around and other civilian tasks and if they are interested in servicing the army serving in the r.v. at all rick for pros that they do other low pay national service tasks for slightly longer jobs like teaching

this is admiral mike mullen, the former joint chiefs speaking a few days ago. >> if i o'm a 5-year-olde of the family of these major deply ploying units of t of the army whose average length of time of deployment is a year, i'm now 15 or 16 years old and my dad has been gone three, four or five times. and my whole conscious life from the time i was 5 and i started to figure out there was something out there, my whole conscious life has been at war. the united states has never, never experienced that before. it's my belief that we have to have a military that is representative of our country, that does what the president of the uted states, the duly elected president of the united states says we do, and we go through that debate about whether we're going to intervene and send someone someplace to give his or her life specifically. that's who we are. i do worry that it's just please go off and fight our war, we don't want to be bothered and the whole country isn't in. >> the whole country isn't in. it turns out it's not just former chairman of the joint chiefs. a whole lot of the rest of

this is testimony from mike mullen, chairman of the joint chief of staff last fall.with impunity, serving as proxy of the government of pakistan, attacking the afghan troop and civilians as well as the u.s. soldiers. he goes on at some length talking about the specific attack, including september 13 against the u.s. embassy in kabul. sponsored by the isi intelligent services. other attacks result in injury for 77 u.s. soldiers. i have yet to hear an apology from the pakistani government for any of those things. they're on going. this sponsorship continues today. we have heard nothing. >> john: let's look at what secretary of state hillary clinton said. we are committed to working closely with pakistan and afghanistan to prevent this from happening again. the united states needs the cooperation of pakistan. pakistan needs the united states as well. president sardri was concerned with the relations framed the way they were that u.s. aid to pakistan which is valued in the billions of dollars might be at risk. why did the state department use that leverage to say you kno

we heard from stan mcchrystal, mike mullen, lot of defense experts and also, lot of conversation, educationp on the role of arts and education coming up later this afternoon. here today, we will be talking to peter orzach, jillian tet, charlie cook, a whole lot more coming up next. and the head of the aspen institute and aspen ideas festival on "andrea mitchell reports." ♪ i'm consolidating my assets. i'm not paying hidden fees or high commissions. i'm making the most of my money. and seven-dollar trades are just the start. i'm with scottrade. i'm with scottrade. i'm with scottrade. and i'm loving every minute of it. [ rodger riney ] at scottrade, we give you commission-free etfs, no-fee iras and more. come see why more investors are saying... i'm with scottrade. that's a good thing, but it doesn't cover everything. only about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. so consider an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement plans, they pick up some of what medicare doesn't pay. and save

this fits exactly what the council on foreign relations study that mike mullen was part of, condi ricethat schools, poor education is now the greatest national security threat. >> the majority of kids are not coming out of high school able to go into the military. so that is a very specific national security threat. it gets even worse when you talk about the overall economy. i know nbc is doing the education nation, we're working with them on that. to me, almost every panel, not just national security panel but every panel, it comes back to k through 12 education in the united states. >> thank you so much. we will talk to mitch landrieu about everything you accomplished in new orleans. >> mitch is the greatest mayor and he has done a great job in new orleans. those from that town love him. >> jeff goldberg, thank you. >>> up next, new orleans mayor mitch landrieu. what kind of setup could that be on health care? and bringing his city back from the economic brink. >>> plus, the story behind those sensational dance moves by the mayor. to a little girl who saw flames reach her home as her

in that hearing but later on the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, who's also a navy man, mike mullen, did not approve of your promotion going forward. why? >> you'll have to ask admiral mullen. i really don't understand. i clearly had been supported throughout the chain of command. he walked in and did a complete reversal to what the command had previously supported, including the president. obviously he felt he knew better. but the reasons he list ready still a mystery to me. >> who's responsible, the secretary of the navy or the chief of naval operations or the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff on promotions for officers? >> boards along to the secretary of the navy. that's why we had civilian oversight, civilian control of the military. it is the secretary of the navy's actual promotion board. it is not the chief of naval operations and it is not the chairman. they can provide advice on it, but it is not their board. >> so in 2006 you say i want to talk to senator warner. had you spoken with him up until that point? >> absolutely not. i wanted to allow my chain of command as m

admiral mike mullen, the former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, put it simply: our debt is our number-one national security threat. and yet, severe across-the-board cuts to the department of defense are not the way to address the security threat and they are not the way to achieve long-term fiscal responsibility. federal debt is a national security threat, to be sure, but so would be unilaterally cutting key funding to americans -- to america's men and women in uniform. realistically confronting the debt problem means addressing soaring entitlement costs which are growing at three times the rate of inflation, growing at three times the rate of our economic growth. we can't sustain that. realistically confronting the debt does not mean gambling with the resources our military needs to protect this nation and the skilled jobs necessary to supply today's advanced force. unless we act and act soon, $492 billion will be cut from defense spending beginning january 3, 2013. according to defense secretary leon panetta, the effect would be devastating, a meat ax. our secretary of defens

admiral mike mullen, the retired joint chiefs of staff, while he was still chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said the greatest threat to this nation is its debt. we have done not one thing since january to address that problem. we're having spats over judges, we're having spats over all the small things, but the greatest imminent danger to our country we're doing nothing about. i believe we have less than two to five years to act, to make a significant change in our path. no one knows when this nation will cross the point of no return. and we may have already, but there is a point where we will lose control of our own destiny. it's coming. and the fact that the senate this year has had fewer votes than at any time since 1947 according to the congressional research service, why is that? because we have a political year. we don't want to take votes. we don't want to have to explain to our constituencies why we voted yea or nay on something. so the whole goal is to not vote. and ultimately, the whole goal is to not address the very pressing issues facing this country. what do you thin

the fact that we are not addressing, what mike mullen says is the greatest risk to our country, our debte fact we are not addressing that says that we do not deserve to be in washington. host: the book is "the debt bomb." a couple of sweets -- -- tweets -- guest: 10% to 15%, easy. i can show that to you, and so can anyone else in the military. in your area of responsibility, could you find -- if you had to reach a 10%? i never had anybody tell me know. -- me no. that is different in afghanistan right now. that is not true for our troops over there. stateside? you bet. host: felix tweets in -- guest: some variation of it may be. i voted for simpson-bowls because i thought we need to get action to the floor. the problem was it did not fix medicare. that is why they get no house republicans to vote for it. it had nothing to do with increased taxes. it had to do with what was in the package. it had to do with not fixing medicare. host: next call for center coburn, we have about seven minutes left with our guest. john, republican line. caller: i want to thank the senator for his service and f

gained more traction than i expected was national service, something that general stan mcchrystal, mike mulleneeing it move through the festival. the fact that people should be expected to do national service. you come out of the '60s with this notion of the draft and national service is something we flinch from. hey, from my father's generation, it was expected of everybody and it helped increase social mobility. >> i think this country needs a mission and someone needs to galvanize it. >> i also think that people need to be part of a common cause as opposed to thinking that you just begin your career just out for yourselves. >> i like it. >> what is the -- >> i love it. >> the most gala tare yan institution in this country? the military. where you meet people not where you're from. i meet you from new orleans. >> right. >> i meet you from omaha. do you think in terms of presidential legacies that one of the most enduring legacies any president could have would be to institute some form of national service? >> it's a missed opportunity. >> i heard the ideas a festival when mcchrystal talked a

navy admiral mike mullen, chairman of the joint chiefs, said the cyber threat has no boundaries or rules and the reality is the cyber attacks can bring us to our knees, unquote. according to our director of national intelligence, james clapper, russia and china are exploiting our vulnerability. his unclassified assessment is entities within these countries are already -- quote -- "responsible for extensive illicit intrusions into u.s. computer networks and theft of intellectual property" -- end of quote. we've got to respond to this, mr. president. and we have to do it quickly. i want thank senators lieberman, collins, feinstein and rockefeller for putting together this bill. the cybersecurity act of 2012. they've introduced an approach that is balanced, bipartisan, and responsive to legitimate concerns raised by the intelligence community, private city, -- industry, and privacy advocates. the siebd will make us safer. -- the cybersecurity act of 2012 will make us safer. pipelines, electrical grids, water treatment facilities, transportation systems, even financial networks are increasin