guest michael maloof in washington he's a former senior security policy analyst in the office of secretary of defense also in washington we have set up he is a senior fellow at the institute for china american studies and in london we cross the charles bridge he is a security analyst and. former u.k. army and counter terrorism intelligence officer origin across the uk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want and i always appreciate charles let me go to you first here of course looking at the reactions to this olympic truce the one word keeps coming up wedge the north koreans are trying to wedge the u.s. away from south korea well of course they are the whole idea that's what's called a political and diplomatic gambit let the games begin at least the diplomatic ones here really the question is how the americans are actually going to respond to it not that it's a wedge because it is go ahead charles. yes undoubtedly north korea is quite skillfully taking advantage of events such as the olympics that doesn't mean they don't generally want to take part and i suspect many in north and s

guest michael maloof in washington he's a former senior security policy analyst in the office of secretary of defense also in washington we have set up he is a senior fellow at the institute for china american studies and in london we cross the charles bridge he is a security analyst and a former u.k. army and counter terrorism intelligence officer origin across the girls in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want and i always appreciate charles let me go to you first here of course looking at the reactions to this olympic truce the one word keeps coming up wedge the north koreans are trying to wedge the u.s. away from south korea what's going to be our the whole idea that's what's called a political and diplomatic gambit let the games begin at least the diplomatic ones here really the question is how the americans are actually going to respond to it not that it's a wedge because it is go ahead charles. yes undoubtedly north korea is quite skillfully taking advantage of events such as the olympics that doesn't mean they don't generally want to and i suspect many in north and south korea wo

guest michael maloof in washington he's a former senior security policy analyst in the office of secretary of defense also in washington we have set up he is a senior fellow at the institute for china american studies and in london we cross the charles bridge he is a security analyst and a former u.k. army and counter terrorism intelligence officer. origin across the rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want and i always appreciate charles let me go to you first here of course looking at the reactions to this a limp dick truce the one word keeps coming up wedge the north koreans are trying to wedge the us away from south korea well of course they are the whole idea that's why it's called a political and diplomatic gambit let the games begin at least the diplomatic ones here really the question is how the americans are actually going to respond to it not that it's a wedge because it is go ahead charles. yes undoubtedly north korea is quite skillfully taking advantage of events such as the olympics that doesn't mean they don't generally want to take part and i suspect many in north an

guest michael maloof in washington he's a former senior security policy analyst in the office of secretary of defense also in washington we have set up he is a senior fellow at the institute for china american studies and in london we cross the charles bridge he is a security analyst and a former u.k. army and counter terrorism intelligence officer origin across the girls in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want and i always appreciate charles let me go to you first here of course looking at the reactions to this olympic truce the one word keeps coming up wedge the north koreans are trying to wedge the u.s. away from south korea what's going to be our the whole idea that's what's called a political and diplomatic gambit let the games begin at least the diplomatic ones here really the question is how the americans are actually going to respond to it not that it's a wedge because it is go ahead charles. yes undoubtedly north korea is quite skillfully taking advantage of events such as the olympics that doesn't mean they don't generally want to and i suspect many in north and south korea wo

caller: well, i went into the secretary of defense during the kennedy administration. in the office of the secretary of defense in the department, u.s. elegation to nato, i served delegated to national security inncil, i was at the embassy lond london. in policy in the middle east. issues in asia, areas likenvolved in inside of afghanistan, both as a consultant and as an advisor on the genermccrystal.th assistant to senator john ccain, it's been more than 50 years, to put it simply and quite a number of presidents and officials in the process. host: and what is csis, for folks who don't know. guest: it's center for strategic and international studies, it abshire, d by david which is where -- comes from. it is very much not politically n line, we don't have a democratic or republican side. a center for analysis and planning. of lobbyists.t host: we have 10 minutes left to anthony cordesman, get as many calls as we can. grant in d.c., line for ahead.ndents, go caller: yes, i want to ask nthony what he thinks the u.s. moral position on nuclear nonproliferation is, essentially we waved or

defense authorization act. before that act came into being, 19 of 49 of the largest air force programs were actually managed and decision authority kept at the office of the secretary of defense level. so only 39% of our programs did we have a decision or authority on. >> so you see it as an improvement. >> well, today i have 76% of those programs. and last week, the undersecretary delegated eight more programs to the air force to manage. one of those was the gps-3 follow-on. so last thursday, secretary lord gave us authority to move on that program. and in the last week, we have most forward and approved a strategy and put out the request for proposal. in that one action, we have saved three months in the time line to acquire that system. so we're taking advantage of those authorities, but we're also doing the same in the service. by pushing authority down to program managers to the colonels who run -- can run these programs. and we haven't been changing things above them in the past. they know what they're doing. let's support them and let them get after their programs. the second major change in the defense authorization act was prototyping and experimentation.

of >> let me talk about acquisition authority. of thewo years ago, 2/3 major programs where we had to make decisions on major acquisition programs were managed within the office of the secretary of defense. that is completely reversed now so that 2/3 of those programs are at the service level, and we requested delegation of the rest of the. of those at the service level, i am not the authority for any of them. i have given them to our assistant secretary, and we pushed everything else down. so program managers no longer have to come to the secretary to get approval to move on. out of thismonths process, and we are going to continue to move forward in that direction. there were other things that we need to think about, stepping up and back a little bit. strategic things. how do we determine and prevail? we have never really had to talk about that in four. how do we hold that risk, things that other countries value, how do we create doubt in the mind of an adversary that if they were to take at our space capabilities, the consequences -- take out our space capabilities, the consequences for them would be unacceptable. that is the nature of deterrence. and then how do we restore and operat

many of the review's recommended corrective actions are within my authority to implement as secretary of the navy. some, however, will require coordination with the office of the secretary of defense, as well as with you, the congress. the most important step you could take now that would help us restore the health of the navy is to give us stable and adequate funding. we must be able to count on reliable resourcing to operate safely and and efficiently. despite these challenges, i want to assure you, i want to assure you, that the navy/marine corps team is still the most ready, capable and lethal force in our arsenal. we know, however, that staying that way means we must seize every opportunity to improve. and we are committed to do so. we stand with the families of the fallen and their loved ones and their repeated requests that good must come out of these cathartic events rings true throughout our enterprise on a daily basis. we must act with a sense of urgency to grow our competitive advantage in a sustainable manner and i look forward to working with you to do so. thank you. >> thank you very much, secretary. we now turn to admiral jauohn richardson for your opening remarks.

months, completed service as the assistant secretary of defense for research and engineering at the u.s. department of defense. he was the chief technology officer of the u.s. department of defense, and principal adviser to the secretary on all matters relating to science, technology, research, engineering until january of 2017. prior to this role, he was deputy assistant secretary of defense for systems engineering where he had responsibility for a range of complex topics involving open systems architecture, systems engineering generally, and systems engineering workforce. and he has more than 28 years of government and industry experience, including time at the defense advanced research project agency. and shall i talk about you next? >> sure. >> in january of 2018, he will begin service as executive director and chief operating officer at the institute of electrical and electronics engineers. the ieee. to his left, we have dr. so, who is a leading expert in the field of defense acquisition, defense industry, and weapons systems requirement planning. he served in the republic of korea army for 31 years, after graduating for the korean military

president is hosting at camp david, the vice president, the secretary of state, the secretary of defense, secretary of homeland security. the head of officement head of epa, the deputy head of transportation department. all of the congressional leadership on the republican side and his chief of staff and

caller: well, i went into the secretary of defense during the kennedy administration. in the office ofhe secretary of defense in the department, u.s. elegation to nato, i served delegated to national security inncil, i was at the embassy lond london. in policy in the middle east. issues in asia, areas likenvolved in inside of afghanistan, both as a consultant and as an advisor on the genermccrystal.th assistant to senator john ccain, it's been more than 50 years, to put it simply and quite a number of presidents and officials in the process. host: and what is csis, for folks who don't know. guest: it's center for strategic and international studies, it abshire, d by david which is where -- comes from. it is very much not politically n line, we don't have a democratic or republican side. a center for analysis and planning. of lobbyists.t host: we have 10 minutes left to anthony cordesman, get as many calls as we can. grant in d.c., line for ahead.ndents, go caller: yes, i want to ask nthony what he thinks the u.s. moral position on nuclear nonproliferation is, essentially we waved or pr

president is hosting at camp david, the vice president, the secretary of state, the secretary of defense, secretary of homeland security. the head of office and management head of epa, the deputy head of transportation department. all of the congressional leadership on the republican side and his chief of staff and hayes top legislation guy and the political director for the white house and the top economic adviser at the white house and guy that does the personnel for the white house and sarah huckabee and the steven miller. everybody you have ever heard of associated with the administration who has not already been fired or indicted, and a bunch of people you haven't heard of they are all going to spend a frigid weekend together in camp david. but not jeff sessions. and this is not like some official event. it's not like a state of the union thing where they need a designated survivor. where they need to to keep somebody somewhere safe in case something bad happens. it's not like that. he wasn't invited maybe you feel bad for jeff sessions maybe you think it might be cold up there. it is cold from weekend. he is from alabama maybe that

president is hosting at camp david, the vice president, secretary of state, secretary of defense, secretary of education, head of the cia, head of the office of management, the deputy head of the transportation department, also all of the congressional leadership on the republican side and chief of staff and his top legislation guy and the political director for the white house and top economic advisor and does the personnel for the white house and sarah huckabee sanders and that guy with the crazy wes welker guys, steven miller. everybody you heard of associated with the administration who has not been fired or indicted and a bunch of people you haven't heard of they are all going to spend a frigid weekend together in camp david but not jeff sessions. and this is not like some official event, not like a state of the union thing or they need a designated survivor, so they need to keep somebody, somewhere safe in case something bad happens at camp david. nothing like that. he just isn't invited. at one level, who cares. maybe you feel bad for jeff sessions. maybe you think he might be cold up there. it is going to be a really cold weekend a

of my son. why would the secretary of defense and chief of staff be calling me? it is for a job interview. i went to the pentagon and the secretary's office and he has this round desk, general sherman's desk, we were doing a job interview and we were going back and forth and i asked him in the job interview what is it that you would like to accomplish in your time as secretary of defense so that i can understand if i have the skill set to complement what you want to achieve and the first thing he said was i want to make a more lethal force and i you have the background in developing major weapons systems to help lead the department. he says we can't be the policeman to the world, i need to have a partner who understands, worked at a global company that has those kinds of perspectives and understand the value of international relationships. the third surprised me the most. he said one of my goals is when i leave the department the people will want to come and benchmark is affirmative defense because it has best practices. when he described it that way, i said i think i possess the skill set never intended that i would be his policy deputy.

officer: morning business is closed. the senate will proceed to executive session to consider the following nomination, which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, department of defense, john c. rood of arizona to be under secretary of defense for policy. the presiding officer: there are 30 minutes equally divided for debate on this nomination. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from colorado. mr. gardner: i ask unanimous consent the time be yielded back. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. the question is on the nomination. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: vote:

of my son. why would secretary of defense's chief of staff be calling me? and this for a job interview. and i went to the pentagon. i went to the secretary's office, and he has this round desk and it was general sherman's desk. and we were doing a job interview. and, we were going back and forth and i asked him in the job interview, what is it that you would like to accomplish in your time as secretary of defense so i understand if you have the skillset too accomplish what i want tors achieve? the first thing he said i want towa make a more lethal force ad i think you have the background developing major weapons systems to help lead the department. and he said we can't be the policeman to the world, i need to have a partner who understands, who worked with a global company, that has those kinds of perspectives and understands the value of international relationships. and the third one was the, one that surprised me the most. he said, one of my goals is that when i leave the department, that people will want to come and benchmark the department of defense because it has best practices. and when h he described it that way i said, i think i possess

of key advisers to the president known as the cabinet. originally there were four cabinet officers overseeing departments. a secretary of state, a secretary of state of war now defense secretary of the treasury and an attorney general. today, the cabinet has grown from four to 15 executive departments. >> the existence of those four departments is a guide to what the federal government was established to do. >> reporter: larry ahn is the president of hills dale college in michigan. he argues the country could easily be governed with the original four departments. >> i believe very much in the government. i just think the government should be limited, and it's more or less unlimited today. >> reporter: opponents say the idea of cut anything departments could be disastrous for lower income communities, though some agencies like the department of education weren't created until 1979. >> what will happen is move in the path of schools starting to fail, no accountability measures put in place that these agencies provide. and the real losers will be the children, the future of the country. future doctors, future lawyers. >> reporter: maybe there's a compromise, one think

wall and rest of the time in the senate, secretary of defense i have had n my office as well so it was a reminder which tom and i have discussed many times about -- again, the significance of it. >> and the scale of the destruction, i mean, because all of this ladies and gentlemen, for chuck hagel's unit at the time they were in and aired city of saigon largest city in south vietnam and capitol today now called ho chi minh so -- >> so how about you i was in long bin -- and they came in and said how many of you have that infantry are on the left and collected us and put it on a perimeter so we were involved many it from trying to keep him out of the long bend base it was a huge base and then -- i think after a couple of day that's when i got orders to go to third and fifth cavalry up in dmc and up there was just as crazy. >> and most people when you, if you bought the special or if you are familiar serving vietnam or know people who did, the north was the area where -- it was right next to the -- so-called demilitarized zone in north vietnam so all of the regular troops their best troops filtered down through that area, and marines had a lot of -- forces up there as well an

of think tanks in town that all do incredible work. and sometimes one can confuse them. she is i think running the new york office for the new america foundation. she is the former deputy assistant secretary of defense for manufacturing industrial-based policy and grappled with all of these issues about the structure of the aerospace industry, its increasingly global nature and how that affects both u.s. defense inherently and also the opportunities for cooperation between the u.s. and other allies. to her left is dr. won-koon jang. he is the director of defense and aerospace industry division and research fellow at the korean institute for industrial economics and christmas day. kia, our partner in this conference. he is also a member of the defense division of the national science and technology council in korea and editorial board member of the journal of the korean association of defense industry studies. he has received his ph.d in economics from seoul international university. he also graduated from the u.s. air force institute of technology in 1998 with a masters in logistics management. and works as i mentioned at kia. to his left with our discussants -- i'm a little bit out -- is major general wonjin oh, who i also believe was a participant at last year's

office so let's take a moment to look back on that here one of the defining features of his presidency is his propensity for governing by twitter earlier we spoke to former cia director and then secretary of defense leon panetta we asked him what implications trump's use of social media house i cannot imagine i was i was chief of staff to the present the united states to bill clinton i cannot imagine being a chief of staff and trying to determine what the strategy is for a particular day and then go to work and find out the president at five am started tweeting thinks that that totally undermine the ability to have some kind of strategy for that particular day you're going to have to spend your time basically repairing the damage that the president did from his tweets it is it is very unstable it's very erratic there's no reason that the president has to suddenly get up in the morning and tweet without developing some kind of stable policy approach to deciding what is the strategy for this administration it cannot just be a tweet you can't do foreign policy by tweeting. so later on tonight a says trump's tweeting is that damaging and ineffective has the international community been able to come u

secretary of defense. his second year in office the government is set to be shot down over a funding take a look back at the highs and lows of the president's tenure so far. and a new read as a witch hunt against communism appears on the rise we told the story of a student who's been bashed for saying in the media that communism never fails. the worldwide news headlines live from moscow for this saturday just passing midday here in the russian capital it's oxy international so you can forget about the war on terror it's russia and china that is now america's biggest threat that's what the u.s. defense secretary james mattis spelled out as he unveiled the country's new foreign policy priorities. picks up the story trump's new defense doctrine can probably be summed up in just three words bring it on if you challenge it will be your longest and your worst day the war on terror is now secondary the priority is the new great game of proportions great power competition not terrorism is now the primary focus of national security. the logic here is that technological and hard power gap between the us and the competition is narrowin

secretary of defense james mattis. the second year in office the government is shutting down over a funding bill we take a look back at the highest and lows of the president's tenure so far. and a new red alert as a witch hunt against communism appears on the rise to tell the story of a student who is being bashed for saying in the media that communism never truly. your latest saturday worldwide news headlines live here from moscow it is r.t. international a very warm welcome to you. so you can just go ahead and forget all about the war on terror because it's russia and china that are now america's biggest threat that's what the u.s. defense secretary james mattis spelled out as he unveiled the country's new foreign policy priorities but i guess the picks up the story trumps new defense doctrine could probably be summed up in just three words bring it on if you challenge it will be your longest and your worst day the war on terror is now secondary the priority is the new great game. proportions great power competition not terrorism is now the primary focus of u.s. national security the logic here is that technological and hard power gap betw

secretary of defense james mattis. this is second year in office the government is said to be shut down over a funding bill to take a look back at the highs and lows of the president's tenure so far. on the war. as a witch hunt against communism appears on the rise tell the story of a student who's been bashed for saying in the media that communism never actually failed. time just turning eight am on saturday here in moscow you're watching r.t. international from all of us here a very warm welcome to you. if you challenge us it will be your longest and worst day those were the words of the u.s. defense secretary james mattis as he unveiled america's new foreign policy priorities shifting from fighting terror to deterring russia and china. picks up the story trump's new defense doctrine could probably be summed up in just three words bring it on if you challenge it will be your longest and your worst day the war on terror is now secondary the priority is the new great game of proportions great power competition not terrorism is now the primary focus of u.s. national security the logic here is that technological and hard power gap between the u.s. and

secretary of defense james mattis. as transparent as his second year in office the u.s. government and. the shutdown over a funding bill will take a look back at the highs and lows of the president's tenure so far. and a new rather low as a witch hunt against communism appears on the right we tell the story of a student who's been bashed for saying in the media that communism never actually failed. a warm welcome it's three pm here in moscow and you're watching r.t. international with me nicky aaron now we start this hour with breaking news the turkish president says and korea has started its military operation in syria on the ground the defacto operation was launched yesterday after the turkish army opened cross border fire on the kurdish held afrin region it was provoked after the u.s. military commander announced plans to create a border force with kurds in northern syria a move which left ankara raging later the secretary of state trying to clarify the situation saying the u.s. had no intention of creating such a force there but his words haven't been enough to stop the military operation. the internal situation has been misplaced treat mr scribed some people m

secretary of defense james blunt civs. trump enters his second year in office the government is said to be shut down over funding bill we take a look back at the highs and lows of the president's tenure throw far. and a new red alert of the apparent witch hunt against communism emerges we tell the story of a student who's been hounded for saying in the media of communism never actually failed. i will welcome you watching r.t. international called casting to you live from the russian capital and the carrot and we start this hour with breaking news turkey's president has confirmed his country's started a military ground operation i kurdish held region in syria after turkish cross border shelling of the area started on friday pulis lir explains how events unfolded. what we're hearing from need took is president of the one who over the last few days has repeatedly threatened that he's going to launch this ground operation is confirmation now that it has begun and it is understood that it's an operation between the turkish army as well as pro turkish syrian rebels who are operating in the country both of them have the joint goal of ousting the kurdish rebels the y.p

secretary of defense james mattis. as trump enters his second year in office the government is there to be shut down over a funding bill we take a look back at the highs and lows of the president's tenure so far. under new red alert of the apparent witch hunt against communism emerges we tell the story of a student who's been hounded for saying in the media that communism never actually failed. to. a very warm welcome you're watching starting international broadcasting to you live from the russian capital and the carriage good to have you with us. so ok jack frost. have bombed kurdish targets in syria's afrin region which is now the focus of a military campaign against what ankara calls terrorist targets turkey has named to the operation olive branch we are showing you live pictures from the turkish syrian border you can see huge plumes of smoke rising into the sky there and. meanwhile turkish banks syrian opposition fighters have reportedly entered the kurdish enclave from the ground turkey's president earlier confirmed his country had started a military ground operation that turkish cross border shelling of the area started on friday artie's paulist clear tells

secretary of defense james mattis. and as trump enters his second year in office the government is said to be shut down over a funding bill we take a look back at the highs and lows of the president's tenure so far. and a new red alert as an apparent witch hunt against communism emergence we tell the story of a student who's been hounded for saying in the media that communism never actually failed. to. a very warm welcome you're watching r.t. international broadcasting to you live from the russian capital and they care and good to have you with us now we start this hour with breaking news the turkish president has confirmed his country starting a military operation on kurdish held region in syria it was launched on friday when the turkish army opened cross border fire and we can now go to paula all the latest details on this call a turkey is now a shelling syria why. well yes we have received the confirmation that turkey has launched new strikes against the kurdish militia the y.p. in northern syria and now we are hearing from the turkish army that they hit in what they say is legitimate self defense against the camps and places of refuge belonging to the y p g they

officer is suspected of funneling this information to china and it led to the death or imprisonment of more than a dozen informants. here to discuss, peter brookes. former deputy assistant secretary of defensermer bush 43 state department official. peter, let me start with you here. when i read this story, it was fascinating. i had no idea this was still going on. then the amount of deaths. 18-20 informants i in prison and possibly killed. how did he pull this off? >> my sense is because of his access into intelligence operations he was able to take specific information he was knowledgeable of and potentially share the with the chinese. he has not been charged with espionage to my knowledge. the indictment charges him with having sensitive defense information. so they may not be able to put together a case that leads to espionage. but if the inferences we have seen in the recording with correct, he could have shared this information with the chinese intelligence services that led to the breakdown of the intelligence network and the break down and death of chinese assets. how potentially dangerous could the situation be for us? >> i any pretty dangerous. this an example of the chinese doing

office. be sure to join us on sunday as we look back on the one-year anniversary of the women's march on washington. >> defense secretary james mattis spoke friday at the johns hopkins school of advanced international studies. he discussed the implications of a potential government shutdown on military operations and urged congress to provide budget predictability for the defense department. this is just over 45 minutes. peter: good morning. i'm peter lewis, vice dean at the johns hopkins university school of advanced international studies. before making my brief introductory remarks, i think we will start by asking everyone to silence or turn off your cell phones. we just finished our holiday season and i had the opportunity to go to a couple movies so i am very mindful of turning off cell phones and silencing our devices. it is a great honor to welcome you to today's presentation of the national defense strategy. the nds is the foundational document that determines how the department of defense will contribute to the president's national security strategy which was released in december of 2017. this nds is the first in a decade. it is highly anticipated not only because of

of covert cia assets working in china. peter brooks is still with us, senior fellow at the heritage foundation, also former deputy assistant secretary of defense and a former cia officer. thanks for sticking around, peter. i want to go to -- is there a connection with this case to the killings and arrests of inside of china? >> certainly possible. it is important to point out that this individual hasn't been charged with espionage yet, just this classified information he was in possession of, but of course there's concerns about the connection between the information that was reported by the newspapers of the names of cia officers and assets in china and then the disappearance or killings or arrests of chinese individuals in china. so there's a tremendous amount of concern to that. it is hard for us on the outside to make that connection, but it seems from the reporting we're seeing that people are making that connection, although the individual has not been charged with espionage yet. arthel: so does this now hamper u.s. spying capabilities inside china? does it impair any diplomacy efforts between the u.s. and china? >> well, it is important also to look at the reporting we have seen. they are talking about this was up through 2012. and the individual was just arrested. arthel: right. >

of the window of the walter reed center. he thought the communists were coming after him. he was the secretary of defense. okay. that's a proper basis for removing somebody from office. problems. you have a president who says i have a bigger nuclear button than you do. oh, by the way, one of the things she talks about that's a symptom of his mental illness is that he recognized jerusalem as the capital of israel and so did the majority of the senate and majority of the house and so did i support that am i getting locked up next? pete: we might to. steve: this president forget about it. it's not going to happen. >> unless god for bid any president has a stroke or anything like this. taking what he ran on and that's why he was elected president and using that to invoke the 25th amendment would undercut the basic intent of the framer. pete: you are a wise guy. >> my mother always said to me don't be a wise guy. ainsley: you were last night. steve: for an hour. pete: thank you. >> thank you. ainsley: hand it over to jillian who has breaking news for us. jillian: we do have breaking news. this is a fox news alert. looking live at trump tower here in new york where there i

of his 347 days in office has been spent at one of the president's business, trump is scheduled to lunch with vice president mike pence and alex acosta today. with pence, secretary of state rex tillerson and defensetary jim mattis tomorrow. also on wednesday, senior white house aides and legislative affairs director mark short will meet at the capital with senior members of both parties about the deferred action for childhood arrivals program that expires for dreamers on march 5th him upcoming deadlines on january 19th, whether to extend government funding and reauthorize warrantless under surveillance under nice sas and the children's health program and raising the debt ceiling. so super busy schedule coming up. meanwhile, senator marco rubio voted for the tax bill, but he's expressed his reservations speaking to south florida's news press in an interview next week. here's what he said -- in the corporations told us that was what they were going to do. they told us that was what they were going to do in 2004 when we had a temporary repatriation holid holiday and they used the money to buy back stock and they told us ahead of the tax cut vote they would use the money for that. i think it will be

the secretary of the army, navy, and air force, the deputy chief management officer, and the undersecretary of defense for intelligence all concurred with our recommendations. they also described actions they have begun taking and steps they intend to take to fully implement the recommendations. in conclusion, the dod oig has repeatedly found deficiencies with submission of fingerprints, final disposition reports and other criminal history information to the fbi. it is critical that the dod fully implement our recommendations to correct past deficiencies and prevent future lapses in reporting. we intend to follow up on these issues, to help insure that the dod fully complied with its obligation to submit to the fbi all required criminal history information. that concludes my statement, and i look forward to answering any questions. >> thank you, mr. fine. now mr. lindquist. >> good morning, chairman grassley, ranking member feinstein and members of the committee. i thank you for this opportunity to appear before you to discuss the federal bureau of investigations national instant background check syst

the secretaries of the army, navy and air force, the deputy chief management officer and the undersecretary of defense for intelligence all concurred with our investigations. in conclusion, the d.o.d. oig has repeatedly found deficiencies of military services submission of required fingerprints, final disposition reports and other criminal history information to the fbi. we intend to follow up with these issues to ensure the d.o.d. submits all information to the fbi. that concludes my statement and i look forward to answering any questions. >> thank you, mr. fine. mr. lundquist. >> i thank you for this opportunity to appear before you to discuss the fbi's national instant criminal background check system or nics. the brady handgun act of 1993 requires ffls to use the nics to determine whether the firearm transfer would violate state or federal laws. they conduct a search of available records in three national databases. these national databases are the ncic which contains information on one person's protection orders. the interstate identification index which accesses criminal history records and the

officer in the marine corps and a member of the joint chiefs. >> ambassador edelman brought up a point about the civil military balance. first time we have had a marinas defense secretary and you have quite a number of marines in the senior positions in the pentagon as well as the national security advisors. do you think that the civil-military balance is out of whack at the pentagon, general miller? >> you're asking me that question? [laughter] >> yes, sir. >> can we go back to the last question again? [laughter]. >> i mean, secretary mattis was confirmed by the senate to be the secretary of the defense. and john kelly was confirmed to be the director of homeland security and then the president chose him to be the chief of staff. people ask me all the time, hey, isn't great that the chairman and secretary and chief of staff are all marines? [laughter] absolutely. [laughter]. [applause] did i answer the question? >> i think we got the answer. senator shaheen -- >> you forgot the secretary of the navy also. >> there you go. >> i'm the player to be named later, fifth round choice. >> well, military balance out of whack at the pentagon? i think some of the issues that ambassador edelman raised are very

of help from commanding officers. this was part of a hearing earlier this year by the defense advisory committee investigating sexual assault in the armed forces. the committee was created in 2016 to advise the defense secretary in congress on the investigation, prosecution and defensive allegations ofexual misconduct. hannah: good afternoon. i am retired senior hannah stolberg. i was a contracting specialist in the air force. in -- sorry, let me take a moment. >> take all the time you want. hannah: thank you, ma'am. i was medically retired -- thank you -- in may last year and i think what is shocking to some people is that i never even deployed. my scariest encounters were places like california, maryland with a population of i think seven people at the time. as well as wright-patterson air force base. so i really did not do anything that was that intensive. i was reached back for contingency construction in san antonio, texas. but in 2012, i was raped and beaten almost to death by an air forceman co. i spent almost two days in and out of consciousness on a concrete floor. it was over columbus day weekend. and when i did not show up to work, no one even came to check on me. during the assault, my right shoulder was dislocated. my left heel was fractured. damage was done to my spine

actions are within my authority to implement but some will require coordination with the office of the secretary of defense and congress. the most important step you could take now to help us restore is stable and adequate funding we must be able to count on reliable resourcing to operate safely and efficiently despite these challenges i want to assure you the navy marine corps team is the most capable and lethal force in our arsenal and to stay that way means to seize every opportunity to improve and we are committed to do so standing with the families of the fallen and the repeated request good must come out of the is true throughout the enterprise on a daily basis. you must act to grow in a sustainable manner i look forward to working with you to do so. thank you in equity now turn to admirable mom -- admiral richardson. >> thank you and to distinguish members of the subcommittees. thank you for the opportunity for that unified action plan with a comprehensive review secretary spencer's readiness review. as triumph and tragedy we consistently deployed 60000 sailors around the globe to protect americans

of calendar number 522 it r.d. james. the presiding officer: without objection. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: department of defense, r.d. james of mo to be assistant secretary of the army. mr. mcconnell: mr. president, last week americans from all across the country including many from kentucky came here to washington to speak up for unborn children whom our legal system has denied the right to life. now congress has an opportunity to take a step forward. the united states is currently one of just seven countries -- just seven -- including china and north korea that permit elective abortion after 20 weeks. it's a time -- it is time we begin to remedy obvious and tragic moral wrong. the long overdue legislation that we will be voting on soon would do just that. i'm pleased to have filed cloture on this bill to protect unborn children who are capable of feeling pain. i'm proud to cosponsor it along with many of my colleagues, and i look forward to voting for it early next week. i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to legislative session for a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to minutes each. the presiding office

of defense, r.d. james of missouri to be assistant secretary of the army. mr. mcconnell: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: mr. schumer: mr. president. the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: okay. mr. president, there are now only 13 days remaining until the continuing resolution expires on february 8. in that short amount of time, we must seek a budget deal, an agreement on health care legislation, and a bipartisan bill to protect the dreamers and provide for border security. all these items are important. all of them are urgent, and we are working hard to get them all done. on the issue of immigration, the bipartisan group of moderate senators should continue trying to find a consensus. i think that's an excellent idea. the white house, unfortunately, has proven to be wildly unpredictable. within a course of hours, they say different things. every time the president moves forward on one thing, his staff pulls him back and