agency for international development or usaid. he talks about reconstruction and recovery efforts nearly six months after the earthquake in haiti. from the national press club, this is about an hour. >> exactly. >> just wanting to give you that heads up. >> good afternoon and welcome to the national press club. i am a reporter for bloomberg news and the president of the national press club. we are the world's leading professional organization for journalist, and we are committed to the future through our program and for hisering a free press worldwide. for more information about the national press club, visit our website. to donate to our professional development program, please advice www.press.original/library. on behalf of our members, i would like to welcome our speakers and ten's, which includes guests of our speaker as well as working journal ises. i would also like to welcome our c-span and public radio audiences. after the speech concludes, i will ask as many audience questions as time permits. here had your head table gue

we did not get that would usaid. it will impact the kinds of questions that we will last because ultimately you will take back -- and very early on in my career, i testified at hearings, and they told me, don't mess up. and i was at a low level. i am not looking for comment. what i am looking for here is you to take back our disappointment that state department put you in this position. i don't want you to take the hit that they contacted me and i thought would work could take -- it would work out ok. we thought u.s. it -- usaid would be more engaged and have the right person here. if you would like to put some comments on at the end, please do, but we are going to continue on with the question. mr. zakheim? >> i share the co-chairman of views. but i want point something out for the record. when i was undersecretary of defense, i was asked to testify. i normally showed up unless i was overseas. i'm not shooting you. you're the messenger. but that is the problem -- you are the messenger. and if i could not testify or

before leaving usaid, dr. rajiv shah served as the chief scientist for the department of agriculture. it he established in international financing program for childhood immunizations. he served as health care policy adviser on a presidential campaign and as a british policy adviser in british parliament. please welcome to the national press club, dr. rajiv shah. [applause] >> hello. good afternoon. ed thank you, alan, for and that's kind invitation -- introduction. and thank you for the kind invitation to be here today. thank you, andrew, for your support for this event. i would like to start today's discussion by sharing something you might not usually hear from a public servant in the aftermath of a crisis. thank you. your unstinting coverage of the haiti's earthquake helped rally the american people behind it because of helping our neighbors at the time of real need and crisis. in fact, more than half of all citizens in the united states and more than half of all families contributed directly to relief prog

. >> usaid works in a high combat environment. i would hope that you have figured out a lot of this already and could be bringing those lessons and to the iraqi theater. -- into the iraqi theater. i would like to give the state department some credit for creating this position. too often, this debate resolve's -- revolves around the fact that we can't do it because we can't do it. in your budget request, particularly with respect to the mission that you will be taking on, have you requested -- has your request been approved? >> yes, these numbers have been approved. >> so you have gotten everything you have asked for? >> is in the budget. we have not gotten anything yet. until the fiscal year 2010 supplemental comes in, i cannot answer that. >> is a fully funded? -- is it fully funded? >> i apologize, i am -- i was off last week. prior to leaving last week, everything was in there. >> as you know, the senate armed services committee has built issues and that they are focused on things that deserve our focus. my time has expired. >

different departments like usaid. >> have you heard anything from the look flow rate people on what they are seeing from the cut riser, and do you feel like the images of that lead or substantiating what you thought would happen? >> i will have somebody -- i do not know of any new estimates from the flow rate technical group. again, we thought it was important that based on what we heard from the head of the flow rate technical group, that cutting the top of that riser could increase the amount of hydrocarbon by 20%. i do not know, and i am not entirely sure that we can altogether ascertain just from a

we didn't get that with usaid. is going to impact the kind of questions we will as, because ultimately, you will take back -- very early on in my career, i went to a couple of hearings and to say just like it was, they said, do not mess up, and i was at all levels. i am not looking for comment. what i am looking for is for you to take back our disappointment that state department put you in this position. i don't want you to take the hit that they contacted me and i thought it would work to pay, because we had an expectation that senior leadership is more engaged and would have there right person or persons in attendance. so what we have questions, we would give them. you would get an opportunity to wrap up some comments at the end. if you like to put some comments on that at the end, please do, but we will continue on with the question. mr. zakheim? >> i share the co-chairman of views. i will point something out for the record. when i was undersecretary of defense and i was asked to testify, and i normally show up

so i think it's appropriate we look at he the to deterne how we can best be postred to support usaidneeds of a particular nation has we are not even a week into the hurricane season and we have already had our first tropical storm. as i left haiti yesterday, and of the last two days, i had the opportunity after having been gone for six weeks to look to see where we have progress. sometimes it is hard to find that progress, but it happens little by little but it's probably much too slow for many of us who would like to see progress much quicker, but this is a tremendous challenge. i had an opportunity to speak briefly with the prime minister ambassador martin, chris mcginn who leads ourusaid efforts to visit three idp campus. the old airport that is the second largest one of the new settlement sites that we work with the government of haiti and united nations to open to move some of the most at risk displaced persons. as i did every day from the time the earthquake struck to the time i left i walked through the displaced persons camp because found it was in those camps that i could ge

so i think it's appropriate we look at he the to determine how we can best be postured to support usaidn the needs of a particular nation has we are not even week intthe hurricane seas and we have already had our first troical stm. i left haiti yesterday, and of thelast two days, i had the opportunity afr having been gone for six weeks to look to see where we have progress. somemes it is har to find that progress, but it happens ttle by little but it's probably much too slow for many ofus who would like to se progress much quicker,but this is a tremendous challenge. i had an opportunity to speak brfly with the prime minister ambassad martin, chris mcinn who leads our sid efortsto visit three idp campus. the old airporthat is the second largest one of the new settlement sites that we work with t government of haiti and united nations to open to moe me of the most at ris displaced persons. as i did every day from the time the earthquakestruck to the time i let i walked through the displaced perss camp because i foun was in those camps that i could get the est eel for what was the needs of

stanger is correct that usaid, any contract other grant performed for the u.s.government overseas, it's the responsibility of the contractor to provide their own security so they're the ones procuring it one step removed and there's very clearly a cultural, sociopolitical and socioeconomic reason to maintain separation. that's a fairly well established tenet of the military to create a different feel. so there's reason not to have military to do that. with all due respect it's difficult to say we could just build up the ds capacity to provide the security for the thousands and thousands of development projecting being performed all over the world in dangerous and high risk yafrs. it's not just iraq and afghanistan. even in iraq and afghanistan, we have thousands of development projects, small to large, ngos, we we've had ngos been assault and lost people. we've had companies who have lost people. diplomat security bureau does not necessarily have the expertise or providing that security. in fact, their principal security role is inside the land not outside the l

audits from the department of the state, usaid and others have found problems in embassy construction, fuel delivery and educational outreach programs. the government accountability office, another of our witnesses here today, has reported that the agencies are not even able to accurately report the number of contract personnel working on united states contracts. just yesterday, the "wall street journal" reported that over $3 billion in cash has been flown out of afghanistan the last three years. that's $3 billion of cash on a plane flying out of afghanistan. officials believe that at least some of that money has been skimmed from united states contracts. the conflicts in iraq and afghanistan have changed the way the united states wages war. with more contractors than troops currently in both countries, the role that he's civilians play has become important. the changing role of contractors has challenged the agencies that employee them. thus far, the agencies have not risen to meet those challenges. congress has tried to impose greater control over contingencies contractors and subco

so we held off sending the team over there, and, of course, i was at usaid meeting with the new administration on wednesday morning, wednesday afternoon, 5:00, that big earthquake hit. well, that changed the whole meeting in new york. it changed it to a response meeting. and then president clinton asked me to go with him to haiti after the earthquake, and i did twice. and i just want to tell you, with the support of mayor bloomberg in new york and commissioner bruno, and the new york city firefighters and emergency management and the team that they volunteered to use to help us to do the training, we just -- sean penn has an n.g.o. organization in haiti, and they're managing a camp of 60,000 people in haiti. so he volunteered for his organization to support us, to train in their camp first. so we just completed the training and the certificate ceremony for 415 haitian women, train the trainer in haiti, and that one camp, and it was so well received that they had literally -- literally had to turn people away. they wanted to help so bad. and our hope is now that some n.g.o. and organization wil

government agencies -- usaid, the organization i work for, was appointed the lead organization, but it should be noticed that a number of departments and agencies of the u.s. government -- the department of homeland security, hss, fema, etc. were all present and working around the clock. one of the things i think is not widely understood about the way economic assistance works is that for the most part we do not provide funds directly to a government. we will sign an agreement with a government that lays out a mechanism by which the funds are provided for a contract or a grant, or a cooperative agreement or whatever. normally, our agents -- the partners will work with could be the ngo , the private sector. they have accountability systems we approve in advance. we know, because it is our job to make sure, that they have the accountability systems in place to be able to well manage the money. so we more or less know where it all goes. if it was not that way, there would be no constituency for doing economic assistance. we simply our responsibility -- we simply are responsible for+ accou

senior officials from the department of state and usaid are part of this delegation that includes cheryl mills, counselor to secretary clinton, deputy assistant secretary julissa reynoso, a and also paul we isenfeld from usaid. this follows up on yester day with the government of haiti officially launched the interim haiti reconstruction commission which will be cochaired by prime minister belle reed and un special envoy bill clinton. turning to africa, we congratulate and commend the government of liberia for its commitment to the rule for all and the international fight against drug trafficking with the address of seven suspects on drug-trafficking charges as part of a joint u.s.-liberian undercover operation. the message being sent in liberia is strong and clear. liberia is not open for this type of business. there is brought -- the united states and libya are united and strong partnership to combat the international drug trade. also in africa, the united states is troubled by the government of bear run the's decision to expel a human-rights watch researcher from the country. human-ri

region's ntral helmand valley is so fertile is because of a usaid project was useless successful. and they remember the americans for that. all of that is founded on security, to be sure. beyond that, there were some news stories honor present way that afghanistan is not without natural blessings in a whole host of ways, an upstart -- including extraordinary mineral resources. extensive resources when it comes to lithium, iron ore, coal, 10, it has precious gems and so forth, but this all has to be -- you have to extracted to me that at the extraction industries and the line of communication and security. you also have a government structures in which that can function. therehas to be a legal framework that provide sufficient incentives. but it is my hope in all seriousness that we could see what is called adventuress venture capitalist enter afghanistan who could see -- help the government take advantage of these extraordinary mineral blessings that they have. >> thanks, very much, general, and thank your commitment. >> thank you. >> thank you, senator jim was. senator ben nelson

, that's something we need to look at in the future because we've put the state department and the usaidn the position of having to throw together an ad hoc solution to a problem they've done exceedingly well. well, they haven't fully resourced them in the way they need to be resourced for this mission. >> general? >> if i could just add to what the undersecretary says, when i've talked about the inputs piece that we're trying to get the right organizations led by the right people wh the right concepts and the levels of resources necessary to implement those concepts. among the right people, since, in fact, general mcchrystal and ambassador eikenberry going in have been the addition of a nato representative, a very capable person. and then most recently, there's an eu rep there as well. in fact, when i was in the uk this past week, i talked to the eu foreign secretary, if you will, and she described her strong commitment to the mission there as ll. and all of them were involved in our civil military review of concept drill that ambassador holbrooke and i coasted in kabul now about two mo

he joined usaid in 2004 as the disaster assistance response team in darfur. state clinton expressed once again her full support for these brave public servants and their families. they represent the best u thesaid -- they represent the best of usaid in service and compassion for those in need. we are trying to schedule this briefing between two world cup games. we know the games are under way. the first game was a 1-1 draw between south africa and mexico. we are looking forward to a second game, you're a guy against france -- iuruguay against france. south africa has given vice- president biden a warm welcome. we look forward to a competitive tournament. we are saddened to learn of the death of nelson mandela picked granddaughter, killed earlier today. -- of nelson mandela's granddaughter, killed earlier today. we extend our condolences to him and his family. >> what about basketball? >> we will cover that down the road. >> there was a wikleaks investigation of the release of documents. are you doing a damage assessment? >> we are doing a damage assessment. i

immediately available to him a range of military officials, international officials, state department, usaid, advisors from outside the government. this is what characterizes the teamwork. we're not going to get distracted by this one article. it has not -- whatever attitudes are reflected in that article have not inhibited us from continuing to focus and steps that -- since december on+ implementing the president's strategy in afghanistan. >> so the ambassadors think that they can work together with general mcchrystal to implement the strategy? >> we are focused on our lane, the ciiilian component of the strategy. the president is going to have a meeting with general mcchrystal tomorrow. the secretary will be attending the national security team meeting. as we review progress and issues on both the afghan side of the ledger and the pakistan side of the ledger, we are focused on the substance and the strategy, and we will let the other issues take the wrong course. >> late this afternoon, president obama briefly mentioned his meeting with geeeral mcchrystal on wednesday. >> general mcchrysta

on june 18, we will have the administrator of usaid who will speak about the u.s.response to disasters in haiti and elsewhere and the outlook for international development. on july 17, the national press club will host the national press club beat the deadline 5k benefiting our professional development and scholarship programs. with that, we would like to present our guest with first, the traditional national press club mug. >> i think my dad got the last one, and he might get this one, too. i think very highly for your time today. i would just close with a brief excerpt from a letter that my great aunt wrote to my other great aunt in 1975. talked to daddy day before yesterday. they are millard and coal company tried to get road coming over our place, get it through the country, but thank god, so far it has not worked. made me awfully nervous and have had headaches so much. i understand they got road over another place down the road, across the creek and over from the spencer place. however, that would have to come across our place and strip mine. dispensers will l

this delegation that includes secretary clinton, the deputy secretary and christopher millikan from usaidthis follows up and heady with the government officially launched the interim heavy reconstruction commission. that was discussed in the un on march 31. turning to africa, africa gradually and commend the government of liberia for its commitment to the rule of law. the message being sent a strong and clear. we are united in a strong partnership to combat a threat to both countries. also in africa, the u.s. is troubled by the government of peron the's decision to expel a human rights researcher from the country. she and other police accredited organizations and the run they must be afforded the ability to engage, operate and report freely on conditions within the country. the government should reconsider its decision to expel the researcher and allow the researcher to return to continue her work for human rights watch. just before taking your questions, a couple questions pending from mr. de's briefing. we have been granted access five times in cuba to the detainee. we continue to ask t

folks from usaid to build after we clear areas -- they are not coordinated, if it is not happening, it will be futile. there have been too many times where we cleared areas where we looked for ngos or the government to come in and set up things like hospitals and some of those facilities, the requirements that the locals need. if that is not going to happen, yes, we do need to pull out. and i think general mcchrystal and his staff did this to call the state department and other officials to task so they could do more. again, i think we should continue the mission but if we are not going to get the support after we clear places, we need to get out. host: i was there in 2002 and in 2002. in 2007 -- and in 2007. in 2007, one of the things we would hear is we don't mind working with you, but we are intimidated by the taliban as soon as we have these meetings. if you clear these areas and then you leave, there is no one providing security. they don't really trust the afghan national army or the national police. it will be imperative that whoever comes in, said the position so they can gain

>> if you apply for the job and expressed an interest in several different departments like usaid. >>have you heard anything from the look flow rate people on what they are seeing from the cut riser, and do you feel like the images of that lead or substantiating what you thought would happen? >> i will have somebody -- i do not know of any new estimates from the flow rate technical group. again, we thought it was important that based on what we heard from the head of the flow rate technical group, that cutting the top of that riser could increase the amount of hydrocarbon by 20%. i do not know, and i am not entirely sure that we can altogether ascertain just from a flat screen image of the riser cut the degree to which that hydrocarbon flow had increased. let me check on that flow rate. >> if the u.s. is in charge of the oil spill, why is the bp corp. going to be giving operational updates? >> the remotely operated vehicles, the sheer cut operation is being conducted by them, because they are the only people in this scenario that had the type of technical expertise in order for a cut

[applause] >> up next, a discussion on campaign finance legislation, and in the usaid the minister talks about haiti relief and following that, a senate confirmation hearing for deputy attorney general. in general david pretorius testified before the senate armed services committee and continued to support the president's plan to withdraw troops. we will show you his testimony tomorrow starting at 12:20 p.m. eastern here on c-span. it is campaign 2010 your way, with the c-span of video library did we make the easy to follow the primary season from the campaign trail to the debates to the victory and concession speeches, all free and on line, any time. >> a look now at the campaign finance bill being worked on by congress. this is about 40 minutes. doing to clean up the spill and fight the oil spill. >> "washington journal" continues. host: on your screen is john bresnahan, a senior congressional reporter with "politico.com" newspaper. -- "politico

region's central helmand valley is so fertile is because of a usaid project was useless successful. and they remember the americans for that. all of that is founded on security, to be sure. beyond that, there were some news stories honor present way that afghanistan is not without natural blessings in a whole host of ways, an upstart -- including extraordinary mineral resources. extensive resources when it comes to lithium, iron ore, coal, 10, it has precious gems and so forth, but this all has to be -- you have to extracted to me that at the extraction industries and the line of communication and security. you also have a government structures in which that can function. there has to be a legal framework that provide sufficient incentives. but it is my hope in all seriousness that we could see what is called adventuress venture capitalist enter afghanistan who could see -- help the government take advantage of these extraordinary mineral blessings that they have. >> thanks, very much, general, and thank your commitment. >> thank you. >> thank you, senator jim was. senator ben nelso

>> you can express an interest in several different departments like usaid. >> have you heard anything from the flow rate people on what they are seen from the cut riser? and do you feel like the images, at least, are substantiating what you thought? >> that is a good question and i will have somebody go -- i do not know of any new estimates from the flow rate technical group. again, we thought it was rate table. >> if the u.s. is in charge of this oil spill, why is the bp going to be giving operational update to? >> -- updates? >> it is beingqi, about what they are seeing and what is going on. >> could you be a little more specific about the president's trip tomorrow? and what his goals are and what he hopes to accomplish. >> as i said, i think evaluating on the ground every effort of response, but also on the surface of the water and the environmental damage that has been done. and also, the economic damage that has been done and is being done to small business owners, and everyone down there. i think he will get a chance to talk with some of those folks and and understand how each s