want to criticize usaid. we on this panel recognize that we, basically, pour -- pulled usaid apart in the last two decades so that they've become pretty much a contracting to organization without the expertise. so i just want to know for theuc testimony, you have in, you have people within your staff thatt a can do a lot of the critique and oversight of the projects, isiny that your, your common --n >> yeah, that's correct. we have architects, engineers, the whole suite of professionals needed to implement. >> is there any last questiona the commissioner needs to aske f before we go? >>p >> gentlemen, again, for the umpteenth time, but we -- i'm sorry. okay. again, for the umpteenth time,o we thank you for coming back so. graciously, and we do appreciatt it.t and now we do want to leave you the opportunity to make anyng final statement that kwr0ud likp to make. >> i'd like to thank the commission for this opportunity for us to speak this morning and to interact on the important projects in afghanistan. we'd l

>> i think usaid needs to provide those, but let me talk to usaid about that. >> okay.want to go to the issue of delay in your prior projects. not only because this has to do with how it would have been if kandahar power initiative had been competed, but even more fundamentally the kandahar project is urgent timewise, not like other projects, because general petraeus himself we were told by a.i.d. in the most direct way, general petraeus himself said he needs it as soon as possible, he's got a counterinsurgency to fight in kandahar province. that's the reason that we got from a.i.d. as to why they sole source it at why. the extreme urgency as part of a counterinsurgency strategy and they allude to that end the jna. looking at a kabul power plant seems to me that we have comments by a.i.d. i.t. and sigar. i'm reading from sigar, not years ago but in january of 2010. they said usaid afghanistan contended it was unable to assist the contractor in the the the forward because the contractor did not convey critical information to the mission promptly enough to be useful. they

>> i think usaid needs to provide those, but let me talk to usaid about that. >> okay. now, i want to go to the issue of delay in your prior projects. not only because this has to do with how it would have been if kandahar power initiative had been competed, but even more fundamentally the kandahar project is urgent timewise, not like other projects, because general petraeus himself we were told by a.i.d. in the most direct way, general petraeus himself said he needs it as soon as possible, he's got a counterinsurgency to fight in kandahar province. that's the reason that we got from a.i.d. as to why they sole source it at why. the extreme urgency as part of a counterinsurgency strategy and they allude to that end the jna. looking at a kabul power plant seems to me that we have comments by a.i.d. i.t. and sigar. i'm reading from sigar, not years ago but in january of 2010. they said usaid afghanistan contended it was unable to assist the contractor in the the the forward because the contractor did not convey critical information to the mission promptly enough to be usef

state and usaid would face a 16% cut from fy10. we would be forced to scale back significantly our mission in the front-line states of iraq, afghanistan and pakistan where we work side-by-side with the american military. we would also be required to roll back critical health, food security, climate change, border security and trade promotion efforts abroad as well. we certainly understand a tight budget environment. i had the privilege of serving here for eight years in the congress, and we have undertaken over the last two years our own sweeping reform effort to put taxpayer dollars to work more effectively. but the scope of the proposed house cuts is massive. the truth is that cuts about level will be detrimental to america's national security. and i shared with the speaker a letter i sent today to appropriations chairman rogers, which lays out our concerns about the fy11 bill. over the coming days and weeks, i will be meeting with members of congress and testifying on the hill to highlight the presidents 2012 budget. how we reac

>> i think usaid needs to provide those, but let me talk to usaid about that. >> okay. now, i want to go to the issue of delay in your prior projects. not only because this has to do with how it would have been if kandahar power initiative had been competed, but even more fundamentally the kandahar project is urgent timewise, not like other projects, because general petraeus himself we were told by a.i.d. in the most direct way, general petraeus himself said he needs it as soon as possible, he's got a counterinsurgency to fight in kandahar province. that's the reason that we got from a.i.d. as to why they sole source it at why. the extreme urgency as part of a counterinsurgency strategy and they allude to that end the jna. looking at a kabul power plant seems to me that we have comments by a.i.d. i.t. and sigar. i'm reading from sigar, not years ago but in january of 2010. they said usaid afghanistan contended it was unable to assist the contractor in the the the forward because the contractor did not convey critical information to the mission promptly enough to be usef

>> i think usaid needs to provide those, but let me talk to usaid about that. >> okay. now, i want to go to the issue of delay in your prior projects. not only because this has to do with how it would have been if kandahar power initiative had been competed, but even more fundamentally the kandahar project is urgent timewise, not like other projects, because general petraeus himself we were told by a.i.d. in the most direct way, general petraeus himself said he needs it as soon as possible, he's got a counterinsurgency to fight in kandahar province. that's the reason that we got from a.i.d. as to why they sole source it at why. the extreme urgency as part of a counterinsurgency strategy and they allude to that end the jna. looking at a kabul power plant seems to me that we have comments by a.i.d. i.t. and sigar. i'm reading from sigar, not years ago but in january of 2010.

me on this panel recognize that we basically for usaid -- tore usaid apart so they have become pretty much a contracting organization without the expertise. so i just want to know from the testimony, you have people within your staff that can do a lot of the critique and oversight of projects, is that your common cause? >> yes. we are architects, engineers, a whole suite of professionals needed to implement. >> any class question? gentlemen, again, for the umpteenth time, -- i'm sorry. okay. again, for the umpteenth time we thank you are coming back so graciously, and we do appreciate it. and now we do want to leave you the opportunity to make any final statement if you would like to say. >> i would like to thank the commission for this opportunity for us to speak this morning and to interact on the important projects in afghanistan. we would like to thank you for the privilege, the u.s. government, for the privilege of supporting the u.s. department of defense. these are the most important projects for. >> translator: . we've been evolving over 60 projects since 2004 and look to cont

usaid's mission is an important one. our humanitarian and development work serves as a pillar for national security by building stronger economies and more stable democracies. we are committed to invest in u.s. taxpayer funds wisely at each phase of the procurement process. to yield sustainable long-term results. have realized his commitment to usaid forward and our reform to improve the way we do business. we are holding ourselves more accountable and we expect the same from our contractors and grantees. we expect our contractors to be good stewards of taxpayer funds. we expect contractors to act with integrity, and we're holding them accountable when they fall short. we are on the right track, but i will say frankly you say frankly usaid needs to do better, especially as it relates to past performance reporting. on the positive side, u.s.a. consistently used its past performance as an evaluation factor in our new procurement. for awards over $25 million, our contract review board ensures compliance with as many. when i

state and usaid would face a 16% cut from fiscal year 2010. we would be forced to scale back significantly our mission in the frontline states of iraq, afghanistan, and pakistan, where we work side by side with the american military. we would also be required to roll back critical health, food security, climate change, border security, and trade promotion efforts abroad as well. we certainly understand the tight budget environment. i had the privilege of serving here for eight years in the congress. we have to undertaken over the last two years our own sweeping reform efforts to put taxpayer dollars to -- to work more effectively. but the scope of the proposed house cuts is massive. the truth is that cuts of that level will be detrimental to america's national security. and i shared with the speaker a letter i sent today to appropriations chairman rogers which lays out our concerns about the fiscal -- about the fiscal year 2011 bill. i'll be meeting with members of congress and testifying on the hill to highlight the president's 2012 budget. h

state and usaid would face a 16% cut from fiscal year 2010. we would be forced to scale back significantly our mission in the frontline states of iraq, afghanistan, and pakistan, where we work side by side with the american military. we would also be required to roll back critical health, food security, climate change, border security, and trade promotion efforts abroad as well. we certainly understand the tight budget environment. i had the privilege of serving here for eight years in the congress. we have to undertaken over the last two years our own sweeping reform efforts to put taxpayer dollars to -- to work more effectively. but the scope of the proposed house cuts is massive. the truth is that cuts of that level will be detrimental to america's national security. and i shared with the speaker a letter i sent today to appropriations chairman rogers which lays out our concerns about the fiscal -- about the fiscal year 2011 bill. i'll be meeting with members of congress and testifying on the hill to highlight the president's 2012 budget. h

and the state department and usaid require an increase of only $4 billion to make sure that we are robustly engaged with the government and people of iraq. that is a good deal by any standard. so we are working with congress to insure that the civilian surge in afghanistan and pakistan receives the support it requires now and in years to come. now, i will not sugar coat the fact that the afghan government has, from time to time, disagreed with our policies, and there is no denying the challenges that our civilian efforts face in afghanistan. corruption remains a major problem. fighting fraud and waste is one of our highest priorities. a major focus of the civilian surge has been expanding our presence in the field, getting more experts out to provide hands-on leadership of our development projects. we have partnered with the military to put in place stronger controls on contractors, and we are working with afghan institutions that we fund directly to help them improve auditing and accountability. so as the military surge weakens the insurgents and pressures them to considerral alternatives

usaid has acquired an additional $10 million of assistance. our bureau of population migration is working closely with iom, the international works it -- international organization for migration, and the u.n. -- those are details we will provide in an e-mail. >> has any thought been given to offering support to the people, the military officers who were planning to organize -- >> i think it is premature to talk about that. our focus is our concern about the humanitarian situation. there are tens of thousands of refugees who have crossed over into tunisia and egypt. our immediate focus is what do they need? >> [unintelligible] are any of the rebel forces, particularly given one of their ammunition depots was said to have been bombed and destroyed this morning? >> we have a wide range of options. we've not decided anything at this point. we will be monitoring and we will take a proper steps and let me know if we do. >> [unintelligible] >> i actually do not have -- >> [unintelligible] so, when you say he is reaching out trust he is in the buildin

assistance programs, esf are requests of over $300 million for iraq will be done by usaid in the future. we're looking for an fmf program beginning in fy 12 and the police training program as we have briefed has already begun to be funded through the state department and will be fully funded through the state department. so without getting into the very detailed and very controversial and complicated issues here, i would say under a temporary war time basis, funds and activities, responsibilities were shifted to dod. as soon as we could in the transition we're shifting them back to the department of state. >> hopefully with memos and white papers or maybe in memoirs you'll describe the situation that will be helpful to your successors. i thank you very much. >> thank you, senator. senator rubio. >> i wanted to briefly examine the detainee issues. i know that we have turned over several facilities to the iraqis. what is the status of -- i don't know who the appropriate person to answer that, maybe both, what is the status of those facilities that have been turned over to iraqi administra

s and usaid. a dear colleague went out about a bill passed in this house back in 2005 that established a fistula repair program for weapon in the undeveloped countries. it pass. i went to the administrator of health for usaisd and i said take this and put it into practice. we have 35 programs in 12 countries, 15,000 african and asian women have had fistula repairs. we need to funnel our money into health care interventions to those who suffer from such terrible things as obstetric fistula and i thank the gentleman for yielding. >> i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does gentleman rise? >> i move to strike the last word. mr. nadler: let me begin by congratulating the gentleman on his program to repair fistulas that are a great problem for women in the developing world and i yield to the the gentlewoman from new york. mrs. lowey: i have seen the work you are doing and see the suffering that women go through and i thank for your leadership. the hour is late and we ha

in the last 18 months, there has been a significant effort to train civil servants by usaid and the u.s. embassy. so rather than have one or two people in the district government trying to do something, they now have 10 or 15, in some cases more, to try to build that stability. and that is part of the situation that i talked about as being an iterative process. because as the security improves, as their confidence grows, then more of them will come out to serve. that is what has to occur, over time, to build the momentum so that they can maintain the hold to properly build this long- term stability that they desire. >> following up on the first part with the withdrawal, what is speaking, are you expecting a relatively small symbolic withdrawal of a few hundred or a couple thousand, or something more significant in the 10,000 or 15,000 or 20,000 range? >> we will see how that comes out. we're not at that point of making those decisions or recommendations yet. we will make those decisions in the next two or three months. >> on the regenerative issue about the taliban, one of the key aspec

i, for usaid, for cotton exports, that depends on a relationship with the western world. it doesn't have the option economically to anger the western world. so it's going to have to balance sort of carrying that tiflet representative of arab national. i while sustaining itself economically. >> i promised we'd go, this gentleman here, cowl you go to the mike? it's on c-span. >> is this on? >> yes. >> my name is joe, i'm an energy analyst and senior associate with csix. i don't know where flill president mubarak is, obviously someone does but i can't understand why the protesters have not used the classic protest tactic of surrounding him, wherever he is. >> i'll start. i was wondering that myself. i was thought -- a reporter said she interviewed him in the palace. it's said he's in sharm al chic. that's closed -- al sheik. that's closed off to most egyptians. it's not as easy to storm the palace. the other thing is, it's an information war as well. the cameras and attention is focused on the square, it's been cast as the battleground in terms of who is representing the voi

i, for usaid, for cotton exports, that depends on a relationship with the western world. it doesn't have the option economically to anger the western world. so it's going to have to balance sort of carrying that tiflet representative of arab national. i while sustaining itself economically. >> i promised we'd go, this gentleman here, cowl you go to the mike? it's on c-span. >> is this on? >> yes. >> my name is joe, i'm an energy analyst and senior associate with csix. i don't know where flill president mubarak is, obviously someone does but i can't understand why the protesters have not ud the classic protest tactic of surrounding him, wherever he is. >> i'll start. i was wondering that myself. i wathought -- a reporter said she interviewed him in the palace. it's said he's in sharm al chic. that's closed -- al sheik. that's closed off to most egyptians. it's not as easy to storm the palace. the other thing is, it's an information war as well. the cameras an attention is focused on the square, it's been cast as the battleground in terms of who is representing the voice of

i also want to recognize raj shaw, the administrative usaid. [applause] it's always a great pleasure to work with him at our foundation, and linda and i always relied on him for his great insights and we're excited about the innovation reform he's bringing to a.i.d. the talent and seriousness of the leaders in this room give me confidence that we will rise to the challenges we face. unlike many of you, i don't have a background on smart power. but i have a background in business. and looking at these issues as a businessman, i believe that investing in the world's poorest people is the smartest way our government spends money. [applause] it saves lives, it improves livelihoods, it promotes stability, and it stimulates economies. the national security arguments i have heard in support of foreign assistance from president obama, president bush, secretary of state clinton, secretary of defense gates, and general petraeus appeal to my common sense. i believe that the world will be a safer place if there is enough food to go around. that it will be

civilian-led mission is helping that began -- the pentagon save $45 billion, and the state department and usaid require an increase of only $4 billion to make sure that we are robustly engaged with the government and people of iraq. that is a good deal by any standard. so we are working with congress to ensure that the civilian surge in afghanistan and pakistan receives the support it requires now and in years to come. i will not sugarcoat the fact that the afghan government has, from time to time, disagreed with our policies. and there is no denying the challenges our civilian efforts face in afghanistan. corruption remains a major problem. fighting fraud and waste is one of our highest priorities. a major focus of the civilian surge has been expanding our presence in the field, getting more experts out to provide hands-on leadership of our development projects. we have partnered with the military to put in place stronger controls on contractors. we're working with afghan institutions that we fund directly to help them improve auditing and accountability. so is the military surge weakens the i

deep and profound way a vision of integrated american power and is one of the state department and usaid's strongest advocates and champions. i have personally really appreciated the opportunity to get to know admiral mullen, to work with him. before i had this job, i did not know how many hours i would spend in the situation room. usually sitting across from secretary gaetz and the chairman of the joint chiefs, admiral mullen, so we have spent many quality hours together. talking through some thorny difficult problems that don't have any easy answer or they wouldn't be the subject of our meetings. time and time again, he has wrought sensitivity and an insight into the causes of the dilemmas we are watching unfold, the forces that are at work and he has also graciously on two occasions opened his home on maybe he'll -- navy hill across from serious discussions with high-ranking civilian and military leaders from pakistan to try to get the yawns our usual dialogue into the kind of strategic consideration that we hope tightly to some better understanding and mutual efforts. so we are very fo

i can use usaid and dod in an actual case where there was a failed ghazni school project by a contractor that was part of the contractor and in the prison, again, where there was a failed -- i don't know if it's bazrat or whoever it contracted and i personally in both cases said, have you considered it in past performance? well, we probably wouldn't do business and i say well, fine, are you aware of other locations? well, yeah, the corps of engineers is using them and so-and-so is using them. and i say they never called and asked. so i'm -- you know, why didn't you call them? well, i don't know. so i'm just telling you the information you're getting sometimes is -- good news rolls uphill. sometimes bad news doesn't roll uphill. i will take a point of gathering some of my data, sir, and sharing it with you just so that -- we're not contentious on the point of the importance. we disagree on the point of -- is it really being done because i'm telling you, it's not really being done in theater. and i've been that to those outlying bases and i just don't go out there for their cameo. we spend

state department's foreign assistance budget, the monies that we would have for the fmf and for the usaid, roughly half a billion dollars for esf and then the police training. for the dc and p, that is if you strip out salaries for our people, the basic operating budget, it's pretty big. somewhere with between almost as high as 30% in the statistics i've seen. >> so we're looking in some categories 30% of the budget. so this is not a nominal figure in state, this is a huge amount of money. >> this would be, taken together, this would be probably the single biggest program in the state department in fy-12, senator. >> and, again, let me reiterate. i think we all understand when pilgrims migrate from -- programs migrate from department of defense, keep the troops in the field, support -- rightfully so -- over to foreign aid, that's a category that's a lot harder sale, bluntly. and we've got to make that sale. i think that's the message i heard on both sides. let me interject another issue which is i saw competition on the dod side between assets for iraq and be assets for afghanistan. and b

that is very worrisome to us and it's one of the targets of one of the programs were done through usaid, through the military and cerp program as such. in terms of oil as i said, the iraqis have had considerable success with the international oil companies, and increasing up to 10% of the output of these fields. and this could go up as high as six to 8 million barrels a day, some people see even higher, putting it almost in the range of saudi arabia. however, there are major, major breaks on such developments. first of all as the infrastructure, the fact that they will be slowed down in terms of continuing to export their additional production because they have to repair the offshore terminals. that won't be complete to the end of this year at best. they wouldn't have before them major improvements to the internal storage tank and pipeline infrastructure that gets the oil from the fields to the terminals. they will have to repair the northern pipeline that goes to turkey if they want to get that over 700,000 barrels and potential quite about that. so that will take them an awful lot of

finally, the los angeles search and rescue team, in addition to the usaid disaster assistance team are in new zealand. they are under way with their operations -- underway with their operations. they have the necessary equipment to make live rescues from collapsed structures. they are working with the new zealand ministry of civil defense. >> back on libya. the statement that you put out this morning about libyan officials telling american officials that un-visa-ed journalists would be considered al qaeda collaborators, who were the total list --who were the officials? >> there were diplomats of other countries. the compensation was at the undersecretary level. this was the particular topic of the meeting. our feeling was that when we have information that affects the security of u.s. citizens or u.s. journalists or others, we have an obligation to put that out. >> did they say exactly what they meant and why they would deem these people to be collaborate -- collaborators with al qaeda? >> this was their perspective and how they presented this to us. >> i got that. did they explain why

>> commissioner tiefer, i think that's a position for usaid but i would say they have competition on the street right now for energy and water. i think they plan to award at least five specified. so i suspect there will be competition speemac thank you mr. guerre. doctors implant has a question speemac -- doctors that -- that's fundamentally different if you are doing something very, very different from what you were doing in kandahar, correct? you were advising the government. you weren't building -- >> what we had to do was use knowledge of how already built systems work. that's sometimes more difficult to our engineers had to be very creative internet how to use all of these facilities that have been built by a bunch of different donors that were not to the standards that you talk about where they're all the same standard. and our creative engineers did figure out how to do that. frankly, it's easier to design and all yourself and don't have to figure how do you do something that's already in place. >> did you help draft the agreements based on that knowledge? >> would talk about

the international program, through funding from usaid, plays a critical role in protecting u.s. security interests in conflict-prone areas, unrelated, illegal, resource extraction, many times lead to the unrest and corruption. i would oppose this amendment even though i understand that the gentleman, it's easy to go after international programs when we have such problems here, the fact is that they protect industry here in this country, in the u.s. forest products tri-in this country because as i said, they're the only ones representing the u.s. forest products industry and forestry in scren in international trade agreements. i oppose this amendment and hope my colleagues would also. the chair: the gentleman yields back. the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from kansas. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the noes have it. for what purpose does the gentleman from kansas rise? >> to request a recorded vote. the chair: pursuant to clause 8 of rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment by the gentleman from kansas will be

we cut the usaid, no funny of a federal office space, we prohibited -- [applause] prohibit taxpayer-fundedby federal employees by 1.2 billion. [applause] >> the taxpayer subsidies a united nations and the governmental panel on climate change is gone in our bill. [applause] >> and my favorite, my favorite comment and certainly it mean elephants, certainly that it is whole process realizing this is not a personal thing. it's a physical thing. the same things our families have been doing a. you sit there with your husband or your wife and say you have to cut this, it's important to somebody. no offense to anybody by saying this but we're going to cut the exchange programs for alaska native, native hawaiians and the historical trading partners in massachusetts. so thanks very much. [applause] >> thank you all very much. thank you, panelists. [applause] >> a round of applause for this great panel. no more air marks. -- earmarks. .. pat. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> all right, ladies and gentlemen. we are reaching the

oversea those contractors that we do put it out to them that it's been a serious problem problem and usaid the state department and other places on that. work -- wartime contracting commission, they found out we were hiring private contractors to oversee other private contractors on that, so how do you assess the department of defense progress in insourcing those critical roles of oversight and management contracts? >> our assessment is the contracting decisions are made much too often on an ad hoc basis. the release and a systematic assessment of what should be contracted out what should be in source and for what should be in source how you build capability center staffing and expertise to be able to do that? what expertise duty to oversee the contractors so we have encouraged and recommended systematic assessment of that. that is the only way you can do with deal with that issue over time. we have serious issues and as we analyze that do have any ideas for how they might ramp that up and separate those out so that those inherently governmental functions of oversight of contractors can ac

in the last 18 months, there has been a significant effort to train civil servants by usaid and the u.s. embassy. so rather than have one or two people in the district government trying to do something, they now have 10 or 15, in some cases more, to try to build that stability. and that is part of the situation that i talked about as being an iterative process. because as the security improves, as their confidence grows, then more of them will come out to serve. that is what has to occur, over time, to build the momentum so that they can maintain the hold to properly build this long-term stability that they desire. >> following up on the first part with the withdrawal, what is speaking, are you expecting a relatively small symbolic withdrawal of a few hundred or a couple thousand, or something more significant in the 10,000 or 15,000 or 20,000 range? >> we will see how that comes out. we're not at that point of making those decisions or recommendations yet. we will make those decisions in the next two or three months. >> on the regenerative issue about the taliban, one of the key aspect

hunter: this is an interagency fund, state department, usaid, different american agency, they'll be disseminating this money, it will go straight to contractor, afghan or from here, from the u.s. or other countries. mr. jens: -- mr. hunter: i yield to the gentleman. mr. jones: my answer would be, i hope that this would prove to be true. the problem is, we always know that when you've got a dysfunctional government, you've got a dishonest man, it might be intended to go this way, but too many times it does not. i would honestly say to you, i offer this amendment on behalf of the american people. because they can't fix their streets, they can't fix their roads and by god, it's only $400 million but to a lot of people in my district, that's a lot of money going to a dishonest leader of a country in afghanistan. mr. hunter: reclaiming my time, mr. chairman. the chair: 30 seconds. mr. hunter: $400 million is a lot of money. americans do need that money. but i would answer that with this. the men and women who have given their lives in afghanistan, the men and women, as you well know, representing camp

in that regard, usaid is dispatching a rescue team from los angeles. they are at the airport. they might well be airborne at this hour. the u.s. starteam is overseeinge suffer. for new zealand, it will be a long time. yes, sometime tomorrow, and new zealand time. the united states condemns the murder of four u.s. citizens whose yacht was seized by pirates. this deplorable at destroys the need -- this deplorable act emphasizes the need to address pirates off the coast of africa. our sympathy goes to the families of the victims of this time. we will honor their memory by continuing to strengthening international partnerships to bring these criminals to justice. the united states also encourages additional african contributions to the peacekeeping effort. sure. >> does that mean you're still using efforts by a contracting companies? you're not too happy about those? >> i am not sure that i put those two together. on the case-by-case basis, shipping companies may have vessels that are in waters that have every right to have beefed up security on board these ships. we are doing as

this bill cuts $100 million from usaid family family planning but that isn't enough. as an amendment was filed to completely eliminate these programs which help prevent 7.8 million unintended pregnancies around the world. these decisions by the republican majority will endanger women's health and severely restrict women's rights and insert the government into the private medical decisions and nothing short but an all out war against women and we are fighting back. instead of working together to get our economy moving again to help the unemployed and create jobs, republicans are seeking to impose an ideological agenda on the country. and we have the pence amendment, restricting title 10 funding going to planned parenthood, one of the most trusted and utilized public health organizations in the country. this is not about abortion. this is about a direct attack on an organization that provides critical health services aimed largely at women in underserved communities throughout the country, with over 85 local affiliates and more than 800 health centers across the country

usaid reportedly adopted a policy of only funding those organizations officially approved as ngos byubarak government. and the requirements of nonsecurity assistance to egypt has compounded the problem. so mr. steinberg, what tangible economic or democratic reform as the government of egypt undertaken as a result of the billions of dollars that we have provided an nonsecurity assistance throughout the last decade. what have we received in exchange? this brings to mind two lessons on the lebanese debacle that we are currently facing. the first is that the election unfolds are meaningless unless they are supplemented with democratic institutions. hezbollah's descendents of lebanon was facilitated by the failure of responsible nations who insist on changing a serious take dated electoral law and subsequent regulation prior to holding elections in the aftermath of the 2005 revolution. clear standards for participation in elections and the touche and must be both articulated and implemented to ensure that to start it at yours are not afforded the opportunity to hijack it did democratic pr

integrated american power -- a vision of integrated american power, and is one of the state strongestt and usaid's advocates and champions. i've personally really appreciated the opportunity to get to know admiral mullen, to work with him. before i had this job, i did not know how many hours i would spend in the situation room, usually sitting across from secretary gates and the chairman of the joint chiefs, admiral mullen. we have spent many quality hours together talking through some thorny, difficult problems that don't have any easy answer. time and time again he has brought sensitivity and insight into the causes of the dilemmas we are watching unfold, the forces that are at work, and he has also graciously on two occasions opened his home on navy hill just across the way to very important and serious discussions with high-ranking civilian and military leaders from pakistan to try to get beyond our usual and dialogue into the kind of strategic consideration that we hope might need it to some better understanding and mutual efforts. so we are very fortunate to have mike mullen here today. he h

this is the target of many programs that we have done through usaid.ms of the oil, the iraqis have had considerable success with the international oil companies in the increasing up to 10% of the oil fields. this could go up as high as 8 million barrels a day. some people see even higher, putting it in the range of saudi arabia. there are major, major breaks such developments. there is the in first archer factor. they will be slowed down in terms of continuing to export their add additional production because they have to repair the offshore terminals which will not be complete at the end of this year. they will then have before them major employment -- improvements to the storage tank and pipeline infrastructure that it's the will to the terminals. they will have to repair the pipeline that goes to turkey. that will take them an awful lot of their oil earnings and will have to be poured back into repairing the infrastructure in order to prime the pump, if you will. likewise, the oil companies are on cost-plus contracts, and they're starting to recover

that has been a serious problem usaid, the state department, and other places. the wartime contractors association found out that we were hiring private contractors to oversee other private contractors. how do you assess the department of defense's prior s&pinsourcing = = the department of defense's role in doing that role? >> we have encouraged and recommended systematic assessment of that. that is the only way you can deal with the issue over time. >> we have some serious issues. do you have any ideas about how they can wrap -- can ramp that up so that contractors can be brought back. do you think this analysis will wide its way out before you get some effective recourse jim -- wind its way out before you get some effective recourse? >> i do not think there is going to be a magic solution, particularly when you get into environments when your contingency operations and planning -- you need to have something more robust as a foundation. you need to allow some flexibility and you need proper oversight. that where i think things break down. >> we had an out of th

usaid even reportedly adopted a policy of only funding those organizations officially approved as ngosrnment. repeated u.s. failure to enforce it own conditions and requirements on nonsecurity assistance to egypt has compounded the problem. so, mr. steinberg, what tangible economic or democratic reforms has the government of egypt undertaken as a result of the billions of dollars that we have provided in nonsecurity assistance throughout the last decades? what have we received in exchange? this brings to mind two lessons on the lebanese debacle that we are currently facing. the first is that the elections themselves are meaningless unless they are supplemented with democratic institutions. hezbollah's ascendance in lebanon was facilitated by the failure of responsible nations to insist on changing a syrian-dictated electoral law and subsequent regulation prior to holding elections in the aftermath of the 2005 cedar revolution. clear standards for participation in elections and institutions must be both articulated and implemented to insure that destructive actors are not afforded the o

usaid supported that campaign quite significantly.at the same time, and partly causing, you could say, this trend was a global crisis of social security-type systems. in large part because of the history of these systems, they were founded typically or greatly expanded after the second world war when demography was very favorable, a lot of people moving into the labor force and incomes rising rather rapidly. these systems ran into trouble because of a worldwide, again, trend towards demographic aging. i think many people are aware that in the united states there are an increasing proportion of elderly people. that's good news. the longevity is increasing, but it also means that pension systems are put under considerable pressure because people are spending a longer period of their life or longer proportion of their life in retirement. but also because of the trends that were mentioned before towards income inequality and stagnation of average wages also have this tendency to put pressure on social security-type systems. so that's the