ryan crocker served as u.s. ambassador five times, including a time in pakistan and most recently in iraq during the bush administration. senator john kerry chairs this two-hour hearing. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] elbe conversations [inaudible conversations] >> of the hearing will come to order. thank you very much. i apologize for being slightly tardy. we welcome our friends and colleagues, senator john mccain. we are delighted to have him here for the purposes of making an introduction. obviously we are here today to consider president obama's nominee for ambassador to afghanistan, and i think we are very fortunate that the president had chosen one of america's most experienced able to platts to serve in kabul and we are very fortunate that ambassador ryan crocker has agreed to search. we are happy to welcome him again before the foreign relations committee. as everybody knows in his distinguished career he served as ambassador to five countries, including suc

a few years later, facing the same challenge in iraq, once again ryan crocker was the only man for the job. it is nearly impossible to find other american diplomats who can match his record. i had met ambassador crocker in his earlier post, but where i really came to know him and respected him most was during his amazing tour in baghdad. it is difficult to remember what he was getting himself into. the violence in iraq was spiraling out of control. dozens of civilians were being killed every day. the ethnic and secretary and battle lines were being -- sect but terry and battle lines are being drawn, and america faced the possibility of being driven from the country and defeat. fortunately, president bush adopted a new policy, and of all of the consequences of decisions he made in 2007, the change of strategy, the surge of forces, the nomination of seven -- general david petraeus, one of the least appreciated was the nomination of ryan crocker. i am sure if you ask the ambassador crocker, he would just say he was doing his part to serve this country. heroes always say that. the truth is

a few years later, facing the same challenge in iraq, once again ryan crocker was the only man for the job. it is nearly impossible to find other american diplomats who can match his record. i had met ambassador crocker in his earlier post, but where i really came to know him and respected him most was during his amazing tour in baghdad. it is difficult to remember what he was getting himself into. the violence in iraq was spiraling out of control. dozens of civilians were being killed every day. the ethnic and secretary and battle lines were being -- sect but terry and battle lines are being drawn, and america faced the possibility of being driven from the country and defeat. fortunately, president bush adopted a new policy, and of all of the consequences of decisions he made in 2007, the change of strategy, the surge of forces, the nomination of seven -- general david petraeus, one of the least appreciated was the nomination of ryan crocker. i am sure if you ask the ambassador crocker, he would just say he was doing his part to serve this country. heroes always say that. the truth is

of it -- david petraeus, one of the most important and least appreciated was the nomination of ryan crocker as ambassador to iraq. if you ask ambassador crocker, he would say he was doing his part to serve the country where and when he was needed most. heroes always say that. when ambassador crocker -- it was nothing short of a miracle. david petraeus has received huge praised for his role in iraq. he deserves every bit of it. david petraeus will be the first to affirm our military strategy would never have worked without ryan crocker's tireless leadership of our political strategy. he put the u.s. embassy in baghdad on a counterinsurgency cooking. he established a seamless partnership with general petraeus. that set the standard for several -- civil partnerships. he used a relationship of trust to push and support the iraqis in saving their country. throughout the struggle, as rockets smashed into his office, ryan crocker performed his duties with courage, poise, a unique ability to marry vision with tactical effectiveness and a relentless work ethic that almost killed him. i commend the p

the immediate subject was the nomination of ryan crocker to serve as u.s. ambassador to afghanistan. he drew on his previous posting as ambassador to iraq. >> we're not out to clearly create a shining city on a hill. that's not going to happen. but there needs to be progress. we went through the same thing in iraq. we chipped away at it. >> woodruff: but senators from both sides wanted to know what the u.s. has to show for $19 billion in aid to stabilize afghanistan over the last ten years. virginia democrat jim webb: >> how much do people want to achieve that may be above what we need to? and we're getting into... into this area of nation building. how much can we achieve? it should only be done if we can articulate a vital national interest because we... we quite frankly need to be doing... doing a lot more of that here. >> woodruff: similar skepticism came from indiana senator richard lugar, the committee's ranking republican. >> despite ten years of investment and attempts to better understand the culture and the region's actors, we remain in a cycle th

>> well, look, ryan crocker is one of the most respected career diplomats in the country.man served some tough time in iraq. he knows about the problems in rebuilding a shattered country due to war. in afghanistan though, he's talking about it being more complicated, brooke, because really it is not just afghanistan, is it? it is also pakistan right across the border, and what ryan crocker is walking into, and what leon panetta is walking into as the next secretary of defense is that regional problem in both countries, afghanistan and pakistan, a growing number of people think that the u.s. is going to pull up, leave them behind, and go home again, and leave both of the countries in that may mean a resurgence of the taliban and the al qaeda, and that means that people in both of to countries are placing their bets where they think that they can be the most secure, and if they think that the u.s. is leaving, they may not place their bets with the u.s. mission. and that means crocker and the whole obama team is walking into some very tough roads ahead. brooke? >> you mention

massachusetts senators john kerry made the confirmation at the hearing for ryan crocker, president obama's nomen knee to become -- nomen nominee to -- nominee. >> if all we do is the current paradigm where attacks are launched out of western pakistan, we're not gonna find a very successful road here. >> crocker says the challenge will be to keep the terrorists from moving back to pakistan. >>> a group is complaining that delta airlines charged them $200 apiece for their bags after coming home from serving in afghanistan. >> good business, delta! >> they say the army told them they could bring four bags apiece. but delta charged them extra money and it ended up to be $2800. delta says as a result of the video it's changing its policy to allow military personnel to check four bags for free. it would not say if it would reimburse the soldiers -- soldiers. >>> michelle obama is set to appear on an upcoming eppy side of ircarley on -- episode of icarley. the first lady will appear in an episode that features a web cast between father and daughter with mrs. obama joining the chat. the episode is

fran, peter, both listen to this, i guess i'll call it a sober assessment from ryan crocker of the chanceshat will be left behind when the united states says "mission accomplished" in afghanistan. >> i certainly don't come with such an intention to produce the perfect society. we can't. but i think by judicious use of resources and conditions based -- redeployments and transfers of responsibility as we'll begin this july, we can get to that sustainable stability. >> sustainable stability, peter and fran, sustainable stability. this is the troop levels in afghanistan. he's ramped up to 100,000. they believe they're making progress because of that. over the course of the past decade, nearly 1,600 americans have lost their livings in afghanistan fighting the war. sustainable stability. that's the best the united states can hope for, peter? >> yeah, i mean, in the 1970s, afghanistan was a country at peace with itself and its neighbor. it's not dream revision for a stable afghanistan. it's a country where gdp has grown 22% in the last year or so. a lot of good things have been going on. clearly

coming up in a couple of hours, a senate foreign relations committee hearing for ryan crocker to be ambassador. you can see that at 9:30 a.m. eastern. in a few moments, today's headlines and your calls live on "washington journal." then live at 10:00 a.m. eastern, the senate judiciary committee looks into the possibility of extending the current director of the fbi's term for an additional two years. in about 45 minutes, who will talk about next year's elections talk about next year's elections with steven

and also there is a new team now, ryan crocker is going in as ambassador. you've got mark grossman who is leading the efforts at state. i think it is a new team and what gates i think is really saying is, look, the military will tell you a reduction figure they're comfortable with. but we have got a good strategy, approved by the president. we have a good team to carry out that strategy. let's give them a chance and continue to look at that 2014 date. that is the date, after all, that americans and our allies and nato have all agreed on. so i think the message you're going to get from bob gates, probably from our military, is let's stay with the strategy, let's capitalize on the success we have made and see if we can make this a success in the 2014 time frame. >> certainly going to come up at this week, there are confirmation hearings for leon panetta as the new secretary of defense on thursday. and you know he's going to hear from the senate on that. >> yes, indeed. >> thank you very much, steve hadley, great to see you. >> nice to be here. >>> pro palesti

i hope ryan crocker, david petraeus and general allen, his successor, would appear before congress. i think they can make a case. >> key to the success of afghanistan and america's strategic relationship is obviously pakistan. there's been so much talk about pakistan in the news this week, including they arrested the cia informants who helped the united states kill osama bin laden. what does this say? is it a chilling effect on the relationship beyond what already exists, and can it be overcome? >> i think it's one of the most -- probably the most frustrating aspect of this whole issue, we had known for years that the isi had contacts and relations with the taliban, the haqqani network, in particular. and part of that we abandoned pakistan years ago with the so-called pressler amendment. it seems to me to restore confidence in our relationship with pakistan, they have to make certain steps and we have to sort of set up some benchmarks what we expect. after all, united states is investing billions and billions are dollars in pakistan, and we have -- tax payers have a right to have a

also are sending absolutely hands down our best diplomat that we have coming out of retirement in ryan crocker who will be joined in afghanistan this month. and he has had such success in iraq and he's also been in this region before. he clearly understands that we need a political strategy to move forward. one to definitely have an election in 2014. there's a red line about karzai staying beyond that and changing the constitution. and that we have as best we can an open and fair election sohe people can get their... the people that they choose into this government. >> rose: when was the last time you saw general petraeus? >> i saw him a couple of months ago. >> rose: his theory of the case is what? what is his mission? >> his mission is to provide a stable and secure environment in afghanistan that will enable a political strategy to move forward that are would provide better governance to its people and also provide better ecomic development. we d't need all the troop there to do all of that, to be quite frank about it. the initial part of that is what we did in iraq: stable, secure environm

later, a confirmation hearing for ambassador to afghanistan nominee ryan crocker. in 1976 law limits the term of an fbi director to tenures. congress is considering extending the term for robert muller -- robert mueller. this is 50 minutes. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] is back tomorrow morning, at 7:00 a.m. eastern time. have a great day. >> good morning, everybody. good morning, director mueller, i prematurely our last hearing here complimented you and said this is the last time you have to come to the hearing and put up with the senate jea, --judiciary committee. welcome back. over a month ago met with the president. he had requested congress authorize a limited extension of robert morris services, director of f.b.i., we have a law that normally limits the f.b.i. directorship to one 10-year term . a way to span presidential terms and give it the kind of independence that somebody in this position wants and needs. the president spoke of the ongoing threats facing the united states

after that, ryan crocker has been nominated to be the new ambassador to afghanistan.less endangerment. they talk about the role of fannie mae and freddie mac in the 2008 financial collapse. after that, and henry kissinger and whether it is possible to form a true partnership with china. also, and backers of founder talks about his memoir "idea man." -- microsoft founder talks about his memoir, "idea man, " >> this is treated for you as a service by mayor its cable companies. we have a discussion on the visit by end of merkel. we will include your phone calls. after that, another chance to see today's news conference with the german leader and president obama. at 9:40 p.m., a briefing on a strain of e. coli that has caused sickness and over 2000 people across europe. more about the e. coli breakout michael taylor. >> this was the scene area there this evening when president obama and michelle obama greeted angela merkel for the first state dinner for a german leader since 1985. about 200 guests are attending a black-tie dinner and later entertainment by james taylor an

policy when the senate foreign relations committee hears testimony from ryan crocker. >> last year's dodd-frank financial regulation law institutes limits on the fees that banks can charge for debit card transactions, known as swipe fees. montana senator has proposed an amendment that would delay the implementation of these regulations for one year. he and other senators talked about his amendment in the senate yesterday. this is an hour and 10 minutes. the presiding officer: the senator from montana. mr. tester: i -- over the last month, mr. president, senator corker and i have worked with several senators who are concerned about the unintended consequences of the debit interchange amendment that the senate adopted last year. we voted against that amendment. we were concerned about the impact of those consequences on folks, especially across rural america, who rely on their small banks and credit unions. the federal reserve's rules based on this amendment are about to go into effect, and the result is going to be bad for the small banks and credit unions and ultimately for the whole

a confirmation hearing take place for career diplomat ryan crocker. >>> "daily show" host jon stewartyou heard. it turns out weiner-gate has hurt stewart on many levels. check out the mock news conference last night. >> that's not good. [ laughter ] >> i'm probably going to need to go to the hospital. >>> there's definitely no rest for the weiner in today's "political buzz." each of our brilliant political observers gets 20 seconds to answer three probing questions we probably all need margaritas now. dana lohse is a cnn contributor and ahead party leader, and robert trainham. guys, first question, broken glass on the daily show, broken alliances on capitol hill. is it worth defending weiner? cornel? >> no, and i would like to reserve the balance of my time, madam speaker, for the other questions. >> okay. my goodness. dana? >> i agree with cornel. i don't think there's any way he can be defended. pelosi and reid have already thrown him under the bus. it's done. >> robert? >> no, and i reserve the rest of my time for a margarita with the three of you. >> money talks, especially to vot

and then ryan crocker, ambassador confirmation hearing. >> continuing conversations on facebook, political places in washington and beyond with foreswear, and programming highlight on our youtube channel -- c-span and social media. connect today. >> a new strain of e. coli has killed more than 20 people and sickened more than 2000 across europe. up next, tuesday's briefing by the european union farm ministers about farmers affected by the reduced sales of vegetables and fruit. this is a half-hour. >> good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. welcome, everyone, today's conference. today, with the commissioners, we would like to inform you about what happened at today's extraordinary council meeting, what was on the agenda, and what we decided on these important issues that keep everyone busy in europe. first of all, a week ago, at the informal agricultural council meeting, he touched upon the issue of the e coli outbreak. this has food safety dimensions and we would like to express our condolences to the victims. we wish a quick recovery to those who are suffering from the disease. this has ver

also a hearing for ryan crocker, a confirmation hearing. napolitano. >> welcome. an anniversary were the event is we know took place just 1 mile south of here. i am michael walden. we are delighted to partner with the law school to co-sponsor this event. i want to quickly think some of my colleagues who made this event happened and to do so much for our work. thank you for doing this and for all you do i want to emphasize that the program of which they are a part, our liberty and national security program, is called that for a reason. it is the liberty and the national security, not the liberty or national-security program. we believe very strongly that we can protect our country and protect our safety and our people and protect our bodies and our constitution. we appreciate very much that the secretary throughout her career has demonstrated her loyalty to those same of all use -- to that same difficult but necessary balancing act that we as americans have to go through. the brennan center is a non partisan institute, part law firm, part ad

this is the chairman asking ryan crocker about the issue of corruption. we will watch that and come back to our guest. >> clearly, the issues of governance, rule of law, and corruption have to improve if afghanistan is to go forward as a stable state. >> are you saying corruption is essential to achieve our goals? >> i think corruption, mr. chairman, and i draw on my experience here, corruption totally unchecked becomes as how iraqis put it as a second insurgency. it undermines confidence on the part of their government, and it makes groups like the taliban look attractive. mr. chairman, we are not out to clearly create a shining city on a hill. that is not going to happen. that would apply to all of these sectors that i mentioned, but there needs to be progress. we went through the same thing in iraq. we chipped away at it over time. we got them to take some measurable, if not partial, steps on the issue of corruption so you have a situation today that is not, again, a city on a hill, but where they have a good chance of carrying forward without u.s. for

a hearing for ryan crocker on c- span 3. >> now, janet napolitano on u.s.ecurity 10 years after the september 11 attacks. she was at the new york university law school for about an hour. >> agreed to be back at nyu. to talk about where we stand and some of the issues confronting homeland's security now 10 years after the attack of 9/11. thank you for that introduction. thank you, michael, for allowing me to come back. me to come back.

if confirmed i look forward to working with my friends come ambassador ryan crocker with whom i served in iraq and the nato's senior representative ambassador simon, to ensure that our military and civilian efforts are closely synchronized. i would also like to express my profound admiration for all of the partner nations and their forces in afghanistan with 49 nations from all over the globe currently serving in afghanistan and supporting that mission. the scale of the coalition is truly historic. as general petraeus has noted, afghan and i sat forces halted the insurgency momentum and much of the country and reversed it in key areas. based on the work of the deputy commander in the central command numerous visits to fever over the past nine years including last month an extensive discussion with senior military and civilian leaders a share in that assessment. afghan and coalition forces now largely controlled the battle space and strategically important areas such as kabul where one-fifth of the afghan population lives in and around kandahar the spiritual and historic sanctuary of th

if confirmed i look forward to working with my friends come ambassador ryan crocker with whom i served in iraq and the nato's senior representative ambassador simon, to ensure that our military and civilian efforts are closely synchronized. i would also like to express my profound admiration for all of the partner nations and their forces in afghanistan with 49 nations from all over the globe currently serving in afghanistan and supporting that mission. the scale of the coalition is truly historic. as general petraeus has noted, afghan and i sat forces halted the insurgency momentum and much of the country and reversed it in key areas. based on the work of the deputy commander in the central command numerous visits to fever over the past nine years including last month an extensive discussion with senior military and civilian leaders a share in that assessment. afghan and coalition forces now largely controlled the battle space and strategically important areas such as kabul where one-fifth of the afghan population lives in and around kandahar the spiritual and historic sanctuary of th

this is the chairman asking ryan crocker about the issue of corruption. we will watch that and come back to our guest. >> clearly, the issues of governance, rule of law, and corruption have to improve if afghanistan is to go forward as a stable state. >> are you saying corruption is essential to achieve our goals? >> i think corruption, mr. chairman, and i draw on my experience here, corruption totally unchecked becomes as how iraqis put it as a second insurgency. it undermines confidence on the part of their government, and it makes groups like the taliban look attractive. mr. chairman, we are not out to clearly create a shining city on a hill. that is not going to happen. that would apply to all of these sectors that i mentioned, but there needs to be progress. we went through the same thing in iraq. we chipped away at it over time. we got them to take some measurable, if not partial, steps on the issue of corruption so you have a situation today that is not, again, a city on a hill, but where they have a good chance of carrying forward without u.s. for

retiring at the end of next week, director panetta moving across to the pentagon and rossiter ryan crocker likely to be concerned for his posting to afghanistan. the cia has been involved in or affected by all of these changes. if confirmed, general petraeus will have the opportunity to shape the agencies respond to the new realities we now face in our purpose today is to understand how he intends to carry out that charge. general petraeus is a long time can sooner as a top general in afghanistan and iraq has been the combatant commander for a portion of the world were intelligence operations play a key role and he is especially aware of the court nation between military special ops and intelligence covert actions. so he comes to this nomination with 50 familiarity of the intelligence community and that the cia in particular. still, the committee is always mindful that the cia is by far the biggest of the civilian intelligence agencies, while the majority of our intelligence dollars are spent in the department of defense. the cia is tasked to provide independent, strategic assessments to t

retiring at the end of next week, director panetta moving across to the pentagon, and ambassador ryan crocker will likely be confirmed soon to his post in afghanistan. the cia has been involved in or has been affected by all these changes. if confirmed, general petraeus will have the opportunity to shape the agency's response to the new reality is we now face. our purpose today is to understand how he intends to carry out that charge. general petraeus is a longtime consumer of intelligence as the top general in both afghanistan and iraq. he has been the combatant commander for intelligence operations, playing a key role. he is especially where the coordination between military special ops and intelligence covert actions. so he comes to this nomination with a deep familiarity of the intelligence community and of the cia in particular. the committee is always mindful that the cia is by far the biggest of the civilian intelligence agencies. while the majority of our intelligence dollars are spent in the department of defense, the cia is tasked to provide independent strategic assessments to the

we have three nominees, bill burns to bed undersecretary, ryan crocker, ambassador to afghanistan, and the ambassador to china. is there any debate for the no ? if not, we build on block. seconded? all those in favor say aye. it will be sent to the floor for disposition. senator lugar. i thank you my colleagues for making that happen quickly. senator senator lugar. >> i thank you for joining us once again and since the committee chairman mentioned has taken a series of hearings on afghanistan and pakistan during the last two months that illuminated many issues. we look forward today for the first time in this series of hearings the administration's assessment of the situations in those countries and plans for moving forward. much of the discussion about united states policy in the region has been focused on the specific question of how many troops should be withdrawn from afghanistan. i believe troop withdrawals are warranted at this stage, but our policy in afghanistan is in need of much more than troop reduction on a political timetable. the president should put forward a plan that i