admiral mike mullen? thanks for the chance to appear before you and discuss the state of the military and fiscal year 2011 submission. i want to thank you all for the extraordinary support you provide every day to men and women in uniform, as well as their families. they are well-equipped, well- trained, and enjoy the finest medical care anywhere in the world in no small part due to your stewardship and dedicationi and have seen many of you in the the war zone in hospitals and at bases all over this country. so have our troops. they know you care just as critically, they know their fellow citizens care. all i want right now is guidance on the mission before them and the tools to accomplish it. that's why i'm here today to speak on their behalf about the guidance they are getting from this department and to secure your continued support for the tools we want to give them. secretary gates has already walked you through the major components of the defense review and the president's fiscal year '11 defense sp

is 313 still the requirement, admiral mullen?d how does this budget, how does this qdr support the goal of a 313-ship navy? t. is still a goal. it is -- it was when i'd led that analysis and generated that requirement as cno and remains the floor. it was a number that was achieved with, you know, an understanding of what the risks would be. we, the total we, that's the services, the department, those that build ships certainly congressional support, had been working for years to get more money into the ship-building account. and i think as we laid out there, some $15 billion this year. it's ten ship, one of had is an army ship. we are, one of the things we're not going toble able to do build to that number of ships, they keep costing a lot more than they expect they will. that's the acquisition reform is really a critical part of that, and i'll use lcs as an example. that has cost, has been -- while i had expectations the costs would go up, certainly not to the degree that it has. and so that has to be contained. we don't need th

on the newshour tonight, joint chiefs chair mullen tells congress lifting the ban is the right thing to do. margaret warner reports. >> lehrer: then, a debate over the president's proposals to pull the plug on human space flight; >> ifill: an update from haiti on some of the earthquake's youngest victims; plus a tom bearden report on how haitian orphans are adapting to life with their adoptive parents in colorado. >> he's gone through an earthquake. he's on basically planet mars. he's ready to smile at any moment. it's amazing. >> lehrer: and paul solman talks to the c.e.o. of the bank of new york. >> no bank should be too big to fail. that is my view, and that is our industry's view. capitalism works. darwinism works. >> lehrer: that's all ahead on tonight's "pbs newshour." major funding for the pbs newshour is provided by: pacific life. bank of america this is the power of human energy. and the william and flora hewlett foundation, working to solve social and environmental problems at home and around the world. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and

admiral mullen? >> thank you, mr. chairman, senator mccain and thank you for giving the opportunity to discuss with you this very important matter. the chiefs and i am in complete support of the approach that secretary gates has outlined. we believe that any implementation plan for a policy permitting gays and lesbians to serve openly in the armed forces must be carefully derived, sufficiently through -- sufficiently thorough and thoughtfully executed. over the last two months, we have reviewed the fundamental premises behind don't ask, don't tell as was its application and practice over the last 16 years. we understand perfectly the president's desire to see the law repealed. and we owe him our best military advice about the impact of such a repeal and the manner in which we would implement a change in policy. the chiefs and i have not yet developed that advice. and would like to have the time to do so in the same thoughtful, deliberate fashion with which the president has made it clear he wants to proceed. the revie

admiral mullen. >> thank you, mr. chairman, senator mccain, and thank you for giving the opportunity to discuss with you this very important matter. the chief and i are in complete support of the approach secretary gates outlined. we believe any implementation plan for a policy allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the armed forces must be carefully derived, sufficiently through -- sufficiently thorough and thoughtfully executed. over the last two months we have reviewed the fundamental premises behind "don't ask, don't tell" as well as its application and practice over the last 16 years. we understand perfectly the president's desire to see the law repealed. and we owe him our best military advice about the impact of search a repeal and the manner in which we would implement a change in policy. the chiefs and i have not yet developed that advice and would like to have the time to do so in the same thoughtful, deliberate fashion with which the president has made it clear he wants to proceed. the review group s

admiral mullen, please proceed. >> mr.irman, members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you to request the budget request for fiscal year 2011. i first want to thank you for your support of the men and women of the united states military these many years. these troops are part of an extraordinary generation of americans who have answered their country's call. they have fought our wars, protected our interests and allies around the globe, and as we have seen recently in haiti, they have also demonstrated compassion and decency in the face of incomprehensible loss. i have a brief opening statement to provide an overview of the budget request. my submitted statement includes many more details that@@@@@@ @ for acquisition, lo kwgistics a technology, the financial management and controller, paul to be general counsel to the department of navy, and jacqueline steele for installations and environment. is there a motion to promote these nominations? all in favor say aye. they've been before the commit

and today, mike mullen sees back that moral high ground and said, no, no, no. to serve, in effect, in a place and situation where you're lying about your life, that is a lack of integrity. and he put it back on a new moral high ground and gave it more power to the idea of getting rid of this don't ask, don't tell policy. >> davidg gergen, insider briefing, appreciate it. we want to know what you think. join the live chat at ac360.com. >>> just ahead, a hatian-american neighborhood in new york, still obviously reeling from the earthquake back home, but not giving up hope. i'll show you what i find there today on the streets. ny's budge. this is help protect and care for your employees at no cost to your company insurance. with aflac, your employees pay only for the coverage they want or need. and, the cost to you - nothing at all. if all you know about us is... aflac! ...then you don't know quack. to find out why more businesses provide aflac, visit getquack.com i was just in town for a few days, and i was wondering if i could say hi to the doctor. is he in? he'

tomorrow my mike mullen seems back that high ground and says no, no, no. to serve in effect and playboy with a situation where you're next lying to your life. that is a lack of integrity, and he put it back on the high groind and gave more information to the idea of getting rid of this policy. >> appreciate it. thank you. join the live chings at 360? just ahead, but not giving up hope. i'll show you what i found there today on the streets. when i was a kid, we -- we would just go to the -- the farm. [ cow moos ] [ laughter ] no, seriously, where are you guys going? ni hao! ni hao! ni hao! ni hao! ni hao! ni hao! ni hao! ni hao! ni hao! ni hao! ni hao! ni hao! [ female announcer ] the new classroom. see it. live it. share it. on the human network. cisco. >>> it's been exactly three weeks since the catastrophe in haiti. haiti's government, such as it is, says at least 200,000 were killed in the quake, though, frankly, their numbers, they don't have any idea. while aid is pouring in, rebuild from the rubble is going to take years. the quake has shattered live

michael mullen supports allowing gay servicepeople to serve openly in the military. how easy will it be to eliminate the current rule? what would it mean for the military? let's turn to two real soldiers, two iraq war veterans. i'll call you by both your names so we don't get confused. john solts, you, sir, give me a real-life example of what it's like to serve with gay servicemen and women and how it works. what's it like and how does it work effectively? >> the way it works right now is you come home from the war, and like i was, i was on vacation with a couple of my friends. we were traveling around. and they said, oh, by the way, you know that other officer that was with us, he was gay. i said really? i had no idea. it was completely irrelevant on the battlefield when you have lack of body armor, you're trying to figure out your mission. and, you know, i was just shocked on tuesday when i listened to admiral mullen live when he said in the room, i've served with gays since 1968. everybody knows the gays are there. when you serve with them, you just don't think tw

admiral mullen shot back and said, this is about leadership.nd he talked about it being generational. how younger veterans today feel probably differently than older veterans. to say it personally, with no politics involved, you think it's a real credit we have a chairman who's going to give his honest opinion to congress no matter who's the president -- he served for both republican and democrat. it was humbling, and i was honored to be in the room. >> i think what he hit on strongly was the values, integrity. you wear your values on your dog tags. it's an important part of what you do. >> here's john mccain. i respect john mccain. certainly his service. here he is talking about "don't ask, don't tell" with another view. >> i understand the opposition to it. and i've had these debates and discussions. but the day that the leadership of the military comes to me and says, senator, we ought to change the policy, then i think we ought to consider seriously changing it. because those leaders in the military are the ones we give the responsibility t

admiral mullen made a personal and impassioned plea for lifting the ban. it really resonated indeed the building. even if the law hasn't changed, the tenor in the building has changed. he has spoken. gwen: you were at the enter gone the day after the announcement, did you get a reaction? were people surprised or accepting? >> people were surprised. it caught everyone off guard. here he came out and said it with such conviction. at one point on the hill, a congresswoman on the hill said to the chairman, i appreciated you sharing your feelings. he corrected her and said these are my beliefs. at one point sessions questioned him and said this is our job to change, not ours. the chairman said this is about leadership in terms of why he said what he said. it caught the building off guard. you heard a lot of talking in cubicles and lines in serving with gays and lesbians in the military, what it means to cohesion and morale. it was an interesting discussion where people are saying it's not a matter of if, but when. >> i don't think there is in society as a whole

. >> today the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, admiral mike mullen and the defense secretary bobexpressed unreserved support for repealing don't ask, don't tell. even though john mccain is on record saying that's what he would need to hear to change the policy, that's not how john mccain reacted at today's hearing. at all. in fact, he sort of blew a gasket. >> i'm deeply disappointed in your statement, secretary gates. your statement obviouses one which is clearly biased without the view of congress being taken into consideration. you are embarking on saying it's not whether the military prepares to make the change, but how we best prepare for it, without ever hearing from members of congress. >> so for john mccain, as long as the military leadership is against gay people serving in the military, he wants to defer to their judgment. but if the military leadership is for gay people serving in the military, he thinks the military leadership should defer to him. last year he did an interview, with ana marie cox on air america radio in which the senator said on his very first day in

admiral mullen. we want to to -- to be able to replace don't ask/don't tell with a policy of nondiscrame -- nondiscrimination. it would be my preference to go first with legislation but we'll have to examine and and see what the model is. it's not a question of the we're going to do. it's a question of how we can protect people as we go through with the repeal of don't ask/don't item. >> disaggregated these large packages into more digestible components. do you regret or do you think the white house regrets not proceeding with that option initially? >> are you talking about health care? >> health care and other things. >> let's review. one year ago around this time we were moving our recovery package to the president's desk. ilingts goal was to create jobs to stimulate the economy and it has done just that. as you can see -- as the estimates tell us, two million jobs have been created or saved. it's also about the education of our children, more teachers in the classroom, about the safety of our neig

>> the same disagreement you saw between senator mccain and admiral mullen.course, talking with members of the military, and also people who might have joined the military if not for don't ask, don't tell. >> coming out of columbia medical school, robert cavanaugh wanted to be an officer. his friends were an rotc, his grandfather was a u.s. marine. but the openly gay doctor didn't go through with it because he couldn't go back in the closet. >> serving in the military is something i thought of through high school and college. >> but you decided not to go the military route. what swayed your decision? >> hands down, don't ask, don't tell. to keep that part of yourself a secret, i think that you have to lie. >> but that's only half the story. we also wanted to hear what real service members think, so headed down to the naval base in norfolk. >> there's nobody trying to hunt them down saying, oh, kick them out, they're gay, they're lesbian, nothing like that. >> in 2008, about seven times more people got kicked out of the military for being too fat than being op

we were talking about the remarkable testimony we are going to hear in a moment from admiral mullen, saying basic this will say question of fair innocence our country. >> a question integrity. this is pretty spectacular, where you have the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff in 2010, saying he personally believes that gays and lesbians should be able to serve openly, that it's a matter of integrity. how can we ask the people to defend our country when we can't allow them to be who they are? remember 1993, when the country was going through the hearings and hysteria, where you had the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, colin powell, completely against it. >> speaking of reversals, mccain was interesting. perhaps he's changed his tune a bit, although they would dispute that character za the characterizations. >> a big show coming up. first, let's turn to the news. >>> let's look at the top stories this morning. encouraged by members of his own family, the nigerian man accused of bombing a u.s. jetliner is providing fresh intelligence on who was behind the terror plot. the informa

>> well,ists really struck by admiral mullen's words. he's a naval officer since 1968. i've served with gay service members who served their country well. i've known that. and i have come to the conclusion that this is unacceptable to exclude people and isolate them on the basis of their sexual orientation. i think in this case, jim, people have compared it to race and harry truman in 1948. in that case, the president and the military were reading society. i mean, to desegregate a major american institution in 1948 was really -- >> it came out of no where. >> it came out of no where but it was an historic act. i think now, just looking this morning, in 1987, the peer poll asked do you think a local school board hands the right to fire a teacher who is a known homosexual. 51% americans thought it did just on that basis alone. 20 years later it dropped to 28%. and it's dropped even more you can be sure today now three years later because it's a generational thing. i think in this case, the military is basically following society and its lead. >> lehrer: do you agree with

i'm sure edward mullen, when he has a group working on this, will consider that.those contributed to the law. the law is very specific in regard to its findings on sexual behavior. can you enforce this? probably. don't know exactly. that's why it's important to go out and ask the soldiers and the families, which i wholly endorse. i think this is the best thing i heard from the secretary today. >> larry: is it possible, lieutenant colonel, that times have changed. this is 17 years later. >> times have changed, larry, but the military's culture has not radically changed because it's a time of war. so it's possible that, you know, we could change this, but be very, very careful because you have a military that's defending us now. you don't want to do something rash and create a risk that you don't want -- you just can't put back in the bottle. >> larry: lieutenant choi, does this policy personally hurt you? >> of course, larry. when we can all just talk about policy, i think that's fine for a great show in the evening, but for me, all of this really does affect my li

it is a policy that needs to change and i really admire secretary gates and admiral mullen and in fact thought chairman levin did a hell of a job today. >> what do we need to study? what is there to study? gates announced this year-long study on how it is going to be implemented. is that necessary in your opinion? >> no. we have a rand study done back in 1993. they concluded after extensive research that this was not a threat to the morale. this had is part -- there are some people in the military and outside the military who aren't comfortable with this because it's different, it's threatening and they can explain why they're so threatened themselves. but another thing we need to be aware of i think, ed, that hasn't been discussed in this context is that women who represent 15% of the military represent 50% of the people who are being discharged because of the "don't ask don't tell" rule. i think it's a way that some male officers are dealing with something they never wanted to accept which is women in the military. these things need to change. the next generation doesn't care about t

and as admiral mullen said today, it's about integrity. no one should have to lie to fight and die for this country. >> let me try one more time. peter, i accept your right to make this case. this is an american debate which is very much alive, so i'm not taking sides exactly in this debate although i do have a position. let me ask you this. what should a young woman or man, say 22 years old, out of college, officer material, they want to serve their country. but they're gay. what should they do? they want to serve their country. they're patriotic. what should they do? >> they should serve it in some civilian capacity and not join the military. >> why not? >> because the presence of homosexuals in the military is incompatible with good order, morale, discipline and unit cohesion. that's what congress found in 1993 and that's what the law states. >> again, there is no data, there is no evidence, there is no study whatsoever that you can point to to support that outrageous statement. and what i would also suggest to you is that 79% of americ

admiral mullen -- >> just one for the record and it's brief.n senator thune's question he was asking about decommissioning bombers and, in fact, what i didn't say is there's consideration for a reduction in the number of bombers and overall start and negotiations which have not come to conclusion yet. >> we will ask the staff to give him that information. we're going to recess now for 5 minutes. when we come back after opening statements, we are going to call on senators in the same order that we called on them for the first hearing. we'll stand adjourned for 5 minutes. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> now, for educators, c-span offers the new c-spanclassroom.org. we've redesigned the website to make it even more useful for teachers with the most current and timely c-span videos for use in your classroom. you can find the most watched video clips, organized by subjects and topics. the latest in education news. plus, the chance to connect with other c-span teachers and it's all free. sign up at the new c-spanclassroom.org.

more from defense secretary robert gates and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, admiral mike mullen. at that, briefings on the budget from the state department and the department of health and human services. on "washington journal" tomorrow morning, rick maze answers questions about proposals for the defense department and the proposal to end the don't ask don't tell policy. danielle pletka discusses u.s. policy toward iran. we will hear more about the proposed budget from vermont senator bernie sanders, and janet murguia, the president of the national council, will focus on issues affecting latinos. "washington journal" is lighter day at 7:00 a.m. eastern europe c-span. -- is live every day at 7:00 a.m. eastern here on c-span. . >> press secretary robert gibbs also talked about creating a commission on the national debt. this is about 50 minutes. >> good afternoon. before we get started with your questions, let me make a brief announcement. the president and the first lady will be traveling to indonesia and australia in the second half of march. this trip is an important part of t

admiral mullen. >> thank you, mr. chairman, senator mccain.unity to discuss with you this very important matter. the chiefs and i are in complete support of the approach secretary gates has outlined. we believe any implementation planned for a policy permitting gays and lesbian it is serve openly in the armed forces must be carefully derived sufficiently through -- sufficiently thorough and thoughtfully executed. over the last two month, we have reviewed the fundamental premises behind don't ask, don't tell, as well as its application in practice over the last 16 years. we understand perfectly the president's desire to see the law repealed and we owe him our best military advice about the impact of such a repeal and the manner in which we would implement a change in policy. the chiefs and i have not yet developed that advice and would like to have the time to do so in the same thoughtful, deliberate fashion with which the president has made it clear he wants to proceed. the review group secretary gates has ordered will no doubt give us that ti

host: admiral mike mullen, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. let us go back to the "the new york times" piece. however, republican sound like they are not interested in repealing the law. "the wall street journal caused what has this to say. republicans appealed to be united against the appeal. including senator john mccain, looking more at coverage of this topic, we will see a clip of senator john mccain in a moment. and more mullen became the highest-ranking military officer ever when he asked to appeal these restrictions. a source of controversy within the pentagon. it was put in place in the clinton administration back in 1993, according to "the wall street journal." the story goes on today that and nbc-wall street journal poll in 1993 found no more than 43% of americans supported lifting restrictions on gays in the military. usa today-gallup poll in june 2009, by contrast, 69% of americans favored eliminating, don't ask, don't tell restrictions. let us look at what senator john mccain said yesterday. >> numerous military leaders to tell me

host: in "usa today" -- secretary gates and chairman mullen will be talking about that.at is in the president's mind? how willing is the secretary and chairman to carry this out? guest: a willingness is not a question when it comes to serve the president. they are willing to try. they have dozens of questions about implementation, how it cannot be done quickly, how this is not the right time to do it, but in the end, they are ready to start on the course to get it done. certainly not as fast as people in the gay rights community may want, and it is a long road, and it is not a sure thing. host: how much support does this have fromxd officers? why do they have to go to congress to implement this decision? guest: the law is clear. homosexual melanie is not conducive to -- homosexuality is not conducive to servers in the army. the law was set in 1933. bill clinton tried to pass anñr amendment. this left us with this don't ask, don't tell. the discharge members have been down from the military, maybe 1500, only because they were gay. host: washington, d.c.. tony, go ahead. g

eso fue lo que dijo hoy el almirante mike mullen, jefe del estado mayor conjunto dijo ante una comisionsta es la primera vez que un militar estadounidense de tan alto rango muestra un claro apoyo al levantamiento de la prohibicion... la ley no pregunten no digan, vigente desde 1993 obliga a los militaredel pais homosexuales a ocultar su orientacion sexual... ya varias pulgadas de nieve acumulado sobre la region a esta hora de la noche ...veamos que nos espera para las proximas horas .....32 grados es lo que esta marcando el termometro .....podemos ver en nuestro mappa doppler satelital el paso de esta nueva tormenta invernal sobre la region y que conituanra para las proximas horas ....se espera que este nevando fuerte hasta las 5 de la manana aproximadamente .....y el total de acumulacion seria entre 3 a 6 pulgadas ......enn nuestro pronostico escolar es muy probable que este mnnevando ahasta las 7 de la manana por lo que tiene que consultar con las escuelas si los chicos llegara mas tarde o seran en horario normal ...para el resto del dia estara mayormente nublado con maximas que e

. >> the joint chiefs chairman, admiral mike mullen, says lifting the ban is a matter of integrity and, quote, the right thing to do. >> we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens. >> admiral mullen's statement ran into stiff opposition from republican senators. >> the armed forces must maintain policies that exclude people whose presence in the armed forces would create an unnecessary risk to the high standards, morale and discipline of a unit co heegs. >> in this moment, immense hardship for our forces, we should not be seeking toef turn the don't ask, don't tell policy. >> until the law is changed, gates said he would try to make enforcement of don't ask, don't tell more lenient. >> secretary gates says it will take at least a year to repeal don't ask, don't tell. the final decision is up to congress. >>> also on capitol hill, a chilling admission from the country's top military officials. they say al-qaeda is certain to try to attack the united states in the next three to six months, emphasis here on

[applause] >> thank you very much, admiral mullen.duce our keynote speaker, secretary of state, hillary rodham clinton. [applause] she is an incred can my accomplished woman whose life has been shaped by the deep and apieding faith she was blessed to receive during her childhood in suburban chicago. her mother taught sunday school and made sure that her daughter and son were there the moment the church doors opened. in high school she was deeply influenced by her youth minister who taught her about faith in action. on one memorable evening at age 14, her church dpriewt group went to hear a speech by reverend dr. martin luther king, a transformative experience that inspires her today. as the first lady of arkansas, she was an advocate for disadvantaged chirp and families. -- children and families. her faith led her to a champion for human rights, especially for women around the world. as i've learned from people who are here at this prayer breakfast long before me, hillary clinton and her husband, president bill clinton, were always ge

perhaps you, admiral mullen can be persuaded to give a future one. background i hope to have a better understanding how these traditions began. having left washington journal the family foundation on remain actively involved in two of washington's greatest institutions. csis led by the exceptionally talented john hamre and the center for the study of the presidency in the congress where i serve on the board of trustees. david continues to have an idea sometimes our board members the trustees will say to dave dave, don't you think we are doing a little too much, and i smiled to myself and chuckle inside, and i think got some things will never change. we have so much to address in the world today but we have some of the best and brightest at csis and ocs pc to do that. both organizations across the lessons of history to deal with today's challenges come all the time of moving forward with a fortitude and loyalty inspired by those who came before us. there is no better example of this spirit than having dave began to recognize his greatness and extraord

third of all, i respect the views of admiral mullen who said it was his individual opinion that we have not heard from the rest of the military leadership. i would be very interested in hearing from our military on this issue. finally, i have a letter signed by over 1,000 retired admirals and generals, over 1,000, thousands of years of experience that say, don't repeal don't ask don't tell because it could have an impact on our combat effectiveness. so, there gonna, i hope do a study. i hope we're gonna get the opinion from our military leadership. i've always said that i believe that don't ask don't tell was working and i believe it is. >> greta: in terms of the letter, i think some of the leaders said that was then but things have evolved. is your letter in the last year or two? how current is the letter? >> the letter is as i believe october of last year. >> greta: what is it that you think, if they serve openly, what is it the effect it would have? play it out for me? what happens? >> well, as you know in combat, our members of the military live close together. we are not prohibitin

so i think he thought he had political cover, and i think admiral mullen's statement took everybody by surprise today, especially senator mccain. >> we were told time and time again during the bush administration, we need to listen to the generals, particularly the generals on the ground. does that apply only to iraq, or when broad policy decisions are being made about the military, the general is somehow uninformed? >> i think what they were doing, republicans said we ought to list tonight generals, some of the generals were saying what they wanted to hear. for example, when senator mccain was saying, we can muddle through in afghanistan, the generals there were saying, that's not working. but he didn't want to hear that, because he was so focused on iraq. and what happens is, you try to get political cover for what you want to do by theoretically relying on the experts. but what happens when you open that door, then the experts change, then you have a big problem, and senator mccain had a big one today, particularly since on the hardball tour three years ago, he took the opposite pos

is 313 still the requirement, admiral mullen?and how does this budget, how does this qdr support the goal of a 313-ship navy? t. is still a goal. it is -- it was when i'd led that analysis and generated that requirement as cno and remains the floor. it was a number that was achieved with, you know, an understanding of what the risks would be. we, the total we, that's the services, the department, those that build ships certainly congressional support, had been working for years to get more money into the ship-building account. and i think as we laid out there, some $15 billion this year. it's ten ship, one of had is an army ship. we are, one of the things we're not going toble able to do build to that number of ships, they keep costing a lot more than they expect they will. that's the acquisition reform is really a critical part of that, and i'll use lcs as an example. that has cost, has been -- while i had expectations the costs would go up, certainly not to the degree that it has. and so that has to be contained. we don't need

mullen was speaking of it as a moral imperative. >> that's one of the things about gates.here's two sides to him. the careful side is what i think we saw with this issue. he isn't going to get out there and make a big moral statement. he's going to go methodically through the steps to see what the causes -- what the effects are going to be and he -- i don't think he was originally a champion of repealing the law. but i think his commander in chief wants to, and he's going to follow that through and do it slowly. he also likes to point out it's up to congress to actually repeal the law. >> thanks so much, elizabeth rubin. great cover story in "time" magazine. just this quick point, i wanted to point out that our friends over at huff post did first break that story that politic ol fronted today, that axelrod had challenged -- that actixelrod w challenged by al franken at that meeting. we just want to give credit where credit is due, to the huffington post. >>> we have two words for you, super bowl. we're heading live to miami with e espn's trey wheedle and our own chuck todd

i have a question for admiral mullen.n this theme of leadership and what you consider as you chart a course in a complex situation towards a destination that's been determined by the commander in chief. what sort of factors you have to consider. i'll give you two to talk about. one is don't ask, don't tell. and the other is relations with china because the taiwan arms sale was just announced a couple of hours ago. how do you try to balance this commitment to taiwan and the decision is made but the imperative in remaining engaged with china but now that i talked about china don't forget about the first point that i made. [laughter] >> i'll actually be happy to second first and i'll answer the first question tuesday at the hearing. >> fair enough. [laughter] >> the issue from a leadership perspective with china, i think, is one that i have -- i and others have responsibility from a military-to-military perspective. and opportunities. as has been the case with many, many countries. i actually find it a little bit ironic that

and joining me right now from washington d.c., chris mullen, the deputy secretary of state. we heard the president address today, he assured the people of chile that the people of the united states stand by them. and having been in chile and experiencing them sending aid and comfort to other nations affected by the natural disasters, is this the kind of is situation where they feel they can handle it on their own? what can the united states do to august meant or help in that process. >> let us just express again our condolences to the chilean people, and commend the president for what he did in those circumstances. chile is one of the best prepared for this kind of seismic event or tragedy. they were one of of the first countries to respond to the tragedy in haiti. and their military, they're members of the u.n. and peace keepers in haiti moved out and the chilean government brought in supplies and teams. they have practiced many times for this type of thing, so my guess is whatever they have asked from us, and we have made an offer of assistance, and we have stand by teams

doing this, thank you for doing it and came out in the press conference and said i denounce admiral mullen >> this is for domestic political consumption because the association with the american war on terror is not that popular. >> look, i mean, i think pakistan is one of the most anti-american countries in the world, it is not popular there, but i think the mood there is shifting and there is clear support both in the pakistani military. >> paul: all right. colin, let me get to the opposition here, the american civil liberties union is starting to act. what is it doing? >> well, it filed the freedom of information request and what it's really looking for here is to make the obama administration justify what its doing. so, what it's challenging is the idea that this is sort of a new form of state sanctioned lethal force that as we've just been talking about untethered from geography. not in the traditional theaters of war, not just in iraq and afghanistan, it's happening in countries like pakistan and yemen. so, that's, that's what they're getting at here and that's what they're concerned

from admiral mike mullen.enate armed services committee, a live look at the defense second turkey robert gates, hello, that is where we start a new hour, of "america's newsroom," i'm bill hemmer. martha: i'm martha maccallum, admiral mullen revealing additional u.s. troops will arrive in afghanistan, at a slower pace, than the white house had originally announced. bill: despite the hold-up, he predicts our forces will begin reversing the taliban's momentum by year's end and mike emanuel is live at the pentagon on the story, watching the hearing and talking to people over there, good morning, mike. first, to the deployment issue related to afghanistan. why the hold-up, and why the delay? >> reporter: admiral mull ln laid out, bill, 4500 of the surge troops are already there in country, and the number will rise to 18,000 by spring, and then they say they'll have the 30,000 additional troops by the end of summer. the pentagon says the issue is essentially that if an army unit has spent a year deployed in iraq or

joint chiefs chairman admiral mike mullen said it is time to end the policy. that didn't sit well with several republican senators. >> i cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens. >> at this moment of immense hardship for our armed services, we should not be seeking to overturn the don't ask, don't tell policy. >> congress would need to approve the repeal and that is not expected to happen soon. for now the pentagon plans to ease up on enforcing the policy. >>> seven months after michael jackson's death, prosecutors in los angeles are set to file charges against the superstar's physician. dr. conrad murray is expected to be charged with involuntary manslaughter. he could possibly surrender to police as early as today. legal experts say the probable case against murray rests on whether the prosecution can prove he acted recklessly. >> certainly the district attorney's office would have to look very carefully and certainly consult wit

. >> reporter: admiral mullen's statement ran into stiff opposition from republican senators. >> persons who demonstrate an propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts would very likely create an unacceptable risk to those high standards of morale. >> reporter: senator john mccain who just a few years ago said, the day that the leadership of the military comes to me and says we ought to change the policy, we ought to consider seriously changing it, said something quite different. >> at this moment, immense hardship for our armed services, we should not be seeking to overturn the don't ask, don't tell policy. >> reporter: defense secretary robert gates also supports repealing don't ask, don't tell. but wants at least a year to review several issues, including benefits for gay partners. base housing. and morale. at the hearing, was one, young soldier who is really at the heart of this debate. lieutenant dan choi is a west point graduate, an iraq veteran, and one of the few arabic speakers in the military. like thousands of others, he faces dismissal from the army by saying publicly t

that is why admiral mullen is a stand-up guy for this bid is hard to do what he has done. >> there are a lot of conservatives who avoided this issue by saying, "i will follow the military wants to do." now the military wants to overturn it, and that could run counter to wear their constituencies are, and where they may actually be. >> the two architects of the don't ask don't tell policy in 1990, general colin powell and senator sam nunn have a both a revamped their own positions. it has to go through congress, and they want to build up the evidence and the case in behalf of repealing the policy, because there is resistance, in the military and also in the congress as well. >> that is the last word. thanks for being with us. see you next week. for a transcript of this broadcast, log on to insidewashington.tv. to providing service to its auto insurance customers for over 70 years. more information on auto insurance at geico.com or 1-800-947-auto any time of the day or night.

. >> reporter: admiral mike mullen said it's time to scrap don't ask, don't tell that prohibits gays and lesbians from openly serving in the military. >> we have a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens. >> reporter: in his state of the union, president obama made repeal of don't ask, don't tell a political priority. >> this year i will work with congress. >> reporter: today defense secretary gates says he supports the president, but indicated it could take two years to implement the change. >> the question before us is not whether the military prepares to make this change, but how we best prepare for it. >> reporter: that drew a blistering review from republican senator john mccain, suggesting gates was playing politics. >> it requires the agreement of congress in order to repeal it, and so your statement, obviously is one which is clearly biased. >> reporter: there is an estimated 65,000 gays and lesbians in the military and 69% of americans believe they have the right to serve. gay rights advocates claim the shift

. >> reporter: joint chiefs chairman admiral mike mullen told the senate arms services committee therent "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which forces gays in uniform to keep quiet about their sexual orientation, is fundamentally dishonest. >> we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens. >> reporter: while 428 gays were discharged from the military last year, defense secretary gates made it sound like it is no longer a question of if gays can serve openly but when. >> the question before us is not whether the military prepares to make this change but how we must... how we best prepare for it. >> reporter: today's testimony made clear it will not happen any time soon, certainly not this year, if at all. for one thing, gates wants a year to study. >> what the men and women in our armed forces really think about this. >> reporter: for another, "don't ask, don't tell" is a law enacted by congress. >> i'm happy to say that we still have a congress of the united states that would have to pass a law to repeal "