president ronald reagan unveiled his proposal for the strategic defense initiative or s.d.i. to be able to shoot down enemy missiles knighted states in that regard coming up on today's program former pentagon official michael maloof is back to talk defense and we take a little time to time travel back to those days of s.d.i. and star wars and fast forward to what's going on now with space weapons plus r t correspondent dan cohen helps us to understand who the biggest defense contractors are and how much money they make plus economist and author steve king joins us from london to answer the important question can we avoid another financial crisis. machinery goliah caterpillar is closing a parts factory in waco texas which employed two hundred people the shutdown as part of a downsizing by the company which began in two thousand and fifteen and seeks to reduce employment by ten thousand workers thereby reducing capacity by ten percent next on the potential chopping block is a plant in la grange illinois which currently employs six hundred people a determination on that. plant wi

on this day the us president ronald reagan unveiled his proposal for the strategic defense initiative or s.d.i. to be able to shoot down enemy missiles head for united states in that regard coming up on today's program former pentagon official michael maloof is back to talk defense and we take a little time to time travel back to those days of s.d.i. and star wars and fast forward to what's going on now with space weapons plus r.t. correspondent dan cohen helps us. to understand who the biggest defense contractors are and how much money they make plus economist and author steve king joins us from london to answer the important question can we avoid another financial crisis. caterpillar is closing a parts factory in waco texas which employed two hundred people the shutdown as part of a downsizing by the company which began in two thousand and fifteen and seeks to reduce employment by ten thousand workers thereby reducing capacity by ten percent next on the potential chopping block as a plant in la grange illinois which currently employs six hundred people a determination on that plant

were coming in they could track the missiles but there was no way to stop them so this strategic defense initiative idea became part and parcel of his of his new package for incoming missiles to set up an anti missile defense system as a consequence. that was offered as as a. partly partially a bluff if you will to cause the the economically ducange soviet union to have to put in more resources which we knew they could not afford and that that's when gorbachev decided to do what he ultimately did and he could've competed you know and but s. the concept of s.d.i. continued under reagan especially and it got modified over time and it was really a robust concept to have lasers shooting things out of the sky from from outer space but the technologies had not yet been developed they needed to be developed and that would have been part and parcel of the research and development costs that would have gone into and we had the companies to do that are some many of our companies are major defense companies today we're involved like lockheed like martin marietta united technologies are not exact knowledge. th

close to an arms agreement and he walked away from continuing research on "star wars", the strategic defense initiativeit was considered a horrible failure, huge missed opportunity. but a year later, that was the groundwork for an enormous arms control agreement between these same two leaders. >> three years later the soviet union was no more. karen, be optimistic with me for a second. if in fact, this leads to denuclearization, doesn't that mean a nobel prize for donald trump? could the world's davos elite bring themselves to do that? >> the problem is we have seen this movie before. in the 90s the clinton administration thought they had an arms control deal with the north koreans. so i think that, yes, it would be a major achievement if in fact, there was follow through on this. we're not having lucy and charlie brown and the football once again. >> alana shore, let me ask you what you heard on the hill after the news came down. what's the reporting and reaction among other congressional friends? >> well, i think republicans wish they had been in town when this handled. they had a tough thursday over

in march of '83 when reagan announced the strategic defense initiative he said -- he called upon the scientific community to turn their great talents to the cause of mankind in world peace to give us the means of rendering these nuclear weapons impotent and obsolete. this one big idea that went against conventional thinking throughout the cold war set the terms for the big debates between u.s. and soviet leaders, even before gorbachev came to office. now in the summer of 1984 when -- and this is a moment that applies to today where i think it's fair to say there's a pessimistic view of the next ten years with the russians but in the fall of '84 when there was no strategic arms negotiations going on, the soviets walked out of geneva the fall before, there's a wonderful memo that i discovered to george schulz about the prospects for arms control in the second term and it was written by a magnificent public servant named james timby and he started out by saying "it is unreasonable to expect consensus to emerge with the u.s. arms control and national security field and for that to happen

some speeches by unique it a crucial in the late fifty's and ronald reagan especially his strategic defense initiative because the defense versus the often in missile technology and enter the chronology has probably reached a new phase with putin's speech and the americans even though they have known at least in general terms that these weapon systems are in the pipeline will probably react with some surprise at the advanced stage in which they were unveiled . think there's a chance they could turn around inside this just proves what we what we have been saying russia is a threat and now it's an even greater threat. well you know it's a cat and mouse game president drum only a couple of weeks ago came out with a very bellicose statement regarding the u.s. nuclear posture promising that the u.s. will have a nuclear arsenal the second. if rhetoric really reflects reality we are in for a tense period but this seems like the opening gambit. in a conversation between leaders which once they meet face to face they could tone down and get to some more sobering ideas ok i mean let's just play a sound bite fro

in march of 1983, when reagan announced the strategic defense initiative, he called upon the scientific community to turn their talents to the cause of mankind and world peace to give us the means of rendering these nuclear weapons impotent and obsolete. these two big proposals and this one big idea that went against a lot of conventional thinking throughout the cold war, i think set the terms for the big debates between u.s. and soviet leaders, even before gorbachev came to office. in the summer of 1984, and this period i think very much applies to today when i think it is a pessimistic view with the next 10 years with the russians. in the fall of 1984 when there was no strategic arms negotiations going on, the soviets had walked out of geneva the fall before. there is a wonderful memo that i have recently discovered to george schulz on the prospect for arms control in the second term. it was written by a magnificent public servant named james timby who started out by saying it is unreasonable to expect consensus to emerge within the u.s. arms control and national security field. for t

initiatives and what they've accomplished. this week we are talking about the first rever audit of the pentagon, department of defense and joining us for that discussion, todd harrison with the center for strategic studies, he is their defense budget analysis director. why did you not have an audit up to this time? >> guest: it's a big task and originally the pentagon was not set up in a way pthey can pass according to modern audits and it was not an original requirement. going back to the 50s and 60s, a lot of the financial systems that the department of defense has and it has decided to they were rooted in an era where they were trying to be able to pass an audit so it has been a long, torturous process of trying to update those systems and trying to basically reinvent the process, the financial processes for this massive organization. dod has about $2.4 trillion in assets so it is a massive organization. if you're going to audit all of that, it's going to take a lot oftime and a lot of money to do it . >> what's the framework then, how would this audit work? >> they are starting in fiscal year 18, their starting and trying to do an actual audit of all the agencies within dod so and agencywide

particularly through european deterrence initiative, ucom has made significant headway in establishing a defensive posture that is credible, capable, and relevant to our strategic objectives. as our national defense strategy states, a strong and free europe bound by shared principles of democracy, national sovereignty and commitment to article 5 of nato's washington treaty is vital to our security. we stand ready to strengthen our alliance in ensure that europe remains whole. i look forward to questions. adam smith: -- thank you, general. i want to ask about this chemical weapon assassination attempt in britain. as far as i know, this particular weapon that was used has already been made by the russians. post, thehington british foreign secretary rights it is part of reckless behavior, the common thread that joins the salisbury with the annexation and crimea, the cyber attacks and ukraine, the russian interference in foreign elections. is the kremlin's reckless ?efiance of international roles do you agree with the statement this is a pattern of behavior that has in common the reckless defiance, or maybe even the attempt to undermine international roles? do you

through european deterrence initiative, ucom has -- eucom has made significant headway in establishing a defensive posture that is credible, capable, and relevant to our strategic objectives. s our national defense states -- as our national defense strategy states, a strong and free europe bound by shared principles of democracy, national sovereignty and commitment to article 5 of nato's washington treaty is vital to our security. service members at eucom are making this a reality. we stand ready to protect the homeland, strengthen our europe e and ensures that remains whole. mr. chairman, thank you and i look forward to the questions. mr. thornberry: thank you, general. i want to ask a question about this chemical weapon assassination attempt in britain. . this morning in the "washington post," the british foreign secretary writes that it is part of a pattern of reckless behavior. the common thread that joins the poisonings with the and exation in crime yeah and russian interference in foreign elections is the kremlin's reckless defiance of a central international rules. my question is do you agree with that statement that this is a pattern of behavior that ha

particularly through european deterrence initiative, ucom has made significant headway in establishing a defensive posture that is credible, capable, and relevant to our strategic objectives. as our national defense strategy states, a strong and free europe bound by shared principles of democracy, national sovereignty and commitment to article 5 of nato's washington treaty is vital to our security. with service members and civilians at ucom are making this strategy a reality. we stand ready to protect the homeland, strengthen the alliance and ensure that europe remains whole, free, and at peace and chairman, thank you, and i look forward to the committee's questions. >> thank you, general. i want to ask a question about this chemical weapon assassination attempt in britain as at least as far as i know, this particular weapon that was used has only been made by the russians. and this morning, in the "washington post," the british foreign secretary writes that it's part of a pattern of reckless behavior, the common thread that joins the poisonings in salisbury with the annexation of crimea, the cyber attacks in ukraine, the hacking of german's parliament and russ