he is talented and there is a team at the state department plus the ambassador phil verveer working on this, regardless whether there is a head of delegation. i don't want that to be a distraction. there is no sunlight between republicans, democrats, left, right and center, ngos or government on this issue so i think it's important to stick to the substance. we have six months before dubai but more importantly we have years to go, we need to make this a standing coalition of coalitions to make sure that the internet is governed by multi-stakeholder model and not by a top-down intergovernmental regime. and i would let dr. beaird speak about the majority aspect but historically the itu has been governed by consensus but there is a concern when you see the thrust of some ideas, a general sense being adopted by large voting blocs, some are in this room but shall remain nameless, were telling me late last year there were maybe up to 90 countries out of the 193 who were supportive in general of granting the itu more authority in this area. if we don't sign on to the treaty we don't abide by

i want to welcome ambassador phil verveer who will be one of the administration's lead negotiators on the treaty known as the international telecommunications regulations at the world conference on international telecommunications in december. and i believe that ambassador verveer's experience in communications and antitrust law will serve the u.s. position well. we're pleased to have commissioner rob mcdowell back to our subcommittee. he has been focused on this issue for some time, been expressing a strong leadership position and we're pleased to have him with us. our second panel is also highly experienced, former ambassador david gross and sally wentworth, both served the the previous administration with distinction and have significant experience with information and communications technology sectors. and i want to welcome vince surf as one of the founders of the internet, dr. surf will be able to provide us with a unique perspective about how some of the proposals before the international meeting threaten the security and stability of the internet. we all agree that the current