admiral sandy winfield united states navy, vice chairman of the joint chiefs. we're thrilled you're here and thank you for your service. i want to thank active duty members and vets who are here. if you would stand up, i need to look at you. there you go. [ applause ] thank you all. of course you heard from margaret. we poached margaret from the chamber prior to that she was the secretary of education, did a really good job. she is helping us at the bush center in dallas, texas, to foster smart policy and to take action to help change people's lives. that's what i think the post-presidency ought to be about. like margaret, laura and i who by the way is here and who you will hear from here shortly, we're still passionate about education reform. i ran for governor from texas and because of education i remember calling my mother. i said "mother, i want to run against ann richards because i believe so strongly in education reform. she said "you're not gonna win." [ laughter ] gee, mom. [ laughter ] so at the bush center we defend accountability in our public school

admiral sandy winfield, united states navy. vice chairman of the joint chiefs. thank you for your service. i want to thank the active duty members and vets who are here. if you'd stand up, i need to look at you. there you go. thank you all. of course you heard from margaret so we poached margaret from the chamber. prior to that, she was the secretary of education. did a really good job. and she is helping us at the bush center there on the campus at smu in dallas, texas, to foster smart policy and to take action to help change people's lives. that's what i think the post presidency ought to be about. like margaret, laura and i who by the way is here, who you will hear from shortly, we're still passionate about education reform. you know, i ran for governor for texas and because of education, i remember calling up my mother. i said, mother, i want to run against anne richards. because i believe so strongly in education reform. she said you're not going to win. gee, mom. so at the bush center, we defend accountability in our public schools and we're helping princi

one of those hearings we had deputy secretary bob work and sandy winfield. they both did a great job. both of them emphasized that in their opinion nuclear deterrence was the highest priority of d.o.d. they had a statement to the force to that effect. secretary carter, you now have that job. >> i assured you. and i actually on thanksgiving was calling service members around the world. one of the folks i called was ms. lear who was spending his christmas in a silo in north dakota. >> thank you. >> and i told him exactly that. i said what you're doing is the single most important thing in the military. it is not in the news every day. god help us if it is. but it is the bedrock of our security and in the final analysis that it is the ultimate under girder of american security. that is why having an effective modern safe, nuclear deterrent is absolutely critical. >> well, i appreciate you doing that. because i share that view. and i appreciate the fact that secretary james is putting renewed emphasis on that area. and my hope is you will be as clear on that as

one of those hearings we had deputy secretary bob work and vice chairman of the joint chiefs sandy winfield testify and they both did a great job. both of them emphasized that in their opinion nuclear deterrence was the highest priority of the dod and they reflected on secretary hagel's 2014 statement secretary carter you now have the job. do you share secretary hagel's view as well as andy wynnefield that nuclear deterrence is the highest priority? >> i sure do and i actually on thanksgiving was calling servicemembers around the world and one of the folks i called was spending his christmas in north dakota. i told him exactly that. i said what you are doing is the single most important thing in the u.s. military. it's not in the news everyday and god help us if it is that it is the bedrock of our security and in the final analysis it is the ultimate undergird of american security. that's why having an effect if safe and secure nuclear deterrence is absolutely critical. >> i appreciate you doing that because i share that view and i appreciate the fact that secretary james is putting in a re