the size of the national security council is not what's important. it's what the national security does, national security council does. if you look at the range of issues that the president has to deal with, every single day, just in the seven days since i've been gone, i know h.r. deals with about twice as many issues every day then either steve or i had to do on our watch. so the size of the national security council has to be adequate to the task and that means you organize yourself on functional directorates and geographical directorates that makes sense. you have to have that kind of knowledge. on my watch we combine the homeland security council in the national security council, that i will tell you that on my watch the national security council was severely underfunded, severely underfunded, grossly underfunded. the only way to fight that was to get detainees from the agencies. steve and i talked about this. on my watch the national security council was roughly two-thirds detailees and one-third former personnel, and guess what. after the firs

us the opportunity to celebrate this 70th anniversary, a remarkable institution, the national security council. you have before you for gentlemen that have been national security adviser's. i have about three or four more in the audience, i could not get everybody on the table, but we have remarkable talent. my goal tonight is to help all of you understand how the institution works and i'm of the big questions are in a way. i will just be the moderator and try to stay out of the way with my questions. the first thing i would like to ask you, is, the national security council really sits at the fault line of american constitutional governance. that is no question congress has a right to oversee , stateions of department department, defense department -- and there is no question that the president has a right of privacy in his decision-making. we call that executive privilege. in the national security council, it sits right on top of that. you are there for the president to health will the government together but you are also coordinating the activities of agencies that have accountability to co

by a permanent member of the un security council that was the us. that's right and the she made of when she spoke about the fact that iran deal has effectively enshrined in un law through this resolution she said that has many powers but he doesn't have this wanted reference to whether he can terminate the deal but interestingly this idea that the trump administration is tight trying to create enough uncertainty that there can be some sort of followup deal or additional deal that incorporates iran's other activities its ballistic missile program except she she said that there's absolutely no room to maneuver on that and no political will to to have such an agreement. yes she made it clear that you need to have a partner for such an agreement and i think she's probably being right in guessing that iran is not going to want to constrain its activities in the region and its ballistic missile program because those were all discussed in talks that took place in the u.s. in switzerland in austria there were rounds and rounds of these talks the us the a bo

you have combined the national security council under --was severely underfunded. the only way to fight it was to .et detail ease stephen and i talked about this. on my watch, the national security council was roughly two year, and after the first they went back to their agencies and you had to rebuild it. the national security council -- i franklyanized don't care about the size as long as it does what it needs to do. big issues on the problems of multiple agency departments. it is no longer just the defense department. it is treasury, commerce, it is everything. if you are going to run an that will be the ringmaster, you have to have adequate size. you have to have them on a permanent basis. think we should have had two thirds. that is the national security advisor. -- the immediate knowledge of going on in the far corner of the world. organizatione the to keep up on a 24/7 basis. we need to have staff other than a watch. so that when the shift comes, you are actually transitioning with knowledge. if that is the conundrum, you have no time to think strategically

national security council. and interaction with the present from historical perspective. i think history connectivity answer but it can help me avoid some mistakes of the past. and really highlighted for me but we are the president within the national security council is to coordinate and integrate efforts across our department and agencies and provide the president with multiple options. options that are based on clearly articulated goals and objectives that we derive from an understanding of us vital interest. with any policy stakeholders with equities in the process today who complain that they have been excluded in any way under hr mcmaster? >> no. we are running a fully transparent process. it empowers the president's very talented cabinet. to bring forward to him, their best assessments and best recommendations. but the president does is asked very tough questions. i think you've seen this in the development of a broad number of strategies from cuba to north korea to south asia. and so what i think the pr

security council well the decertification doesn't do that but if the congress decides to reimpose the sanctions and the international atomic energy authority hasn't said there's reason to do that then it would look i think like the u.s. has decided to break this deal on its own and this deal was as you say enforced by a u.n. security council resolution that was passed unanimously that resolution was drafted by one of the permanent members of the u.n. security council yes which one the united states ed and european union federica military any the european union foreign policy chief has been putting a lot of pressure on the americans not to decertify this theory because they want it to continue right they're happy with how it's gone so yeah the e.u. the u.k. of the germans the french the chinese the russians everyone else wants to keep this deal and the reality is in the white house and in the trumpet ministration the secretary of defense the secretary of state the national security advisor they all think the deals in in the u.s. interest what i think they've crafted is a way to keep. r

we strongly support the un security council resolution that was passed unanimously by all 15 membersf the security council imposing further sanctions on afterkorea just nine days north korea had conducted its six illegal and most powerful nuclear test. last thursday, spoke at length with u.s. secretary of state rex tillerson about the contents of the supposed resolution. we noted that while north korea is isolated diplomatically, it is not self-sufficient economically. relation to in energy. secretary tillerson and i agreed that ever-increasing economic pressure on north korea is in essential pillar of the collective international strategy to compel north korea to return to the negotiating table and to abandon its illegal missile and nuclear programs. we noted the special responsibility of the permanent five members of the security council, particularly those him maintain an economic relationship with north korea to uphold the authority of the security council in face of the repeated violations by north korea and to impose maximum economic pressure on the north changeregime to make i

now remembering this report has just been delivered to the security council members they will be looking at they will be thinking about it and only at the end of the month will they hold a formal security council session to discuss it now in that session it may be decided to take further actions are those in the so-called black list. of where the or not these actions constitute war crimes may be referred to another un agency to look into or the security council may ask for further investigation to determine whether or not but in past experiences and the past sightings of these reports remembering this is an annual report which comes out at this time every year and there has not been that type of follow up and previous reports there has not been the discussion about are these war crimes basically this an ex is there to name and shame rather than cite entities or nations for further action this could change at some stage but that essentially is up to the security council michael thank you the nobel peace prize has been awarded to the international campaign to abolish nuclear wea

and pass should be endorsed by the house of representatives and the high state council high ranking military and security paris should be appointed by the presidency council so the house of representatives should blackmail the presidency council. these latest talks will include any coming in to select any new prime minister charged with forming a new government but until that is actually a change in the political landscape people like these young men are likely to regain their trust in politicians. and she's eager to paly u.s. defense secretary james mattis is urging iraqi and kurdish peshmerga forces to remain focused on defeating eisel that's after kurdish forces cleared villages around care coke and accused iraqi forces of preparing to seize kurdish held oil fields near the city where tensions have been rising since the kurds voted overwhelmingly for succession from iraq and a non-binding referendum last month that has more from air bill in northern iraq the kurdish regional government talk a.r.g. says iraqi government troops and shia militia forces have moved closer to their peshmerga positions the p

resistant then security council should consider other measures of course to be applied. correspondent he has more on the plight of the. last ten to fifteen thousand people are stranded here in no man's land what is called zero line between myanmar and bangladesh brought out this area. this paper that flagman my way the last two days that been stranded you have and has no safety to go to most of the people are exposed to weather majority are women and children or elderly people the government has given permission to some of the aid agencies to bring critical care medicine and food but the idea there still of taking shelter in the pedophile and manmade dike just doesn't make sense are coming under critical review by the u.n. agencies and other international aid agencies that why are still kept yet we are one of the broader got off that we're undertaking to shelters and could have said we need a coordinated approach before we take them in that shelter in quite appalling area still the idea this people are still here is a major question what is behind the motive of the gover

cannot unilaterally amend a security council resolution and it is not a bilateral agreement it does not belong to any single country and it is not up to any single country to terminate it it is a multilateral agreement which was unanimously endorsed by the united nations security council resolution twenty two thirty one and the leaders in germany france and the united kingdom added their concern for the deal formerly known as a joint comprehensive plan of action they say preserving the j.c. p.o.a.'s in our shared national security interest the nuclear deal was a culmination of thirteen years of diplomacy and was a major step towards ensuring that iran's nuclear program is not diverted for military purposes the leaders added that they were worried and willing to act over iran's ballistic missile program and what they described as its regional activities . iran has sent a formal letter of protest to the u.n. secretary general it says the islamic republic of iran will not be the first to withdraw from the deal but if its rights and interests in the deal are not respected it will stop imple

the security council debate is about women peace and security but in coming days the chambers likely to become the scene of heated argument about the future of the joint investigative mechanism jim its annual mandate needs to be renewed before the seventeenth of next month the g.m. as it is quite frankly the best who will have it has been created by unanimous vote . it has demonstrated that it is highly professional. impartial. so we have. to let's let's use it frankly collectively but the key the key priority now is to recreate consensus i consider that we have the moral and political responsibility to succeed here in its latest report jim found the syrian government accountable for a sarin gas attack and it looked province earlier this year more than eighty civilians died many of them children the report says evidence gathered from eyewitnesses satellite imagery and mobile phone footage indicate the attack was carried out by syrian government aircraft and that samples of chemical compounds used in explosives lifted from the scene are identical to those found during an inspection of

security council resolution this is a plan of action that sets things to be done commitments nuclear related commitments and only nuclear related commitments and that is been implemented so the presence of united states as many powers not this one so that's the international reaction let's get back to the u.s. can really help out the white house for us and so kimberly the trouble ministration wants congress to move swiftly now on fixing the actor the legislation that was passed in relation to the iran deal what happens next. well certainly this has been as many of put it here in the united states punted to use a football term to the u.s. congress in terms of next steps what this means is congress could do nothing that's unlikely what it could do is sort of address some of the common flaws by both democrats and republicans that are viewed in terms of the agreement that is put in place by u.s. law this one that requires this research if occasion that we should point out the president says he cannot do this time because he feels iran is violating the spirit of the deal but which his own

saffron past should be endorsed by the house of representatives and the high state council high ranking military and security paris should be appointed by the presidency council so the house of representatives should blackmail the presidency council. these latest talks will include every command dition to select and your prime minister charged with forming a new government but until that is actually a change in the political landscape people. are unlikely to regain their trust in politicians. tripoli provisional results in liberia's election and show the former football star george weah in the lead at least a third of votes from five thousand three hundred polling stations have been counted we are almost forty percent on his challenger vice president joseph walk a is on thirty one percent is likely to be a runoff next month as fifty percent of voters needed the victory now zambia's economy was built on mining but more than a century later children are feeling the after effects of years of toxins polluting the environment they often ingest lead where they are playing reports to cut way. in the notice of sunsh

to find solutions to the underlying causes of the wreck and conflict has just breaks the un security council and called for the safe return of their huge or they can it will only go back if they have a sense of security and confidence that their lives will be better and we in their recommendation indicated that they should not be put incomes they should be allowed to go back to the appalachians and they should be helped to rebuild and reconstruct government leaders in mainmast say they'll meet with their bangladeshi counterparts at the end of the month to begin a process to repair at least one hundred a day whose identities match meanwhile government records we have i didn't find those who are correct so and then sent back to their homes the homes not so we we were rebuilt by them so they have to live in the temporary. nationalist sentiment runs high here this rally in young gone organized by buddhists with right wing views is calling for their hinges to stay out the military operation in the right kind of state is very popular here but internationally condemned the military has launched an

where because first men peacekeeping is authorized by the security council and the security council doesn't want to spend too much money on peacekeeping it spends already roughly eight billion dollars so it's not small amount of money it's small compared to military spending in the world but in absolute terms it's not small and second because peacekeepers they are effective if again if the parties to the conflict why. if you just throw peacekeepers at a conflict without. dimona request from the parties to the conflict usually you are disappointed because the peacekeepers again they can help they cannot substitute for the will of the parties to sue for peace so how do you choose a countries that supply peacekeepers to this or that mission are there specific it's conflict that influenced choice language religion climate or does the un just pick whoever is willing to spend the money. well there are you say there are only fifteen peacekeeping mission but it's still that's quite a number of peacekeepers and so at the moment the un often has difficulties finding peacekeepers it cannot always choo

it is a myanmar resistent then security council should consider other measures of course to be applied well with a week to go until the presidential rerun kenya's electoral commission has admitted it can't guarantee free and fair elections the commission's chairman says there has been political interference in its operations this comes as a senior commissioner quit and fled to the us alleging intimidation and threats to her life from a general or as more from nairobi it looks as if things are falling apart at kenya's electoral commission headquarters rather than a combat one of seven commissioners has resigned alleging political interference she says threats have been made on the lives of staff members including her own commissioners are serving political interests and they've been last minute changes to technology and electronic transmission of results hours later the commission's chairman gave a stern warning without critical changes in. this . function without. the chairman's appeal was also aimed at the kenyan public hoping to regain their trust but the damage has been done the ele

the nuclear deal was under a un security council resolution we re a un security council resolution wereated to discuss the nuclear deal and only that. during the negotiations we would say did you talk about syria? no, we are only discussing nuclear. the deal was meant to open up new channels of negotiations about ballistic missiles, iran's behaviour in the region, iran's support for shi'ite militia ins iraq and syria which has caused concern in many capitals, the way the allies will look at this and president trump referred to his allies horks, you he had consulted his allies, when the allies look at the map of the middle east, when they look at yemen, they don't think what iran is doing. when they look at syria and iraq and the main threat there for the united states is islamic state. now, president trump is saying the list has changed, the main global list is iran and islamic state second. not eve ryo ne iran and islamic state second. not everyone will agree him on that. thank you very much. let's speak to a lecturer in iranian history at the university of manchester. thank you very m

security council should consider the measures of course to be applied. so a few moments ago we were telling you that we have breaking news out of afghanistan that's where at least forty two soldiers have been killed in an assault on a military camp in kandahar and the taliban is being blamed straight to jennifer glass who's joining us from the afghan capital kabul to tell us whether the taliban has claimed responsibility for this attack jennifer and what exactly happened what are you hearing about the death toll. the taliban have claimed responsibility for this attack on an afghan army base in my wand that's in western kandahar province on the border with helmand that base home to sixty afghan soldiers in the middle of the night just before three o'clock this morning it was attacked by taliban forces we understand that they detonated an armored vehicle of some sort there and fierce fighting ensued in that fighting forty three of those afghan soldiers were killed nine were wounded six are still missing and two escaped and injured ten taliban the ministry

find a single security council resolution condemning iraq for the use of chemical weapons, a single security council resolution. now people are telling me chemical weapons are the red line for them? nonsense! ask any iranian. no iranian believes chemical weapons are a red line for any western country because tolerated their use by iraqis against iranian civilians. >> rose: so when the government you supported in area was using chemical weapons, were you there strongly, strongly denouncing them for using those chemical weapons? >> we denounced the use -- >> rose: at the same time that the united states at that time was denouncing it and american journalists were pointing it out? >> we denounced the use of chemical weapons, regardless the victim or culprit. >> rose: but it was the government and the country that you were supporting that was using chemical weapons in syria, and many will argue that that government would not have survived without hezbollah -- >> can i respond? we asked for an international investigation. >> rose: but -- we asked -- >> rose: but was that to determine whether they

the security council debate is about women peace and security but in coming days the chambers likely to become the scene of heated argument about the future of the joint investigative mechanism jim its annual mandate needs to be renewed before the seventeenth of next month the g.m. as it is quite frankly the best who we have it has been created by unanimous vote. it has demonstrated that it is highly professional. impartial. so we have. to let's let's use it frankly collectively but the key the key priority now is to recreate consensus. i consider that we have the moral and political responsibility to succeed here in its latest report jim found the syrian government accountable for a sarin gas attack and it looked province earlier this year more than eighty civilians died many of them children the report says evidence gathered from eyewitnesses satellite imagery and mobile phone footage indicate the attack was carried out by syrian government aircraft and that samples of chemical compounds used in explosives lifted from the scene are identical to those found during an inspection of s

in twenty fifteen in un security council resolution twenty do could be one so this is a deal which has the in burma told the international law is that as far as the security council is concerned and all the agencies through the various and the excuse of this the youth's have so far said that iran is maintaining its end of the bargain so it's not that easy for the american government to say that iran is in violation and it's even more difficult it seems to me for the american government to walk away from the deal which has been sanctified by the security council resolution v.g.a. you wrote that secretary of state rex tillerson said the u.s. government was committed to overthrowing the current government and iran by peaceful means so is washington the real intentions to pursue regime change and iran. well it's been the american position since one nine hundred seventy nine that the current government in iran is illegitimate and it's attempted through various means to overthrow this government i mean there's been no. change in policy since nine hundred seventy nine whether it's b

security council to send another nine hundred peacekeeping troops to the central african republic. also a tension to a fragile situation. far from the media spotlight. the cross the country communal tensions are growing violence is spreading and humanitarian situation is if you date. since the beginning of these year the number of internally displaced persons is almost doubled reaching six hundred thousand. and the number of refugees in neighboring countries are surpassed five hundred thousand i've just asked the security council to increase the ceiling of troops going to public and also to increase their capacity their mobility and their ability to address the very dramatic challenges they face spain has warned it will suspend caution one is autonomy of the region's leader doesn't abandon her secession bid colors proved mark has until eight g.m.t. on thursday morning to clarify his position barca reports from barcelona. save catalonia as independence movements looking increasingly desperate they're reaching out for help it concerns to each and every european citizen but slick camp

in the national security council, it sits right on top of that. you are there for the president to health will the government together but you are also coordinating the activities of agencies that have accountability to congress. i would like to ask each of you to reflect on that from your own -- he has aerience, trump card so he can interrupt you whatever you want. i will start with you, h.r. >> thank you. it is important for the president and for all of us that we ensure congress fulfills its role which is vital to our democracy because the congress represents the american people, but is also the role -- critical role for congress. and for the administration to be able to access the great work about their staff does. it is a responsibility -- [indiscernible] attempted to do, as a national security council is have conversations with senators and congressmen and staffers about key policy initiatives and early on in the development of what we call in the best integrated strategies. we found that helpful, because a lot of the problems are facing req

. >> the security council has repeatedly passed issues but iran has repeatedly thumbed its nose at those efforts. worse, the regime continues to play this council. iran hides behind its assertion of technical compliance with the nuclear deal while it braze generally violates the other limits on its behavior, and we have allowed them to get away with it. this must stop.

what's been happening in the security council session is that the u.s.nd ten other members of the security council want the mandate of the gym renewed that is expiring on november the seventeenth but the russians along with bolivia and along with two members abstaining say that they first want to hear the report before extending jim's mandate for another year so it's something of a technical hold up but at the same time it's very much a power play between the u.s. which once the mandate renewed before the report comes out because the u.s. ambassador has alleged that russia's reaction to the report will depend will define its action in whether or not extends jims mandate so the situation is that the investigative mechanism looking at chemical weapons attacks in syria will continue probably its mandate has until november the seventeenth russia says it wants to hear the report in forty eight hours time book all renewing the mandate the u.s. once it to happen now the security council refused to pass a resolution because of the russian veto importantly to thi

security council with a resolution unanimously adopted, a deal that america helped to shape enormouslyuld be rejected by the same country. if we pass the message that every change of administration in washington or elsewhere deals are thrown away and renegotiated, no one would negotiate with any administration ever and any deal would be exposed to be renegotiated every term. this is not a way of making deals, not in foreign policy, not in private businesses, and i think president trump understands this perfectly well. >> woodruff: high representative federica mogherini, thank you very much for talking with us. >> thank you. >> woodruff: stay with us. coming up on the newshour: a nation divided. opposing views on the trump administration's latest moves. but first, the drug crisis in america today is killing more people each year than aids, gun deaths or car crashes did at their peaks. tonight we look at the role of fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid increasingly driving that high mortality rate, and pushing law enforcement, health professionals and lawmakers to search for new solutio

two areas near kurdish controlled oil fields close to the city of kirkuk the kurdish regional security council says troops have been seen south of the city the iraqi government has denied it's planning a military attack on the kurdish controlled region of the country tensions have been rising between the two governments since the kurdish secession referendum last month. from erbil in northern iraq. it's very worrying reports here certainly from the k r g saying that there has been movement of iraq and shia militia forces towards peshmerga positions to the south and the west of that oil rich city kid a cook i mean there's been flat denials from the iraqi government and the rocky military with respect to these allegations the head of the joint iraqi military operations saying that this was completely untrue prime minister body yesterday in his weekly address and he's just tweeted these comments and saying that all forces cannot and will not attack our citizens whether arab or but it is very much a worry for the k r g the kurdish regional government here saying that they have deployed at least si

and the african states were also represented in the security council and for example that it fell off that yet words by any known with the of the security council so that they get the african states that were there were in support of the referral to that sissy are you are you concerned are you concerned that other nations may follow suit. currently there is no other nation that is in the process of withdrawal other countries has threatened to. currently not there is no indication at all that you remember that there was the withdrawal that the stores that were deposed by myself and then there were in fact because of their own decisions whether the change of the presidency or internal discussions but currently there are all withdrawals that are depressed. thirty ellabella thank you very much for joining us we appreciate it. a un investigative panel has blamed syria's assad government for a lethal chemical attack on a rebel held village in april more than eighty people including tens of children were killed when the nerve agent sarin was dropped on the town of concha coom almost six hund

security council. we're doing a lot with various multilateral partners and we had a very strong statement out of ashjian at the recent ministerial in october in manila. we have gotten a lot of different actors to step up and help us with this effort. certainly we're doing a lot of consulting with the regional stakeholders especially our two very strong allies south korea and japan. the president met with them both in a trilateral format last week in new york. but we've also been consulting very closely and had long meetings and had extended discussions with both russia and china. i think we're doing as much as we can with those regional stakeholders but we don't want to be tied to one particular format. and we're certainly open to any formats or opportunities that would put pressure, more pressure on north korea. and so i think we're open to it. we just haven't found it necessary to do it in that format. >> do you concur with ambassador haley that the united states has exhausted its usefulness? >> well

singling out michael chertoff, the operations center and the white house homeland security council. those parts of the government were singled out even by republicans in congress during hurricane katrina. not just because of the lang of preparedness the lack of caution and recognition about the magnitude of what was about to happen to new orleans, despite the fact that that 120r78 was bearing down and the national hurricane center was were dead right about what was going to happen. it's not like the government didn't have a warning. right. but those parts, those specific parts of the government singled out by this remarkable republican report on the failings of the government around hurricane katrina. they weren't just singled out because they didn't plan right. once the disaster started, they couldn't figure it out. they handled the administration so poorly. no one knew what was going on, if no one knows what's going on, that's symptom that your disaster response has failed. and the breach of the levees in new orleans was specific, but crucial, consequential part by that failing by

has written widely on topics to the un security council and the merits of though willing. but tonight we're not talking but with those sovereignty wars. so join me to welcome him tonight. [applause] congratulations. >> probably for sale for those who want to read them. and that is interesting but since then the word sovereignty is that president trump is first address to the un security council 21 times in the 42 minute speech to start us off. why is it such a hot topic?. >> wondering how much i have paid with the word sovereignty but it was remarkable. and it makes sense in the case because to that degree one confined constant blood is turbulence and with that promulgation of that idea. or to provide that. getting into the topic of sovereignty. and then to have those sovereignty deficits. so increasingly with the coming of war on america bin sovereignty from the hudson institute called the sovereignty or submission? will the rule themselves or others? to be diametrically opposed so what is all the fuss about? so a guide to the perplexed why the world's most powerful count

security council, and we can do something about it. in terms of where we can inspect, the deal covers a number of iranian nuclear sites at any of which the international atomic energy agency can do inspections. the deal also includes provisions that allow us to present evidence of iranian wrongdoing if our intelligence community figures out that iran is working on something inappropriate at another site. we can present that evidence to the iaea, they can demand access into it. if iran denies access, they have 24 days in which to deny or grant access, and if they deny it, that's where we start to kick everything back to the u.n. security council, that's where we enter that whole snapback of sanctions discussion. so the deal has built-in provisions for if we have concerns about sites that are outside the deal. however, the trump administration has not in any way presented any concerns that would rise to that level which is why iran has not been asked to open up other sites. we simply don't have evidence, we don't believe right now -- the