coming to osc was really a dream job. i am grateful to henry koerner and his predecessor for giving me the opportunity. part of what i love most about staffing whistleblower hotlines was i have the opportunity to interact with people all the time. many of them are people i felt a could help in some way. , it led to people being investigated and being heard. it led to congressional investigations. sometimes, we were able to direct them to the right place and explain the process, how things worked. sometimes -- and these are often the most difficult -- even if i could not do anything else, i felt like it was meaningful in some cases just to be able to hear someone out. to say from one human being to another, i am sorry this happened to you. it sounds like a horrible thing you have experienced. sometimes, everybody needs that kind of year. even if i thought their case stood a pretty good chance of success, i tried hard to manage their expectations. anstleblowers do not have easy road, as you can imagine. understandhelp them

days we have seen the withdrawal of funding probably american from n.g.o.s we also do know that the osce school sanctioned that the u.s. have applied to but this definitely some form of. politicizing of the or interference of the elections by the americans and i think america is playing a part of dangerous game with this because if the wrong candidate as far as they're concerned which is been got great he retains power if he is able to succeed and it does look like he's going to that america will certainly be left on the outside of it having used to influence financial and political influence during the run up to the election i don't believe it's going to be you do positively once a result has been announced. now many countries do have strict rules on what can be done during political campaigns in zimbabwe is no exception although some of the restrictions are pretty unique. a challenge from. experience of. there is a new democracy younger marcus's for a new test for their electoral system in order also the electoral law was. amended and it was an important test for a discounter for come

having been at osc for some time as much as i miss the day today interactions i am grateful for those who handle those day today. one of the things that is most difficult is out of thousands of individuals who come to osc, 6000 claims a year, only a small percentage we are able to do something with. that comes to the limitations in the law, sometimes it comes down to the fact that osc is a small agency, inspector general horowitz mentioned having their side of the staff covering the entire federal government but even when those things are not able to follow up, help the people who are hurt by it. i want to do what i can as a s political appointee, there is a unique balance, a tone of leadership and respecting judgment of professionals but we are focused on shortening the process, to be more efficient and provide good customer service along the way. even if the answer we come back with his negative one people will feel they were heard. g i hope the work we are doing is meaningful for people. ernie fitzgerald -- telling the truth and i believe for so many people blowing the whistle is a

whether that meant a full blown investigation of the matter or referring that off to osc or oig. >> i think, this will fail if you don't protect the whistleblowers. they have to feel like they can step forward and say something and not be retaliated against. that's a huge deterrent to finding out what's going on in an organization as large as the va. >> absolutely. and getting that word out and changing that cultural peace is going to take some time. because there are places that are more difficult than others. the one thing that you provided in this bill was what's called the 714 hold. that wasn't something that existed before. what that meant was, employees gs15 and below that had inaction, they might feel is retaliatory, we were able to step in as the office, as the director, and i can tell and stop that action. put a hold on that action, not allowing it to move forward until, it was the office of accountability, or the office of special council could investigate that disclosure for substance, whether it was real or not. during that period of time, that employee could not be affect

let's bring in alexander hug, the deputy head of mission of the osce. conference as well. alexander hug, cani conference as well. alexander hug, can i talk to you about ukraine, first of all. tomorrow is the fourth anniversary of shooting down of the malaysian airline, but no reference from donald trump or vladimir putin to that. good afternoon. the special monitoring mission of the osce has been documenting the violence since it started more than four years ago. we have not had a single day without that, we have been registering a ceasefire violation. in fact, last year alone we have been registering over 401,000 ceasefire violations this year, today, this number stays over 150. the ongoing violence has taken a toll on the civilian population, severely so. last year, over 480 civilian casualties to the mission had been confirming. this year, the number is over 150 civilian casualties. it has to be said, though, that since the latest commitment that started on the 1st ofjuly this year, when the signatories of the minsk agreement, russia, ukraine, in cer

our prove the low one we need to change the lower level first and the usa that has assisted me the osce me to take the model from yugoslavia serbia i have experts university professors in washington d.c. montreal canada hired by the americans in order to advise me on the strategy to change the leader this that was the year of come bodhi is national rescue party runners up and twenty third thing talking once about us backed regime change and so on charges of treason come so it was thrown behind bars last year the government then went after the whole party for what it called conspiring with america so right now there is no such name of c.n. r.p. on that list uncle sam has been trying many tools to scheme and can both like n.g.o.s or foreign media so say local officials that's how they've just defied cracking down on a handful of american funded outlets and groups which include radio free asia or the national democratic institute you team up with the opposition to overthrow the man in charge you leave cambodia that is to just never stop made clear as want to continue demolition to topple t

trying and when you contrast i mean again we went to the osce the moscow game and we were also the twenty sixty euros when we went to nice to ma say totally different atmosphere was no i think there's an important point with regards to the organization i feel like the policing around here at twenty sixteen maybe wasn't as professional as it could have been and i think as well some of the types of people who travel it's very easy to travel to france for the euro tournament if you're coming from different parts of the continent for russia maybe because of the increased expense to try. the further distance is it is a wild card so i think the type of fans who've come haven't come here to pose any trouble and even the festive atmosphere really has been has been going you source in the footage earlier in the central mosque and st fans from all over the world celebrated together the festival of football and indeed saying that this is something that is beyond politics that they are here united to have a good time and to get emotions and experience take a look at some the fans we caught up with. t

celebrated in an osc winningnt documeary in 2016. the white helmets have their li at stake here essentially. >> reporter: amer british advise to syria's opposition. they wille seen by people around them as being the people helped by israel. that is not going to be good for their reputation but really att this point is life or death. >> reporter: syria considers the whithelmets terrorists and israeli spies. last night's rescue may have sad lives but it came at a political cost. matt bradley, nbc news. >>> back in this country, a heat aergency is building in the south west. some 73 million people from the florida panhandhrough the southwest and all the way to california and oregon are all under hea alerts. triple digit temperatures and record breakingre temps forecast over the next several days. another ten million peopl are at risk for severe storms in parts of the northern plains and >>e southeast. picture this. you think you are having a private conversation in the back of uber or lyft but it turns out you are being recorded and the

they got the mandatory osc retaliation a 14 day suspension. crankset is the problem -- >> that is the problem. the discipline for retaliation is not strong enough. otherre were several mitigating factors. >> it seems to me there is always a vision of the doubt given to people who retaliate against whistleblowers. you shake your head. >> i don't agree with that. >> ok, but we've seen examples of it. i want to get to the hotline. what is the status of the hotline. still no oversight mechanism? whistleblower hotline? >> the toll-free number that we maintain, there is oversight in the sense of oag looking at the files. >> no, oversight as making sure it is being implemented. i know it exists, but it does not seem to be much information about how people can access it. >> i will take that as a critique. >> oh no, it's a fact. top 10 has been a communication of getting the word out. we have done emails. it is consistency and having folks realize there is a new outlet for disclosure. there is already hotline at aig, osc, there are multiple ways for di

his case had in particular has been reviewed by osc. we didn't even -- we didn't have the chance to investigate it because it wasn't even in our hands. but i believe that case resolved with him being removed and the office of special counsel supporting that decision. the people that had initially been found with doing some retaliation to him initially -- there's a lot more details to this case that we need to go into -- they were disciplined for retaliation because they did, frankly, screw up. they did not handle that the way they should have. >> so disciplined. were they removed? >> they got the mandatory osc retaliation penalty, a 14-day suspension. >> so that's the problem. the punishment for people who retaliate for whistle blowers isn't strong enough is basically what you're saying. >> that's the mandatory. to be honest, in that case, there were several other mitigating factors. it was almost a technicality to charge him with retaliation. >> it seems to me that there's always a benefit of the doubt given to the people who retaliate

[speaking foreign language] >> voice of translator: when the ponce -- the director of osc is here andthe city attorney handed the first, to us and we are so happy and so grateful and couldn't think them enough for their help. [speaking foreign language] >> voice of translator: the minimum wage is so important to the low wage workers. by raising the minimum wage, it helps the workers to support their family and puts more money in worker process pockets that will lead to more spending in a local business and help our economic growth. thank you so much for fighting for our rights and helping us to recover our rightful earned wages. thank you. [speaking foreign language] [applause] >> thank you, everybody. before our next speaker, i would like to acknowledge the san francisco school board. matt amy, i think i saw him in the back. also upfront, the fire chief joanne hayes white. thank you everyone. next up to speak, an individual who will always give it to you straight. the president of sci you local 87, representing custodial workers throughout san francisco and the secretary-treasurer of

if he wins he'll have an emmy, a grammy, osc and a tony and only few people have accomplished that featopi goldberg and mel brooks. pat and leon, back over to you. >> very rarified air indeed. thanks, erik yeah. thank you, erik >>> the country is just getting to know judge cavanaugh. during his bri introductionon monday he did something that caught the year of local gender columnista >> cavanaughed about women a lot and here are four occasions on which cavanaugh praised the women in her life. >> she overcamearriers and became a trial judge. the president introduced me tonight as judge cavanaugh, but to me that title always belonged toy mom. my wife ashley is a west texan. she owes been a great wife and inspiring mom. i have two spirited ugers. i am proud that a majority of my law clerkshave been women. >> "the washington post" gender comnist monica hess calls that list cavanaugh just ran through his female relationship resume. >> she says men list three to five women who are important toa them as way to prove they are on the side of all women. monica joins us w live to talk about it. >>

i just returned from the osce in berlin and there's little question among our allies and people in diplomats throughout europe that russia is an antag nis tick country that is trying to wreak havoc in the balkans. they tried assassination to influence the elections in montenegro, what they've done in crim crimea, they are the bad guys and you've dedicated most of your life to working in counterintelligence. one of your big cases was donald heathfield and tracy ann foley, correct? >> correct. >> how many russian folks did you expose and bring to justice? >> that was a long, large investigation that tremendous number of extraordinary people worked on that. there were ultimately i believe ten roughly russian illegals that were here but that started out in the early days and was honored to start out and that ran a decade. >> and how many russians were deported for that? >> if memory serves, ten or 11, but i'm not certain. >> pretty good case that you worked on. good job. did you work on russia primarily when you were in the fbi? >> at that period early on, yes. >> are there some things you can t

i just returned from the osce in berlin. and there is little question among our allies and people and diplomats throughout europe that russia is an antagonistic country that is trying to wreak havoc in the baltics. in the balkans as well. they tried to use assassination to try to influence elections in montenegro, what they've done in ukraine, georgia, moldova. they are the bad guys and you've dedicated most of your life to working in counter intelligence and one of your biggest cases was heathfield and tracy anne foley, is that correct? >> yes, sir. >> how many russian folks did you expose and bring to justice? >> that was a long large investigation that tremendous number of the extraordinary people worked on there were ultimately i believe ten roughly russian illegals who were here but that i started out in the early days, was honored to start out and, again, that ran a decade. >> and how many russians were deported for that in. >> sir, if memory serves, 101 but i cannot -- 10 or 11. >> a pretty good case. >> yes. >> did y

affairs by participating with international organizations at engage the european union as well as the osce. there are individuals in houston from france, england, italy, bulgaria, and many places in and around europe, eastern and western. and so the behavior that i watched over the last couple of days with the assault on nato by our commander in chief is frankly embarrassing. america stands as a bastian of democracy and freedom and the world looks to us. insults are not becoming of the american people. insults the heads of state are not becoming to the american people. frankly, i'm against brexit. i think it's the wrong thing to do. i think europe should be a unified group of individuals supporting democracy and standing tall. ut it is outrageous that our representative engaged in nato and as well interacting with our foreign leaders would, one, have a dastardly and rude commentary in the "sun times," insulting our news media, such as cnn, and then frankly going on to one of our worst adversary, a person who has poisoned people on foreign land, who has jailed journalists, who has shot down

there's a hotline at oig and at osc. there's multiple waysd disclosures to be made. it's a time before everyone understands -- which one to use. it's confusing. we know this. >> how do we make it less confusing? why don't you tell us how we can make it less confusing? >> create one. >> that's a great idea. >> you will have to take it away from the office of inspector general and office of special counsel governed by other statutes. >> your oversight -- >> i think whistleblowers should have at many outlets for making disclosures. we will work on the complexity of where that is. that requires more cooperation between the folks. >> the problem is if you flood people with -- it's how you get the information to people and how efficiently do you it and how easy you make it for people to dial a number. i think there's a need to be some more oversight in that field. thank you. i yield back. >> thank you, chairman. thank you for being here, mr. o'rourke. i'm the end user of the v.a. i get every bit of my health care through the v.a. i hold weekly office hours in the v.a. for

i just returned from the osce in berlin. there is little question among our allies and people and diplomats throughout europe that russia is an antagonistic country that is trying to wreak havoc in the baltics, in the balkans as well. they tried to use assassination to try to influence the elections in montenegro, what they've done in ukraine and crimea, georgia, moldova, they are the bad guys. and you've dedicated most of your life of to working in counterintelligence. one of your big cases, i think, was donald heathfield and tracy ann foley, is that correct? >>>> yes, sir. >> howol many russian folks did you expose and brick to justice? >> that wass, a long, large investigation that a tremendous number of extraordinary people worked on. that -- there were ultimately, i believe ten roughly, russian illegals that were here, but i started out in the early days and was honored to start out and,an again, that ran a decade. >> and how many russians were deported for that? >> sir, if memory serves, 10 or 11, but i'm not certain o

i just returned from the osce in berlin, and there is little question among our allies and people and diplomats throughout europe that russia is an antagonistic country that is trying to wreak havoc in the baltics, in the balkans as well, they tried to use assassination to influence the elections in montenegro, what they've done in georgia and ukraine, they are the bad guys. and you've dedicated most of your life to working in counterintelligence and one of your big cases, i think, was donald heath field and tracy ann foley, is that correct? >> yes, sir. >> and that was -- how many russian folks did you expose and bring to justice? >> that was a long, large investigation that -- tremendous number of extraordinary people worked on. there were ultimately, i believe, ten, roughly, russian illegals that were here, but that -- i started in the early days and was honored to start out and, again, that ran a decade. >> and how many russians were deported for that? >> sir, if memory serves, 10 or 11. >> pretty good case that you worked on. good job. did you work on russia primarily when you we

i appreciate the sentiment for the osce representative on freedom of the media. i'm grateful to the other journalists at the capital gra z.t.e. who have been carrying on their mission and i'm grateful for journalists everywhere for their dogged pursuit of the truth. mr. president, i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from utah. mr. lee: mr. president, the national flood insurance program is in trouble, and everyone in this building knows it. everyone in washington knows it. it's fiscally unsustainable because it is, by its nature, structurally unsound. and, yet, here we are again for the seventh straight time in just six years considering so-called straight reauthorization -- straight. yes, that's the word that washington uses. that's what washington describes. it's the word that washington uses when republicans and democrats, after burning the mid-day oil for two and a half a week for a few months, decide together that a dysfunctional program $20 billion in debt is, in fact, perfect. and so we're planning to rubber stam

i just returned from the osce in berlin. and there was little question among our allies and people and diplomats throughout europe that russia is in antagonistic country that is trying to wreak havoc in the baltics, and they tried to use assassination to try to influence the election. they are the bad guys. and you had dedicated most of your life to working in counterintelligence and one of your big cases i think it was donald heathfield. how many russian folks did you expose and bring to justice. >> that was a long large investigation that a tremendous number of extraordinary people worked on. >> there were ten roughly russia legal -- russian legals that were here. if members sir. serve. ten or 11. at that time early on yes. there are some things you can tell us about the russians before they meet with a very good friend and he cannot say anything bad about him. i can speak to my experience as a national security professor. the russians are top rate adversaries in terms of their foreign intelligence service. in terms of how