welcome to the national press club, the pla >> welcome to the national press club. i am the assignment manager at the associated press. thank you for joining us. both those here in the ballroom and those viewing online for a headliner event, the secretary of veterans affairs dennis mcdonough. as we commemorate veterans day this week, along with the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the tomb of the unknown soldier at arlington national cemetery, for those planning a visit to washington, the public can actually visit and pay respects at the tomb in a flower ceremony held today and tomorrow. for those of you watching our headliner today, we are happy to accept your questions and i will ask as many as time permits. .org and put veterans in the subject line. for those in the room, we have circulated cards. forever online audience, please be aware that in the audience today are members of the general public, and we are so happy to have you here. any applause or reaction you hear is not necessarily from the working press. let me begin by introducing the head table.

welcome to the national press club, the place where news happens. i am the 114th president of the national press club, and assignment manager for u.s. video at the associated press. thank you for joining us, both those here in the ballroom and those viewing online for our headlining event with the secretary of veteran affairs, dennis mcdonough. as we commemorate veterans day, along with the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the tomb of the unknown soldier at arlington national cemetery, for those planning a visit to washington, the public can actually visit and pay respects at the tomb and a flower ceremony being held today and tomorrow. for those of you watching our headliner today, we are happy to accept your questions, and i will ask as many as time permits. to submit a question, please email headliners@press.org and put veterans in the subject line. for those in the room, we have circulated cards. forever online audience, please be aware that in the audience today are members of the general public, and we are so happy to have you here. an

welcome to the national press club, the place where news happens. i am the 114th president of the national press club, and assignment manager for u.s. video at the associated press. thank you for joining us, both those here in the ballroom and those viewing online for our headlining event with the secretary of veteran affairs, dennis mcdonough. as we commemorate veterans day, along with the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the tomb of the unknown soldier at arlington national cemetery, for those planning a visit to washington, the public can actually visit and pay respects at the tomb and a flower ceremony being held today and tomorrow. for those of you watching our headliner today, we are happy to accept your questions, and i will ask as many as time permits. to submit a question, please email headliners@press.org and put veterans in the subject line. for those in the room, we have circulated cards. forever online audience, please be aware that in the audience today are members of the general public, and we are so happy to have you here. an

of "stars & stripes," vicki adams, myron bellkind, vietnam veteran and past president of the national press club frew, principal deputy undersecretary in the veteran benefits administration, jan johnson, defense reporter with "defense news" and vice president of this national press club. and skipping over our guest of honor, lori russo, president of stanton communications and cochair of our headliner's team. thanks, everyone. -- our he [applause] [applause] now, for our guest of honor. for years, veterans and the u.s. department of veterans affairs have struggled the percent -- with struggle -- struggled with the persistent issues of access to quality care, suicide and homelessness. in recent weeks, all those issues have risen to the top of the agenda for v.a. secretary dennis mcdonough. many veterans are struggling with covid-19, lasting physical and invisible combat wounds, adapting to civilian life, and mental health. a report made public in september indicated veterans comprise 14% of all adult suicides in 2019. access to care is among top issues for the v.a.. veterans appear to have had fac

foremost, thank you to this audience, those in the room and those watching around the nation, thank you for the national press club, a very historic place and i saw a picture who was in his room at a banquet 60 years ago in 1962 in one of the things we talked about, the civil rights movement and the ultimate goal was the realization of the american dream and that is important in this context today so let me start this conversation by thanking you and welcoming you to the co-op impact and also the co-op community. that is where we are starting this conversation based on that. you know me as the executive director and the federation is a 54-year-old organizations it started out the civil rights movement and out of the cooperative movement, so it has been a longtime partnership with usda but i'm also a board member of the apex organization. i began to engage with you around the federation of southern processes, that is represented here tonight. let me start by asking a few questions. thanks for being here. as a longtime leader of usda and former governor, senator, small-town mayor of a rural and agricultural state, y

welcome to the national press club, the place where news happens. am the 114th president of the national press club, and assignment manager for u.s. video at the associated press. thank you for joining

host: the veterans affairs secretary earlier this week at the national press club. you are looking at a live shot of the tomb of the unknown soldier at the arlington national cemetery in washington, d.c., marking the 100th anniversary of the tomb of the unknown soldier. this was opened up for the first time in nearly 100 years over the past two days for the public to pay their respects. here is a local reporter who captured the moment over the past day of the folks walking by the tomb of the unknown soldier and can walk up to it for the first time in nearly 100 years. this was a watch and -- this was a once in a century lifetime experience. we are talking with veterans and family members this morning on this veterans day, 2021. your thoughts on the war in this country, those who have served and those who have fallen. according to the pew research center, there are a total of 19 million u.s. military veterans in this country. 89% are male. 11% are female. according to usa today, looking at the veterans and the v.a. system, 9 million are enrolled. 170 plus medical cent

. >> the veterans affairs secretary denis mcdonough spoke at the national press club ahead of veterans day. he talked about several issues the v.a. is addressing including mental health care, homelessness and care for female and lgbtq veterans. this is an hour. an hour.

host: the veterans affairs secretary earlier this week at the national press club. u are looking at a live shot of the tomb of the unknown soldier at the arlington national cemetery in washington, d.c., marking the 100th anniversary of the tomb of the unknown soldier. this was opened up for the first time in nearly 100 years over the past two days for the public to pay their respects. here is a local reporter who captured the moment over the past day of the folks walking by the tomb of the unknown soldier and can walk up to it for the first time in nearly 100 years. this was a watch and -- this was a once in a century lifetime experience. we are talking with veterans and family members this morning on this veterans day, 2021. your thoughts on the war in this country, those who have served and those who have fallen. according to the pew research center, there are a total of 19 million u.s. military veterans in this country. 89% are male. 11% are female. according to usa today, looking at the veterans and the v.a. system, 9 million are enrolled. 170 plus medical center

the nato club is as fast as they would like. i think they just, that nato nations are just dangling that in front of them. however, he may want to press the issue and that's the nightmare scenario. but this how it, this is how it plays out. is it, there is a military conflict. russia's red lines are cross, there is a conflict. ukraine is a left in tatters. um, and maybe even potentially broken up into smaller pieces. but it, what is a loss for ukraine is also a loss for russia, because this is a way to cut russia out of the europeans architecture forever. forget at least generations here. this is one of the things that the people in washington want and what you and at the end result is ukraine is the biggest loser, and they win their policy objectives. so actually ukraine is the cannon fodder for this object objective. go ahead, nikolai. well hi, think you've articulated as you said, the worst case scenario. this would clearly not be in the interests of ukraine itself. it would mean the end of effectively its sovereignty, orange division into a region that would be very difficult to reconstitute. i would like to say about the means, g