after the delta, northwest and united continental mergers, those airline his larger than average airfare. okay. not so good, you want to fly, but holy cow, is that fabulisimo if you own airline stocks! ♪ hallelujah >> if you own united or continental that's super good news. the same thing will happen after they merge with amr. we came out after the u.s. airways and amr deal it was titled and i quote, service cuts may follow merge of airlines, end quote. the times recorded a transportation economist who said, quote, it's much easier to have tacit collusion, tacit collusion, emphasis me, with just three airlines, end quote. how many slap happy industries do you know where companies can tacitly collude to raise prices to get the job done properly. ♪ ♪ >> what's the best way to play airline oligopoly besides getting the board game? you know why i like u.s. airways to play with amr as amr is currently in bankruptcy. dell is in excellent shape. they only have one deal with one unionized work group and the pile which is they have a decent relationship with so i'm not worried. united continental

delta, united continental and best of breed u.s. airways.t to tell you, don't pass go just yet. maybe wait for a little pullback! stay with cramer. >>> jim cramer, you're one of my heros. >> i look forward to your show every week night. >> thank you so much for helping beginning investors like me. >> when you talk about the markets, i just believe that you're spot on. >> oh i love it. thank you so much, every night we watch you. i have learned and earned! >>> it is time -- it is time for the lightning round on cramer's "mad money,". play until we hear this sound and then lightning round is over. >> we'll start with andrew in new york. andrew! >> hi, this is andrew. how are you? >> how are you, buddy? >> i need to get some boo-yah. >> boo-yah. >> web md. wbmd. >> expensive and it doesn't make a lot of money there. it is up huge. no, we're going to say ka-ching, ka-ching! let's go to van in washington. van? >> hi, boo-yah, mr. cramer, this is van from washington. >> how are you doing? >> good. thank you for taking my call. our stock is westpor

one of the arguments advanced in favor of some past mergers, delta-northwest, united- continental, was the claim that there was too much capacity in the industry, which led to excessively low fares, that prevented carriers, particularly so-called legacy carriers, with their higher costs from earning a sufficient income. we ought to consider whether this is still the case. while american is in bankruptcy, it is poised to successfully reorganize with billions of dollars of cash and reduced costs as a result of reorganization. moreover, u.s. airways posted record profits. these facts suggest that both airlines are perfectly capable of surviving, even thriving, as stand-alone companies. industry consolidation may benefit the airlines that remain by giving the power to raise fares and fees, but it comes with costs to the consumer. as has been noted, it may result in higher fares, your consumer -- fewer consumer choices, particularly in hubs and cities where two carriers overlap. in retrospective studies of the effects of delta-northwest, united-continental mergers, it suggests that, in fact

airways and american company will join united continental, delta and northwest airlines as well as southweste industry's dominant players in the united states. together, they accounted for 83 percent of all u.s. airline passengers last year. >> you better use for delta sky miles while you can. under the rules that went into effect this month your miles will die when you do. a delta policy is to allow members to leave their miles to family or friends. a spokeswoman for the atlanta based carrier said the bonus miles intended to reward those for his bed in the program. united, southwest and the jets blew already have similar rules in place. on the positive side, delta sky miles never expire as loud as you are a live. >> new technology is being unveiled at the new york auto show. honda introduced a minivan fully loaded and even is equipped with a vacuum cleaner. it is called the honda vac . and it can reach anywhere in your car. even works when the end is not running. honda says it is the first of its kind. the automaker has seen and-- has been an innovator in this area introducing the first van

even if they're not able in the short-term to reach the united states, continental united states, it's reaching hawaii or shorter range missiles could reach south korea and japan. so this threat of deliverable nuclear weapons from north korea is real not just for us, but for our allies, too. >> gregg: kim jong-un, the new leader, continues to utter threats and belligerent behavior and going so far as to suggest a preemptive strike against the united states. they're no match for the united states and in fact, they're no match for most nuclear power, so what's he up to? >> in part, it's a form of blackmail, but let's he not understatement the kind of hitler in the bunker mentality in north korea. that's why the threats have to be taken seriously, because that regime is simply not rational in our terms. and let's not forget, also, they have, we believe, chemical and biological weapons as well which are a direct threat to the people of south korea, the other half of the peninsula. i think it's clear, kim jong-un is no reformer, he follows in line with his father and grandfather and the wor

the united-continental deal occurred in 2010. united-continental is the world's largest carrier. at will change assuming the american-u.s. airways deal goes forward. one thing united has talked about this year is how disruptions caused by switching over to a new reservation system alienated some of its consumers. they will not going to rival airlines. that seems to be -- they wound up going to rival airlines. they say that is behind them and satisfaction scores are improving. it does point to potential hurdles in putting together a merger. host: the professor testified against the proposed merger at the tuesday hearing. this is what the professor had to say. [video clip] >> everyone of us has been to israel before. we have seen many mergers in many industries. we have seen many mergers in the airlines in the 35 years since deregulation. they have always been said to propose these same benefits for benefits like them. quite often, they have been disappointing. the promises are typically not kept. they have led to painful disappointment. i will talk about what i think is relatively

for the first time ever, right here, right now, i'm giving my blessing to buy delta, united continentalsouthwest and last but not at all least, u.s. airways lcc, which thanks to the pending amr merger is the best to own of all. if the market hits all time highs, i can't believe it. i recommended an airline. who would have thunk it? lincoln in texas. >> yee-haw boo-yah cramer. >> that is a novel boo-yah. i need a novel boo-yah. i'm down today. what's up? >> my question is with the portfolio of popular brands such as holiday inn and express and crown plaza, what is your take on the growth prospects of maintaining smaller real estate footprint? i have to tell you because it is so great at hot and starwood i say no to that one, go with mine. got with h.o.t. let's go to mike in my home state of new jersey. >> hey, jim, big boo-yah to you. >> where you from in jersey? >> edgewater. >> nice. good zip code. what's up? >> my question is regarding caesar's entertainment. everyone is talking about the online gaming in jersey. but no one is talking about governor christie fighting to legalize sport

. >> for the first time ever on "mad money," i am giving my blessing to buy delta, united, continentalt, u.s. air ways -- lcc. which that is the best airline to own of them all after their merger. >> wow. also bullish on some of the airline stocks, elane joins us now. it's been a great run. 40, 50, 60% for many of these names this year. how much more room could these stocks have to run? >> that's a great question and i think we're midway through a multiyear move for the group. this is going to be the fourth year in a row. in the past 35 years we haven't had four years in a row to report profits. we have got better pricing. they have taken one firm fare increase. they tried four others and at least parts of the four have stuck. and then just in terms of comps, we're coming into a period of time where the industry has easy comps so the numbers should be pretty good. >> you have picked up all stops in particular. even the big price games. >> they are 7%. comps to a pretty easy one last year and then that continues. remember in march of last year they started having operational issues. del

air ways and- american company, will join united continental delta and northwest airlines as well as he united states. together, they account for 83% of all of the u.s. air passengers last year. >> you better use york delta sky miles while you can. under new rules that went into effect this month, your miles will died when you do. delta's policy used to allow members to leave their miles to their family and friends. a spokeswoman for the atlanta base carry this as a bonus miles are intended to reward those who participate in the program. united, southwest and jet blue already have similar rules in place. on the positive side, delta sky miles never expire as long as you are alive. >> new technology is being unveiled at the new york all show. honda introduced a minivan fully loaded and even the " with a vacuum cleaner. it is called the " honda vac " and it can reach anywhere in your car. it works even when the engine is now running. honda says, that it is the first of its kind. the automaker has been an innovation in this area in introducing the first ben would fold down receipts. howev

amr up more than 420%, delta's up 40% rounding out the top five, united continental, kansas city southernnd southwest. tim, i know you watch them a lot. >> i do, and i've been astounded at 25% if you look back over the last couple of quarters. i was talking to one of the best transport analysts and he was telling me what he looks at here at the end of the day with the housing recovery, these are not all that stretched. if you look at the outperformance relative to the s&p it's overbought. if you look at the fundamentals, fedex outside the airline sector where i think things are more sustainable, it's not an expensive stock, this looks good to me. >> let's move on and talk about the dow's best performer in the first quarter. and that would be hewlett-packard, the stock goes up more than 65% this year. can hp shares go higher in q2? let's take a closer look at the stock topping the tape with brian marshall. always good to see you. >> thanks, melissa. >> of you got a neutral rating on the stock, correct? >> correct. >> the risk to the upside and downside are equal even though the valuations

so, us airways, united continental, delta, spirit don't have to worry about willy-nilly competition. the first time i could actually recall that being the case. hence, the first time i've ever recommended these stocks. that's why i expect the profits to come in for us airways when it completes its merger with amr. capacity takeout, just when you'd expect additional planes and routes to come online. i can't wait for "squawk box" tomorrow where the ceo of u.s. air's going to be on. i'll bet you he comes with my thesis that nobody's building, so the profits are coming! don't build more cars, the profits will come. that's the heart of the rental car business. right now there aren't enough autos to go around. the consolidation in the space is immense, the price increases are bountiful. if it weren't for hurricane sandy, pricing may not have been all that tight, but right now getting a rental car is difficult because of the capacity constraints. how can you not want to own hertz in that situation? don't build it, and the profits will come to the refiners! this business has been hellish bec

so usairways, united continental, delta, spirit, don't have to worry about willy-nilly competition. the first time i can actually recall that being the case. hence the first time i've recommended these stocks. that's why i expect the profits to come in for usairways when it completes its merger with amr. capacity takeout just when you'd expect additional planes and routes to come online. i can't wait until "squawk box" tomorrow where the ceo of usair is going to be on. i bet he comes with my thesis that nobody is building so the profits are coming. don't build more cars, the profits will come, the heart of the rental car business. there aren't enough autos to go around. the consolidation is immense. the price increases are bounceable. if it weren't for hurricane sandy, pricing may not be that tight but getting a rental car is difficult because of capacity constraints. how can you not to want to own hertz? don't build it and the profits will come to the refiners. the profit margins were so horrendous for so many years and the competition way too vibrant. but there hasn't been a new r

statistics show that and the important point is that based on the delta-northwest analysis and the united-continental, we sought elimination of competition -- substantial elimination of competition on some very important routes in the united states. we did see some fare increases which were pretty significant and we saw very few fare decreases but in addition, we saw the carriers driving traffic to our hubs. fors a similar fact pattern the last two mergers. for the good of aviation policy and competition policy and public policy and american consumers, we have to inform what goes on in this case from what has happened in the past. at 8 route level, that is what we see and at a national systems level, with very pure large systems, you certainly increase the probability that the airlines will simply follow each other on capacity decisions, keeping capacity tight, to maintain fares as part of a tacit agreement and there is a lot of that already. other airlines indicate they want capacity discipline to maintain fair is. there is quite a bit of evidence andthere already -- empirical economic analysis that

you do see united continental, for example, of 6.5%. many are hitting 52 week highs. highs. we have seen a lot of cancellations and delays. i was also thinking about the dow theory. now, all the market averages have hit the highs. that confirms all the dow theories. now it has all come together. cheryl: thank you very much. we will see you at the top of the hour. dennis: we are waiting for animation. usually they have this great fantastic thing. nevermind. we are adding one more to the roundtable. he is joining us from minneapolis to talk about the business of cyber security. robert, thank you for joining us. you like prefix in particular. why don't you start with symantec. >> it is up over 30% already this year. they have brought on new management. the company is going to be going under significant restructuring. we think there will be significant upside to the marketing margin. we think they can get the company back to him organic growth rate. the leading proactive messaging company, when you think about one of the quickest ways that hackers go after people, they re

. >> we know yet they can't hit the continental united states by the nuclear tipped mechanism.s been surprised by their ballistic development and nuclear, they went nuclear without us detecting it. so we've got to be prepared for an unforeseen circumstance where north korea could one day hit the continental united states to a nuclear tipped missile or transfer it to iran. >> heather: they've got 1.43 active personnel. they went nuclear without us knowing so how do we in fact know what they have or don't have. >> that's the problem and they're a hermit kingdom. from a missile or ballistic mechanism point of view, we've been surprised. china went nuclear, russia, north korea, perhaps iran. we have he been surprised time and time again our intelligence services got it wrong. >> heather: let's move beyond north korea and what do you think is the lesson we need to take from what's going on now. you mentioned north korea and ties to syria. >> we know in 2007 that the north koreans actually sold a nuclear react are to north korea, and syria would have nuclear weapons today if israel h

mergers have not happened yet, so we can't say for sure, but based on delta, northwest, and united continentalers of legacy mergers, concentration of major routes, yeah, we'd want a close look at what is likely to happen in u.s. air american airlines. >> well, i can give you a [background sounds] on that because if you lookkat the last year in particular for the carriers mentioned, united or delta, they tried to institute fare increases between 8-12 in 2012, and most did not take effect, so, actually, the prices -- because, frankly, there's no demand for it, the market only spormts certain ticket prices, and i would think the same is true from a market perspective, consumer perspective for american and u.s. air. >> well, it depends on how many choices consumers have, and the analysis done of past mergers is, in fact, we've seen some substantial fare increases. we've also seen delta north wets and united drive traffic to major hubs to feed the global operations issue and those are important hubs, effects for consumers, and what are the options? low cost carriers provide comparable service? do t

after that, we'll show you remarks from united, continental airlines president and ceo, who gave thekeynote address, and, together, they run just short of 90 # minutes. >> good afternoon, everybody. [applause] thank you very much. we have distinguished people. dave hess from whitny, clay jones from rockwell collins. dave hess -- correction, -- [inaudible] i'm going to pose some questions to the folks which have occurred to me and might have occurred to me if i was still mountain airline business. if you have a question, raise your hant, we'll interweave your questions with mine and hopefully ask whatever the issues are that truly interest you and you want to talk about. i'll begin by asking a question that is sort of a consumer question, and that is why do you guys -- why are you always late in over budget? [laughter] i go to the store and buy something or order something, i expect it to come on time and expect it to cost what it says it's going to cost, and with respect to something like an engine, i sort of expect it to burn about the amount of fuel it said it was going to burn. th

limited degree and has a limited ballistic missile capability, which is not capable to reach the continental united states. politically, there are increase tensions and the korean peninsula, which have risen of the past few months. >> why the threat? is it not make the country look ridiculous if it does not have the capability? >> it illustrates the isolation of the communist leadership in north korea. nuclear weapons are more or less political weapons used to put political pressure on other policy. in this case, south korea, the united states, and even china, as a member of the united nations security council. >> china is supporting this in the united nations. how significant is that? >> china is one of the biggest losers in the last couple of months. we are operating under the assumption that china can influence north korea. north korea has become a liability for chinese foreign security policy in the region. >> you mentioned before the isolation of north korea. does this make the nation feel cornered and under pressure to take some sort of action? >> strange as it may sound, i think it is more a

airways and continues a trend that combined united and continental.e going back to three or four carriers and that's it? >> that's pretty much where we are today. i'm not a fan of it. it is what it is. it's one less brand and it's a situation where the airline industry is mature. there aren't a lot of them. the communities that want a new airplane, you might as well find a new spaceship. it's going to be a shrinking system, not a growing one. >> neil: michael, you got the sumo wrestling foundation on line one. thank you, my friend. >>> to chicago, you're looking live where teachers are protesting school closures. are they out to protect the kids or themselves? save our schools, don't close our schools. save our schools, don't close our schools. michael, tell us why you used to book this fabulous hotel? well you can see if the hotel is pet friendly before you book it, and i got a great deal without bidding. and where's your furry friend? oh, i don't have a cat. now you can save up to 50% during priceline's spring hotel sale use promo code spring for ad

united states? i am curious about the american possessions in the western pacific, guam, those areas. will this affect those areas, too? >> not just the continentalnited states but all of the united states. >> the second in japan, is this the one that secretary leon panetta mentioned? >> that is correct. >> and endorse substantive question, also talking about an adversary. there is capability and intense. the secretary talked about this new capability we see the north korean testing, but how much of it is an assessment of the intentions of the new leader based on the incredibly hostile statements? >> the policy that we have four missile defense, particularly listed in the 2010 missile defense review, is to stay ahead of the threat in regards to north korea and iran. that means staying above where we think their capability is and is not contingent on any assessment. >> time, there was a question about going about deterrence, and the fact of the matter is that the deterrence exists based on their objectives, and the other is the cost if deterrence fails, and i think the national security advisor made very clear in his speech that we not only intend

nothing there is any real risk to the continental united date. there is always some risk.ways the russians, the chinese. someday there will be the iranians to free up do something about that. so from our perspective i think there are some very fundamental things that other business people need to keep in mind. a first of those is, don't panic . take seriously the reality that tomorrow could be another september 11th, and we don't know. neil: what do you tell your friends and colleagues to do, prepare for something you can never bring you be prepared for. >> well, the first thing you'd do, and we learned a lot, you are careful to keep your data redundant. it is very, very important that you keep of sightissenters. very, very careful to have redundant comparability for your staff. your staff is to have power sources, internet access, vp and, that kind of stuff for they can continue working for a moment. and we think it is very important that you have a contingency plan. you don't have to think like the pentagon exactly, but it isery clear from the businesses that we are -- t

i don't think they will try to launch anything that will affect the continental united states of americat definitely they can do something that can affect our a allies in japan and also south korea and try to bring us to the table. they're looking for more money, more aid, and so this is international extortion. we need to be prepared. >> neil: but they're also counting on continued support from china and they got that recently when china was browbeating us for, you know, getting tight militarily with the south koreans and promising we would be looking after them, so i'm curious what china's role is going to be here, congressman, and how we deal with it. >> well, china's role is kind of egging them on to try to cause that confusion. understand that the former chairman of the joint chief of staffs said that our natural debt is probably our biggest national security issue, so you have a country like china which holds i believe somewhere between 26 to 28% of our debt. they are very happy to see north korea cause us some issues. they get a large majority of their hydro electric power out of

interceptor missiles, which are sort of the last line of defense before something would hit the continental united states. right now, that's based on two big bases. one in california, one in alaska. the u.s. has about 30 of these interceptor missiles. what would happen is an early warning system near some place like japan would alert that a launch had taken place and the missiles would launch to try to intercept that nuke that would be coming in. what's going to change, the u.s. is adding another radar system to give it better warning and it will be increasing its interceptors by about 50% adding 14 new silos by the year 2017. >> and do they have a missile capable of hitting the united states yet? i know they have been testing that with their pay low, but do they have a missile that can do that? >> yes and no. they have a rocket that in theory, it it could carry it as far as alaska, hawaii and even certain parts of the lower 48 united states. the problem is it takes them days to sort of erect and fuel this rocket. that works fine for a test, but that would be very impractical if you were actually

dial back the rhetoric and all the talk of near war on the peninsula, missile strikes on the continental unitedar that message? is that why we're seeing all of this? even some north korean experts say kim jong-un was painting himself into a corner with all of that. he was whipping up so much national fervor and getting people geared up to go to war that it could backfire on him. he could lose credibility or even worse, he can find himself in a position where he had to make good on some of those threats in order to maintain a standing in the eyes of his own people. there's little doubt, at this point, that over the course of the next hours and days, all eyes from washington to beijing, from here in seoul to moscow, are going to be on north korea and kim jong-un to try to see what he does say, to try to listen closely and find out what the next move of pyongyang will be. alison? >> okay, jim clancy in seoul, south korea, thanks. >>> basketball star kobe bryant accomplishes something few nba players get to achieve in their career. that and your march madness highlights are next. can acne cleansers

>> the last 12 years we had the first attack of the continental united states by someone else since the war of 1812. not much bipartisanship after that catastrophe. the worst economic cataclysm since the great depression, not too much bipartisanship after that, either so. my view is if they didn't knock it off after events like this, it is rather bleak. >> woodruff: so maybe we need to have a discussion on whether it matters that there's bipartisanship or not. whether we're better off if they don't agree. maybe they're telling us something. >> a lot to say. >> woodruff: michael beschloss, mike hetherington. thank you. >> thanks, judy. >> thanks for having us. >> ifill: now, "newshour" science correspondent miles o'brien begins a two-part look at america's drinking water, and the regulatory system that is supposed to guarantee its safety. his report is the result of a partnership with the center for public integrity. it begins in the small desert town that made erin brockovich a household name. >> come on, you want some water. come on, drink some-- drink. >> reporter: clean water is some

he's long continental united, delta, u.s. airways, all of which have had strong performances this year. i went through this with tepper yesterday, scott, but he was reluctant to speak about the these his in too much detail, saying we are still constructive on the market. hopefully, we'll get more detail after the quarter ends. >> but constructive tells a story of his train of thought, at least at the current time, given where we are in the markets, where he thinks we could go. kate, how much do you think the great rotation factors into where he thinks we could ultimately get to? right, the cash has been coming largely off the sidelines into the market. if it starts rotating out of bonds and into stocks, that could give it the little extra gus toe that it might need. >> that's right, scott. there are two factors here. one is the cash on the sidelines which apparently is an important part of his these his. and i think we have been hear, at least anecdotally coming in. but something that could give them another leg up, and i've

. >> nothing that can hit the continental of united states. let's make that clear. let's make another thing clear. let's look at the great equalizer here. just a few miles north of the zone that is the most heavy m l military zone, there's a joint venture of north korea and south korea, and there's 123 south korean firms there, and 50,000 north koreans are employed there. there was about $2 billion in trade, and that provided a lot of it. and those workers are still going up there. some officials say we might have to close it down, we don't know, but it's still open and that says something. >> jim clancy in seoul, south korea for us. thank you. >>> the navy in a training accident that killed one and injured another. a source says cnn, the field team that died is one that went after bin laden. >>> and then inindicted in one of the biggest cheating scandals. they face charges of corruption and racketeering and are accused of changing or fabricating test scores in 2001. and some are facing 45 years in prison if convicted, and that includes hall who resigned, and she wa

so they can't really reach the continental united states. secondly, i want to return to is pnt out whether we're close to a war or not. and i would say that the problem here is, and the professor has even predicted when a provocation might happen. the problem is that if north korea launches a provocation, the united states and south korea, unlike in the past, are likely to respond. and north korea is not going to roll over and play dead, contrary to what a number of conservatives are saying sz but do you agree with the professor's conclusion that the countries that's in real eopardy, not the uted states in these threats, but south korea. >> shutly, south korea is in great jeopardy here. and as a close ally of the united states, that's very important to us. and we also have to remember we have 28,000 troops on the peninsula. and are committed to south korea's defense. so if there is another korean war, it's going to involve thousands, tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of american troops. rz sz professor, nations round the worl ha

. >> that's because continental, now part of united air looips, wasn't required to report jesse's death. under the d.o.t.'s current policy, the dog was being transported without an owner. so jesse was just considered cargo. >> the airline views that time he's in transit as in between owners. >> that i're making a lot of money shipping him. >> absolutely. >> gaye is the form erp president of ipata and runs an animal transportation company in foster city. she believes part of the issue is that airline handlers need more education. >> with the airlines changing and moving and growing and shrinking, they also contract out to employees. so they've got many employees. and i think the training of their employees is key. >> and that may very well be the case. we diskcovered the usda issued more than 500 citations since 2007 to airlines for failing to meet requirements. delta received the most followed by continental and american airlines. as for what happened to jesse, straud reported the incident. the airline was fined 17,0e $00. but if he didn't report it, the government may have never known.

again, i'm working hard as they come back to the continental united states not to impress upon them additional training and give them a little bit more time. >> under the current command structures that you face, do you see any limitations being imposed on our special ops forces? >> no, ma'am. i'm very pleased with the kind of command relationships i have and the command authorities that i have. so right now, i'm a support team commander to the combatant commanders like general mattis and others. i provide them the forces. they will have the operation, command and control and i'm comfortable. >> you don't think any changes need to be made with regards to that? >> not in regards to the command relationships with the combatant commanders in terms of the forces that are under their operational control, no, ma'am, i do not. >> do you think there needs to be any additional legal authority for our soldiers in order for them to train with our partners? >> that is an area that we are taking a look at. right now, one of the amendments that presents some problems for us is the leahy amendment not only d

united and continental. these guys are hitting it out of the park. it can't be that bad. >> you like the rails in part because of nat gas has done. >> it means switch back to coal and that's why norfolk southern has gone from 45 to 76 and csx has not moved nearly as much as i think it should. >> these are oligopolies that don't really compete and as long as you have coal going up and union pacific say classic and they ship western coal to china and they can't see their feet -- some great pictures. so i just feel like the rails are -- i like that ryder came up anda i lot of guys are downgrading the stock and that's a mistake and i continue to be a ziegantic believer. don't forget spirit single save -- keep the s on for savings. >> let's hear tiffany rising in the pre-market. the luxury retailer, led by double digit percent sales growth in the asia pacific region. tiffany expects full year revenue rising 8% to 6%, but addses it expects operating earnings to fall 15% to 20%. tiffany is one of the stocks in cramer's great gatsby. the high end consumer wa

important steps to ensure that those forces have arrested they need when you're back in the continental united states before we sidle them again forward. i don't want to mislead you. the our high demand low-density military operational special because, some the intelligence requirements we have, some informational officers, those sorts of high demand but our intelligence of the required them to rotate a little bit more quickly forward. so again i'm working hard as they come back to the united states not to impress upon them additional training and give them a little bit more time in the rear. >> under the current command structure that you face, do you see any limitations being imposed on our special ops forces? >> no, ma'am. i'm very pleased with the kind of command relationships i have and the command authorities that i have. so right now i am a support team committed to the combatant commanders like general mattis and general ham and others. and that is a great relationship i provide in the forces. they fight the forces or their the operational command and control and i'm perfectly comparab

of important steps to insure those forces have the rest they need when they're back in the continental united states. there are certain high demand operational specialty codes. some of the information officers, those high demand but low density requires them to rotate more quickly forward. to impress hard not upon them additional training and give them more time in the rear. >> under the current structures, do you see any limitations being imposed on our special ops forces? >> i am pleased with the relationships we have and the command authorities that i have. i may supporting commander to people like general mattis and others. that is a great relationship. i am comfortable with that. >> you do not think any changes need to be made? >> not in terms of the forces under their control. >> do you think needs to be any additional legal authority for our soldiers to train with our partners? >> that is an area where taking a look at. one of the amendments that presents some problems -- we have to vet the individuals and the units to make sure there are no human rights violations. we understand the v

earlier you said that we can protect the continental united states with the resources that we currently have. is that correct? >> against a limited threat. >> against a limited threat. would you agree that that equation would rapidly changed if others would be able to develop technology to detect our submarines, if governments would become more hostile to us, and if we don't maintain the systems that we have? >> senator, i think that any time the threat changes that that certainly causes us to review and could cause us to make adjustments in all kinds of places. yes. >> are we addressing those concerns now? >> yes, we are. >> are we maintaining our nuclear arsenal to the standard you would like to see? >> we are today. however, with a caveat, and that is that all along here over the last two years that i have been in command, we have made a point of agreeing forcefully with the need to the both modernize the deterrent and make sure that the enterprise is capable of sustaining it. so with those caveat is yes, i am comfortable that we are capable of maintaining a safe, secure, and effecti