ladies and gentleman, admiral mullen. [applause] >> kurram morning. mr.ress, secretary lynn, a distinguished guest, veterans, family members of our fallen warriors, and fellow americans, every year since civil war reconstruction americans have set aside this day to pay tribute to service and sacrifice. no place more than arlington reminds me of what we owe them and their families for what they have given to us. in forests and jungles, beaches and desert, and across seas and skiesyoung americans have fought for each other, fought for their families, and fought for us. now they peacefully rest in cemeteries, and marked battlefield graves, and in the deepest oceans around the world. each plot enshrines a unique story and we remember the sacrifice, humility and the service each name represents. the great world war ii correspondent early -- ernie pyle never forgot these stories, particularly those that the fall and could never tell. in the wake of the normandy invasion on e beach were so many of gave their lives, he found bibles, toothbrushes, hand grenades, a

he was joined by admiral mike mullen.his is just under one hour. ♪ [national anthem plays] [military commands] [drumroll] [taps plays] ♪ [military commands] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, please stand for the introduction of the vice-president, honors, introduction -- invocation, and the national anthem. command chaplain and the united states military army, the superintendent of the arlington national cemetery, the commanding general of the joint force headquarters, admiral michael mullen, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, the deputy secretary of defense. ladies and gentlemen, the vice president of the united states. ♪ >> william bell with me in prayer? -- will you about with me in the prairie? our great father -- will you bow with me in prayer? our great father, thank you for the men and women who fight for freedom, for america, for home and family. continue to bless these honorable men and women, and help all americans appreciate their suffering and their sacrifice, and the loss of those who were with

psychiatry and ed morrill mullen, thank you for your testimony this morning. >> mr.hairman, at the risk of prolonging the hearing, could i take just a moment to address the question to put to me in your opening statement? >> yes, sir. >> first of all, one of the frustrations i have had ever since taking this job has been the department of defense is organized and structured to plan for the war but not wage war and the only way that i have been able that i found i have been able to get the kind of urgent action to create the mrap to get the additional intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance work to do to counter ied effort has been battling to get their the groups that you described in the task force's where i jeter them and essentially have all of the senior players both uniformed and civilian at the table. and to be able to force the kind of rapid action that has been necessary to support those in the field. in several of these areas, i think that the work has reached a point where i think i can begin to take action to begin to return these efforts to their tra

that's what i heard from admiral mullen. host: if the counterinsurgency had been working better in afghanistan, is there a possibility general mcchrystal could have saved his job? everything else being the same. if the war was going better in afghanistan, would he still be in his position? >> if the war was going better, he would not have had as much dissension among the national security team that they were talking about and so perhaps in one sense, there would not have anything to claim about. everybody, again, by all accounts at the top, this is not a referendum about counterinsurgency. this is not a referendum about how things are going. they already have been pushing back to say that they thought there had been progress. they said all along this was going to be a long time. they said that they were going to have a year before they got all of the surge troops in and what have a new review in december. secretary gates says the surge troops still have not even arrived. i think a lot of people want that to be the case, espe

ladies and showman, admiral mullen. -- and gentlemen, admiral mullen. >> good morning, mr.mbers of congress, secretary land, distinguished guests, families of our fallen warriors, and fellow americans. every year since civil war reconstruction, americans have set aside this day to pay tribute to service and to sacrifice. no place more than arlington reminds me of what we owe them and their families for what they have given to us. in forests and jungles, beaches and desert, and across these and skies, young americans have fought for each other, for for their families, and fought for us. now they peacefully rest in cemeteries, on march battlefield graves, and in the deepest oceans around the world. each plot enshrines a unique story and we remember the sacrifice, the humanity, and the service of each name representing. the great world war correspondent never forgot these human stories, particularly of those that the fall and could no longer tell. in the wake of the normandy invasion, he described what remain on the beach where so many gave their lives. he found pacs and sock,

i will ask admiral mullen to chime in here. my opening statement, as the fact sheet said, here are the categories and the numbers we are working men. frankly, i see no reason for us to make final decisions within less narrow frame marks -- frame works until we have a better sense of strategic developments with russia and other countries as well, especially since we have all this time under the treaty. i think he -- the key reassurance i can is under all the options we are looking at, the ones that we think are likely to employment, it would not involve closing any of our missile bases or changing the basing of our bombers at this point. >> sir, i would just add that the uniformed leadership feels very strongly about not making those decisions before they are due. that is really seven years out the strength of the treaty, as -- that is really seven years out. the strength of the treaty, as defined, gives us some flexibility. we are beginning to look at what the next submarine looks like, in that part of the triad. what we wanted

>> thank you very much admiral mullen. i believe you are aware that the votes have started. that is why some of the members have left to vote, but they will be back. i would like to begin mr. secretary by asking a question on the joint strike fighter. your projection has been shown to have a few predictions that are not quite correct. for example the cost has increased by a believe $109 billion. your chief weapons buyer has indicated that there are many problems in the strike fighter testing programs. my question is, with these errors, should we still go along with your insistence upon no alternatives? >> yes, sir. i believe that is the case. in fact i believe it very strongly. first of all, talking about two different subjects here, the fighter itself than and the alternative engine. we had an independent estimating team in 2008 that identified some difficulties in the development program. i added almost 500 lien dollars, or you added almost $500 million of my request to that program. we did another independent estimating

i will ask admiral mullen to chime in here. my opening statement, as the fact sheet said, here are the categories and the numbers we are working men. frankly, i see no reason for us to make final decisions within less narrow frame marks -- frame works until we have a better sense of strategic developments with russia and other countries as well, especially since we have all this time under the treaty. i think he -- the key reassurance i can is under all the options we are looking at, the ones that we think are likely to employment, it would not involve closing any of our missile bases or changing the basing of our bombers at this point. >> sir, i would just add that the uniformed leadership feels very strongly about not making those decisions before they are due. that is really seven years out the strength of the treaty, as -- that is really seven years out. the strength of the treaty, as defined, gives us some flexibility. we are beginning to look at what the next submarine looks like, in that part of the triad. what we wanted

psychiatry and ed morrill mullen, thank you for your testimony this morning. >> mr.hairman, at the risk of prolonging the hearing, could i take just a moment to address the question to put to me in your opening statement? >>es, sir. >> first of all, one of the frustrations i have had ever since taking this job has been the department of defense is organized and structured to plan for the war but not wage war and the only way that i have been able that i found i have been able to get the kind of urgent action to create the mrap to get the additional intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance work to do to counter ied effort has been battling to get their %-e groups that you described in the task force's where i jeter them and essentially have all of the senior players both uniformed and civilian at the table. and to be able to force the kind of rapid action that has been necessary to support those in the field. in several of these areas, i think that the work hasreached a point where i think i can begin to take action to begin to return these efforts to their tradit

i'm very honored to introduce the keynote speaker admiral mike mullen.e are here on -- to honor 58,000 killed, over 300,000 wounded, and 3.5 million of us to serve, now the biggest surviving group of veteran. admiral mullen has had a long and distinguished career with the armed forces. it is now the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. he is the senior military officer in the armed forces. he is by law the principle of pfizer and -- to the commander- in-chief and the secretary of defense. react -- three months after we got out of the west point, he participated in duty off the coast of vietnam. during the course of his career he served on six other warships, three as commanding officer. as an admiral, he commanded the u.s.s. george washington strike force and the second fleet. he served in the navy staff and also the staff of the secretary of defense. he obtained them master of science degree in monterey, calif., and also graduated from the advanced management program at the harvard business school. heserved as vice chief of naval operations 3 he serve

and later, defense secretary greagates and admiral mullen exn why they agree with the decision to replaceeneral mcchrystal. >> of course, the lottery is prescribed by law. if demand are basis supply you have to do a lottery. >> i think this is the civil rights issue of today and it is not just about race. it is about class. >> tonight, the market -- the lottery producer madeleine sackler on the family that she hosted for the lottery, and the anti-charter schools and demand. >> mr. chairman, we are pleased to have you here of the g-20 leaders are gathering for the same debate as we are having on capitol hill, which is, what is a hybrid of a love spending -- what is the bright club level of spending in a weak economy. walter, let's start with you. >> house democrats said this week that they are not going to propose a traditional budget resolution. >> we're going to propose a budget resolution, chiefly enter merrilee for, discretionary spending. -- chiefly and primarily for discretionary spending. that will be the number that determines how much discretionary spending there will be. the pres

general petreaus and admiral mullen have created a ask force to examine our practices to reduce these unintended consequences. when we have evidence of corruption, we will work with the afghan government to prosecute those who are on the law. let me return to our efforts to build the capability and capacity of the ansf. capacity remains key. this helps us drawdown our forces as conditions allow. we're still short about 450 institutional trainers. we have reduced the ratio from1 to 80, to one to 30. we are meeting our goal for fiscal year 2010, and nearly 85% is now fully partnered with isaf forces as they operate in the field. the afghan national police is on track to reach its goal of 109,000 police by the end of the fiscal year. we have increased the capacity to conduct training by 4% over the last 12 funds. follow-on training has been provided to those afghan uniformed police in key districts as well as the afghan border police. recent salary and benefit initiatives have addressed pay disparities between them, and they appeared to be improving retention and attrition. literacy prog

been a perfect storm of alar company that has had according to the records 97% of all of the admiral mullen egregious and willful safety violation being ought by this company coupled with a philosophy that's been in place for the last decade and other times in our history that's basically said, step back, and let industry police itself even wn there is trendous risk to the american public if they cut corners and we've seen that on wall street. we saw that with miners' lives being lost. we are now seeing it with oil companies, and so i want you -- i'd like you to respo to how we me forward to correct that a little bit more, but i do want to enter into the record something -- a piece of what was in "the washington post" yesterday because i think it's very important. the headline was "bp had a history of problems." and this goes to h we go forward on these situations with companies with these kinds of histories. "a series of internal investigations over the past decade warned senior bp managers that the oil company r disregarded safety and environmental rules and risked a serious accident if i

. >> i would add to that and say that when you're talking to the rest of progress of mullen males --illennial, when you talk about those issues like the economy and health care, you make sure you explain the pieces of that issue that impacted them. when you talk about education and you talk about investments and national service. your making sure that even though you may be talking about the same issues led everyone cares about, and young people traditionally are not focused on this in the same way. while we take a question from up front -- why don't we take a question from up front? >> i am from virginia. in 2008, va. went a blue for the first time in 30 something years. after that, we went purple. we voted for obama but now people are voting more republicans. what can candidates learn from the obama campaign besides just reaching out to young voters? what else different than they do? >> i tend not to talk in the red, blue, and purple because i do not think that is our regular people do things. -- view things. virginia has a recent history of putting democrat for governor and has se

but secretary gates and the chairman of the joint chiefs, admiral mike mullen, defended the war effort. >> i do not believe we are bogged down. i believe we are making some progress. it is slower and harder than we anticipated. but for all the reasons the chairman just articulated, i think we are moving forward. >> woodruff: gates said petraeus was the natural choice for afghanistan because he already know it is players and the plan. afghan president hamid karzai had argued that the surest way to make progress was to keep general mcchrystal on the job. but a karzai spokesman today voiced confidence in petraeus. >> we hear from lots of sources so that he is one of the senior most generals in the u.s. army so it is a show of respect to what's happening here in afghanistan. >> reporter: around kabul, ordinary afghans praised mcchrystal for cutting civilian casualties . >> (translated): when mcchrystal was not yet in afghanistan, there were lots of civilian killings here. but after mcchrystal came to afghanistan, killings of civilians decreased. >> woodruff: others said they knew little ab

a public service created by america's cable companies. >> on thursday, joint chiefs of staff mike mullen voiced the decision -- support to replace general the crystal -- mcchrystal with general petraeus. this event was hosted by the hill newspaper in washington. this is one hour. >> as most of you know his background, he was sworn in as the 17th chairman of the joint chiefs of staff on a sober first, two dozen 7. he was reconfirmed in the position in two dozen 9. he serves as the principal military advisor to the president, the national security council, and the homeland security council. the way we will work this this morning is the admiral will come and speak and we will open it up to questions and interests. i will run around like phil donahue with a microphone try to get everybody's questions answered. we will adjourn accomplish and about one hour greenback i am sorry. thank you. it will be very important that when i run around with the microphone that everyone state their name, affiliation, so we know who you are. then go ahead and ask your question. i know we want to get right to i

general mcchrystal, admiral mullen and i have met with general kiani in a recent meeting. we have shared information with him about links of the leadership of the hakani network located in north waziristan that had a -- that clearly commanded controlled the operation against bagram air base and the attack in kabul among others. and again, the challenge for the pakistani military, because i think it is important again to note what they have done over the course of the last year because it is significant, the challenge is a situation which they have a lot of short sticks and a lot of hornets nests and they have to figure out how to consolidate those to get through -- they've done good clearance operations. they've got to get further along in the hold, build and transitton phases as well so that they can deal with more and more. they do realize, i believe, senator, that you cannot allow poisonous snakes to build a nest in your backyard with the understanding that those snakes will only bite the neighbor's kids. because sooner or later, they turn around and bite your kids. and

and later, defense secretary gates and joint chiefs admiral mike local -- and admiral mike mullen discussed their thoughts on the decision to replace general mcchrystal. starting monday, watch the confirmation hearing for supreme court nominee to elena kagan. she will testify before the senate judiciary committee as member's question her about her career experience as she aims to replace justice john paul stevens retiring. watch it live beginning at 12:30 p.m. eastern on c-span3, c-span radio and c-span.org. >> i want to say to the american people this is a change in personnel, but not a change in policy. general patraeus full report is a bit in our review last fall. and he both supported and helped design the strategy that we have in place. >> learn more about the president's choice to head forces in afghanistan. but general david patraeus has been on c-span more than 40 times. watch his hearings and briefings and other events on line. >> tonight on c-span2's "book tv" -- the author spent 45 days in a dark cell. he writes about it in open court captive." -- in a "captive." find the entire

and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, mike mullen, has repeatedly and passionately argued for allowing gay men and women to serve honestly in the military. [applause] we know that forcing gay and lesbian soldiers to live a lie or to leave the military, that doesn't contribute to our security -- it harms our security. and thanks to patrick murphy and others, for the first time in history, the house has passed a repeal that would allow gay men and women to openly serve in our armed forces. and this repeal is authored so that the pentagon can complete its review of the policy -- which is critical, by the way, not only to passage, but it's also critical to making sure that the change is accepted and implemented effectively. in the senate, the armed services committee has approved repeal for the first time, and the full body is poised to vote soon. so here's the bottom line: we have never been closer to ending this discriminatory policy. and i'm going to keep on fighting until that bill is on my desk and i can sign it. [applause] of course, ultimately, change is about more than jus

been a perfect storm of alar company that has had according to the records97% of all of the admiral mullen egregious and ght by this company coupled ng with a philosophy that's been in place for the last decade and other times in our history that's basically said, step back, and let industry police itself even when there is tremendous risk to the american public if they cut corners and we've seen that on wall street. we saw that with mine' lives being lost we are now seeing i with oil companies, and so i want you -- i'd like you to respond to how we move forward to correct that a little bit more, but i do want to enter into the record something -- a piece of what was in "the washington post" yesterday because i think it's very important. the headline was "bp had a history of problems." and this goes to how we go forwarse situations with companies with these kinds of histories. "a series of internal investigations over the past decade warned senior bp managers that the oil company r disregarded safety and environmental rules and risked a serious accident if it did not change its ways. the c

later, defense secretary robert gates and admiral mike mullen testified on next year's defense department budget. sunday on "newsmakers", senate judiciary committee chairman patrick leahy on the upcoming confirmation hearing for supreme court nominee elena kagan. "newsmakers", sunday at 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. eastern on c- span. supreme court justice clarence thomas on the prospect of a new justice. >> you are bringing in a family member and it changes the whole family. it is a different today than what it was when i first got in. and i have to admit, you grow very fond of the accord that you spend a long time on. >> with the confirmation hearings for elena kagan starting june 28, learn more about the supreme court in this new book. providing unique insight about the court. available in hardcover and also as an e-book. >> a look at the proposed merger between united and continental airlines. lawmakers heard testimony from airline executives and a labor union representatives. if approved by the justice department, it would create the world's largest carrier. held by the house transportat

general mcchrystal, admiral mullen and i have met with general kiani in a recent meeting. we have shared information with him about links of the leadership of the hakani network located in north waziristan that had a -- that clearly commanded controlled the operation against bagram air base and the attack in kabul among others. and again, the challenge for the pakistani military, because i think it is important again to note what they have done over the course of the last year because it is significant, the challenge is a situation which they have a lot of short sticks and a lot of hornets nests and they have to figure out how to consolidate those to get through -- they've done good clearance operations. they've got to get further along in the hold, build and transition phases as well so that they can deal with more and more. they do realize, i believe, senator, that you cannot allow poisonous snakes to build a nest in your backyard with the understanding that those snakes will only bite the neighbor's kids. because sooner or later, they turn around and bite your kids. and

recently, the joint chiefs of staff chairman, admiral mullen told an afghan leader that the surge inhar will reduce corruption and provide jobs. it is like a bad joke. the obama administration is running up a multibillion-dollar program to get jobs. the bad news is you have to move to kandahar to apply. this is not about right versus left. you have a george will and the cato institute that agreed that escalating in afghanistan is not the right thing. this is the right kind of bipartisanship. the consensus beyond left and right. that is different from the kind we have been hearing about. if you look throughout history, a . may -- every major achievement, the emancipation proclamation, the 19th amendment, social security, medicare was not achieved by splitting the difference. abraham lincoln did not bring everyone together and say, why don't we freed the slaves have the time it? -- half the time? galileo did not go to the pope and say the earth revolves around the sun have the time. that would not have worked very well with navigation maps. so right now we are seeing thae reality -- wh

meanwhile admiral mike mullen, the joint chief and today the g-20 summit concluding. and president obama extending an invitation to that's chinese president. >> and "congress is a war zone." we'll read more from that editorial in a moment. as always you can call the numbers for republicans or democratics and our independent line. 3/4.com/c-span wj or send us an email. let's begin with the philadelphia inquirer editorial. we'll go to your call ins about five minutes or so. some of the biggest challenges facing this nation reducing debt, fixing the social security. reforming immigration policy can't be done unless democrats and republicans work together, yet part sonship is at its worst in decades. they disagree on minor matters much less problems that require hard work and political risk-taking. >> the problem one said, we become much such part son such part son this is the "sunday star." to give you a sense of the security around the g-20 summit taking place. behind the black block is the headline. meanwhile the toronto sun, the measures to keep things under control a

admiral mullen joins the secretary for a pentagon news conference. >> we will have some opening comments about the change of command in afghanistan. first, i fully support president obama's decision to accept general mcchrystal's resignation. like the president, i deeply regret the circumstances that made this decision necessary. general mcchrystal is one of the finest officers and warriors of his generation. he has an extraordinary record of leading the fight against our most lethal enemies in iran and i guessed it -- i iraq and afghanistan. i recommended him for the command last year. like the president, i believe the poor judgment exercised by general mcchrystal with regard to the "rolling stone " profile has made him untenable. the attitudes reported in the news media are unacceptable and inconsistent with the high standards expected of military leaders. as i said tuesday, our troops and coalition partners are making extraordinary sacrifices against al qaeda and its allies. our singular focus must be on succeeding in this mission without distraction or division. i am company that we

general mcchrystal, admiral mullen and i have met with general kiani in a recent meeting. we have shared information with him about links of the leadership of the hakani network located in north waziristan that had a -- that clearly commanded controlled the operation against bagram air base and the attack in kabul among others. anagain, the challenge for the pakistani military, because i think it is important again to note what they have done over the course of the last year because it is significant, the challenge is a situation which they have a lot of short sticks an a lot of hornets nests and they have to figure out how to consolidate those to get through -- they've done good clrance operations. they've got to get further along in the hold, build and transition phases as well so that they can deal with more and more. they do realize, i believe, senator, that you cannot allow poisonous snakes to build a nest in your backyard with the understanding that those snakes will only bite the neighbor's kids. because sooner or later, they turn around and bite your kids. and i th

mike mullen joined him for a 40- minute news conference. >> we have a change of plans in afghanistan. i support the decision of barack obama to take the resignation as the commander in the security force in afghanistan. i deeply regret the circumstances that made this decision necessary. this is one of the finest officers of his generation. and he has an extraordinary record in leading the fight against some of the most lethal enemies of this country. it was this -- these and other qualities that lead for me to recommend him to the command last year. but i believe the poor judgment that he has shown with regard to the profile in "rolling stone" has made his membership in the national security team untenable. this is unacceptable under our form of government and this is inconsistent with the high standards of military leaders. the soldiers anddthe coalition partners are making extraordinary sacrifices in the fight against al qaeda and their extremist allies. the focus -- the focus must be on succeeding without distraction. i am confident that we will be able to achieve this goal under

admiral mullen will give the update and then we will take questions. len will give the update and then we will take questions. >> i am going to talk a little bit about the response and some of the skipper's, which have become increasingly important in that the response. just to summarize where we are at on this friday, about 25,000 people are on the ground down there. this has become the largest oil spill response in our nation's history. with over 1200 coastguardsman, 1400 national guardsmen, 3700 contractors, and hundreds of volunteers. -pan enormous amount of equipmet is in the area, most notably a 400 skimmer's oo duty around the gulf, 500 barges, 2500 government contract vessels, and more than $2 and the vessels of opportunity using local waterman -- 2000 vessels of opportunity is using local watermen and their knowledge of the area. we are also moving as much oil as we can to the surface around the well site, as you know. the further out, as we get toward shore, we significantly increase our skimming capability. the oil has to be decanted from th