mr. schiffer could join us today. he has also been a fellow at the council on foreign relations. he has also worked in the u.s. senate with dianne feinstein. and he has also worked at the nyu center for war, peace for news and media. he has also a member of eclectic pursuits, including running a bed-and-breakfast. anyways, i am sure he brings a lot of experience to the table today. michael, i will turn it to you. just a word of caution to anyone up here. apparently, we're not supposed to shut this computer down in any circumstance. we will not be able to get the slides back up, so just a word of caution. >> thank you -- >> one more thing. we are being taped by c-span. >> the incentive for me for that is -- that is never a good place to be. [laughter] there is always a lot of downside and little upside in these opportunities. in any case, thank you for asking me to join you this morning. this is the sort of conversation and discussion that we do not have the opportunity to engage in as often as we ought to in the policy community. as david and i were talking about before, you do n