state department and usaid will continue to deliver results for the american people. i thank you for your time and am happy now to answer your questions. >> thank you. i'm going to use just a portion of my time i think. if you could, since there will be an appropriations process that's underway soon, when do you expect to have the -- your thoughts together on how the state department itself will be reorganized? >> senator, as i indicated, we've just completed an important listening phase. >> right. >> i have had an initial readout. i will get a final report. i'm interviewing a couple of individuals who will come in and help us now with the next stage, which is the redesign effort itself, which will be -- which will involve the colleagues in the state department and usaid. that effort, likely we'll have that framed over the course of the summer. the effort itself will likely cut underway sometime in august/september time frame when we have our pathway forward, the process, how we want to engage our colleagues, how we want to get at various elements and themes that emer

state department usaid will continueil to deliver results for the american people. thank you for your time and i'm happy now to answer questions. >> bank you. i'm going to use that portion of my time i think.. if you could since there will be an appropriations process that is underway soon when do you expect to have your thoughts together on how the state department will be reorganized? >> senator has indicated we have just completed an important listening phase. i've had an initial report. i'm interviewing a couple of individuals who will come in and help us at the next stage which is a predesigned effort itself which will involve my colleagues in the state department usaid. that effort likely will have that framed over the course of the summer. the effort itself will likely get underway sometime in august or september timeframe when we have our pathway forward in the process and how we want toe engage her colleagues, how we want to look at various elements and themes that emerged from the listening session.some of some of this is work process and some of that is h

i know there is intense interest in the state department usaid redesign efforts. we just completed information on our organizational processes and culture through survey made available to every one of our state and usaid colleagues. over 35,000 surveys were completed and we have held in person listening sessions with creative individuals to obtain their perspective on what we do and how we do it. i met personally with dozens of team members and spoke candidly about their experiences. from this feedback we have been able to get a clear overall view of our organization. we have no preconceived outcomes in our discussions of the goals priorities and directions the state department and usaid are not token exercises. the principles for listening sessions and subsequent evaluation of our organization are the same as those which i stated in my confirmation hearing for our foreign policy. we will see the world for what it is and be honest with ourselves and the american people, follow the facts where they lead us and hold ourselves and others accountable. we are still ana

that's where usaid and all your really smart people come into play. qatar. if you read the op-ed today from the uae ambassador, things are not going well. you got qatar right from our point of view. you got 10,000 airmen and soldiers there. we can't let this get it's of hand. you're going to be pretty busy with qatar. russia. don't have time to talk about what's on your plate with russia, it's just a lot. syria. if we can ever find a way to end the war, it will be in geneva and you'll be at the table trying to find a way to put syria back together to make sure that the war doesn't start again in lebanon and jordan don't fall because of endless war. the resources necessary to repair the damage in syria makes iraq look like a walk in the park. and part of those resources will be you and your talented people who will go in there and help the syrian people deal with the devastation. north korea. i like what you're doing in north korea. i don't think we're out of the woods yet. so you're going to be a busy guy. 65 billion people displaced on your watch. by the wa

proposes eliminating support of usaid. there is a cut their which we will leave aside, but the organizational aspect is something of interest to our committee. i think that these are areas where we can work together to give you the kind of accountability we have all talked about that we want to see department. secretary tillerson: i look forward to that, senator. chairman corker: in my closing, i just want to say there are things that i really do think that there are things that prevent the state department from functioning as well as it could that we can help with and i leaned over in a side conversation with senator cardin and i know that you've all been in briefed us both and briefed our staff as to how things were moving along but we do look forward to working with you in that regard but for this year in particular people are going want to be very engaged in that in a way that i think we began to see the opportunities last year but this year see tremendous opportunities in working with you in that regard. on the food a

and the officer transition initiatives which is under usaid. we previously sensed your agency under the last administration letters asking you to combine those two and with the budget having a 50% cut, could you consider 100% cut by combining them, deciding who gets the job either state or usaid but not both? >> i think part of our whole redesign is look at the issues you identified of where we have duplicative work efforts. in ag, commerce, defense. so this is going to be examining all these areas which ultimately i suspect will be combined efforts. delivering on mission for less cost. >> thank you. yield back. >> thank you. i appreciate that. this committee will recess ten minutes before noon in order to join colleagues on the house floor. and following the prayer and pledge, there will be brief remarks from the speaker and the democratic leader considering the shooting incident this morning. and then this hearing will resume afterwards at 12:30 or so. and i'd like to thank the secretary for his flexibility. and we'll adjourn here no later th

state department and usaid will continue to deliver results for the american people. and u i thank you for your time, and i am happy to answer your questions. >> thank you very much, mr. secretary.this this committee has worked to h make the state department more efficient, and as you know the first state authorities built in over a decade was signed into law. that was our work product. we stand ready to work with you to reform the department, and on reorganization on this question i just ask that you commit to intensify to consultation between your staff and thetw committee in terms of plans forr reform. >> we certainly will do that,, and welcome and seek your input as we go about this. >> i only have one question andi go to the issue of north korea, secretary tillerson. this situation, we wereged encouraged yesterday first to hear news that atta would be returned to the united states but then we found his condition. we were horrified to learn that he was in a coma. this is outrageous. and on monday weird secretary mattis called north korea the top security threat to

my colleagues at the state department and usaid are our greatest resource. i am confident that the u.s. state department and udaid will tone to deliver results for the american people. i thank you for your time, and i'm happy to answer your questions. >> thank you. we'll do seven minute rounds. and one, i look forward to your kefrt to restorm the state department, get the feedback, and come to us and say this is what we can do, without this is what we can do more of. so between 2007 and '17, would you say the world is more dangerous or less the. >> the world is changing and it's in a difficult place today. >>> so if we've been spending more for the last ten years, it's probably for good reason. and i would say increasing defense spending by 10% is absolutely long overdue. do you support's the president's budget to increase hard power by 10%? >> i do. >> do you believe that others at soft power is an integral part of our national securities strategy? >> without question. >>> so we've got the general construct that soft power and hard power is important. i don

just a word, usaid is helping to lead the u.s. government response to this humanitarian catastrophe. wf' been working aggressively to help save as many lives as possible with our partners long before the famine declaration in february of this year. and we will continue to do so. we're reaching about 1.3 million people each month with lifesaving assistance. but this is a really difficult and dangerous undertaking and not because we are in a conflict zone and there's lots of insecurity, there have been numerous, deliberate and brazen attack on humanitarian aid workers in south sudan. attacks which are violations of national humanitarian law. 84 aid workers have been killed in south sudan since the conflict began in december of 2013, and 84 -- sorry -- 17 of those have been since this year alone, so since january of this year, and that makes south sudan the most deadly place in the world for humanitarian workers to operate. and that's really shocking. if you think about conflicts going on all over the globe -- yemen, iraq, syria. so

usaid is helping to us lead the u.s. government response to this catastrophe. we have been working aggressively to help save as many lives as possible with our partners. long before the famine declaration in february of this year end we will continue to do so. we are reaching about 1.3 million people each month with lifesaving assistance. this is a really difficult and dangerous undertaking, not just because we are in a conflict zone and there's lots of insecurity. there have been numerous deliberate and brazen attacks on humanitarian workers in south sudan. they are violations of international humanitarian law , 84 aid workers have been killed in south sudan since the conflict began and 80, 17 of those have been since this year alone. that makes south sudan the most ugly place in the world for humanitarian workers to operate. that is shocking if you think about complex going on over the globe. yemen, iraq, syria. aside from insecurity and these willful attacks on humanitarian workers, we are also facing the direct willful obstruction and intervention of the go

it has been usaid. the governance kind of got lost in the shuffle because we don't really have an agency focused on that. that is a big area where i think we need to improve. and i think the military has a role to play there. i think civil affairs actually can do a lot there. special operations can play a certain role but i think again, there is an issue of scale. there is so much else that they have to do that their ability to work in nonsecurity fields is somewhat limited. what i argue in terms of long-term capacity, where special operations have made the most difference is where they have taken a role in long-term leadership development. and columbia being the prime example where special operations went in and worked with the central training education institutions of those countries and that is a develop leaders over the long-term. but you have to do it when they are in military academy or command staff. because that is when you can actually really affect culture which i think is a critical ingredie

lead to a significant retreat from the world by the united states, and the closing admissions for usaid and the withdraw of our investment with programs that have had bipartisan support and significant layoffs in usaid. while i recognize no agency should go without tough budget review and virtually every agency has a few percent, you can find it is not being spent appropriately, 30% on the a side and that's not trimming and not correcting and that's not slashing. there is a bipartisan expressed view on the foreign relations appropriations subcommittee which i serve that that budget isn't what we're going to be doing and that the, pro appropriations committee would be to next year's level and we'll move ahead with the appropriations we have made. that's not a done deal. in visiting a number of the embassies in asia, in africa and europe since the budget was announced, there is real concern among the rank and file and people make career choices and if the budget this year and next year and the next year contain cuts of that magnitude and we continue over several years, fighting over cuts

significant layoffs in the state department and usaid. and while i recognize that no agency should go without tough budget review and every agency has a few percent not being spent. in the case of the aids side, almost 40% that is not trimming, that's not correcting. that's slashing. there is a bipartisan expressed view on the foreign -- subcommittee on which i serve that that budget isn't what we're going to be doing. and the appropriations committee will be marking up to last year's level, and we'll be moving forward with many of the investments that we historically have made. but that's not a done deal. and i'll tell you in recently visiting a number of our embassies in asia and africa and europe since the budget was announced, there is real concern among the rank and file of usa idea employee, career officers, people make career choices based on signals like that. if the budget this year and the next year contain cuts of that magnitude and we continue over several years fighting over cuts of that magnitude it will send a snl that we'r

when you look at corruption, are there any usia people o-- usaid soul. >> poor usaid has to develop from programming and internally development agencies when they think of corruption, they tend to think of corruption within their programming meaning is any of our money getting stolen by somebody? what we found -- we look at development financing which is to say development banks like the inter-american development banks or in the case of ifc or international finance corporation fmo is another important one in honduras which is the dutch development bank. i decided to peick on finland. >>. >> i know, i feel terrible because i really love finland but i think it is a really wonderful country. fin laland has a development ba it is fascinated to look. the finish government puts money into samsung and it is a bank and it wants investment. what i found is samsung will put money directly in to projects or sometimes fin fund, usaid will put money in a fund. at every layer in the process, the development objectives are more intenduated and the over sight is weaker and the guidelines are more gener

usaid -- usa today joined to give us his leak. >> i wanted to see kurt take chances. he did good. he came out and set out for practice. he took upon them soon -- he took it upon himself to be more risky and more aggressive. that is not really his game, but it will be a different group because, as you said, pretty much every receiver to 6-2 and up. it will have to be a little bit more risky. you should be able to throw the ball up in the air and let the basketball players jump and get it. he could track the ball. we will see if he can do that. more of that tonight right here on abc seven sports sunday. 11:30 five right after the news. don't go to bed. finally the mystics are in chicago washington leads 42-27 in the first half. please stay up late with us. kimberly: kimberly: two that the weekend cannot go into monday and tuesday. at least the next three, really comfortable baseball weather. cap -- inthe cubs in town and temperatures are in the upper 70's for most of those games. feeling really nice. the only kind of hick appear for the next few days will be tuesday. a

but the government of kenya, together with usaid and other groups, are using mass media to change this behavior and turn the tide of hiv transmission. nicholas: 44 percent of new hiv patients attributed currently people who either married or in a partnership. these people in partnerships both have other partners, who also have other partners who are not using condoms. and therefore, the chahance that thehe next nek someone has hiv and it spreads like bushfire to the rest of the families. jimmi: i must admit, one of the things that surprised me was the aspect of also women playing a part of it. nicholas: we've got this strong force, people say, no, no, no, you are [indistinct] men only. women also do that. so people didn't know that, so we did some spots for women as well. erick: concurrent partnership realally is a great facactor in the spread of hiv, because you find that, this people, when they have these partners, trust comes in. so we find that these partners stop using condoms basically to all the partners. lucy: psi kenya decided to take on the campaign because primarily, there a

so, as a former usaid guy and having served close to the special forces and other operations on the militarye, how do you view the potential and the opportunity and risk of dealing with what happens after the war from the special forces perspective and on the perspective of the possible relationship between the special forces us aig or other state and aspects of the civilian government? >> great question. nadia is actually a very good friend. she was instrumental in setting up the center for military and diplomatic history that i now run and she is now helping to category military strategy at the white house. i fully agree with her book. we do, in general, tend to underestimate the challenges that were going to run into and part of it is additionally, dod is expected the civilians to do it but we don't have the civilian capacity to do it. the book i wrote before this which i spoke about inherited a for leads i went into more detail on this. one of the big problems we encounter is that we don't take on a holistic view of stability in these countries and the big three sectors that we tend to f

some of the developments to usaid, particularly 15% cut to maternal and child health programs. that is very worrisome to me. the impact that those cuts potentially have around the world. i think america is a great nation, but a great nation leads by our values and our morals and we don't withdraw from the world. so, you know, my concern is if those cuts go into effect, the number of women that potentially will suffer, the number of women that will potentially die, i think some of the cuts with regards to a potential billion dollar reduction from pet far, the zeroing out of family planning funds are going to have devastating impacts. i watched and read the testimony and the question of the colleague across the capitol, senator shaheen, you know, discussing the extension of the mexico city policy and heard your answer to that, that your office would be studying the impact of the extension of the global gag rule. can you give us assurances that in that six month time frame when you get that report back if we are seeing adverse impacts that you would make recommendations to reverse

it pushes usaid to assist in the efforts to conduct criminal investigations and help develop skills on the ground to collect evidence and press these cases. this is supported by the knights of columbus, the u.s. conference of catholic bishops, the yazidi human rights organization, international and several other organizations. i urge my colleagues to support this, and i reserve the balance of my time. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york reserves. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. royce: i'd like to yield five minutes to the gentleman from new jersey, he's the author of this bill, mr. smith, and he's also the chairman of the foreign affairs subcommittee on africa, global health, global human rights and international organizations. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey is recognized for five minutes. mr. smith: i thank my distinguished chairman for yielding and thank him for his leadership on this bill. ranking member engel, i want to thank him for his support. majority leader mccarthy for making sure this bill came to the floor

for five consecutive years the submitted house budgets to congress that asked cut in funding for usaid and endowment for democracy. they are wonderful bodies that rovide very practical help to young fledge like democracies conductingo go about free and fair elections and about as very ambivalent promoting democracy, for good reasons because he had seen the the iraq war which was justified as an export of the middle east and turned out very differently. nevertheless, obama was for those and other reasons very about democracy promotion. that did have an effect. host: our guest is edward luce the retreat of western liberal inch. this is live on bbc parliament channel. next caller is from oxford, england. john. caller i would like to nice you been. question is, with the so much in and nobody seems to want to have a discourse with the other side no matter what want to try to make to somebody the other side isn't listening. something k this is that is in your book which i haven't read or something that allow people to to listen to the other side? without t the moment actual discourse we will

are there any usaid people? anyone who has ever work for u.s.aid? one.hey often get offloaded on to the shoulders of u.s. aid. they have to develop some anti-corruption programming and internally development agencies when they think about corruption, they tend to think about corruption within their programming. is any of our money getting stolen by somebody? we found the issue to be much more along armando's question. streams are being captured by the network. we looked in particular at development financing and development banks like the ifc, the international finance corporation or fmo is another important one in honduras. it's the dutch development bank. i decided to pick on finland. >> poor finland. >> i love the place. i really love finland. i think it is a wonderful country that has its head screwed on straight. they do have a development bank. it was fascinating to look. it is called finfun. it was one of the incompetent ve investors in a famous tragic project, a dam over which he was assassinated. the finish government puts money into finfund, wh

consecutive years the obama white house submitted budgets to congress that asked for acut in funding for usaid and national endowment for democracy. they are wonderful bodies that provide very practical help to young fledge like democracies about how to go about conducting free and fair elections and obama was very ambivalent about promoting democracy, for good reasons because he had seen the effect of the iraq war which was justified as an export of democracy for the middle east and turned out very differently. nevertheless, obama was for those and other reasons very lukewarm about democracy promotion. that did have an effect. host: our guest is edward luce the retreat of western liberal inch. this is live on bbc parliament channel. our next caller is from oxford, england. john. caller: i would like to comment on how nice your program has been. my question is with the [inaudible] and so much in america where nobody seems to want to have a discourse with the other side no matter what point you want to try to make to somebody the other side isn't listening. do you think this is something that i

this is a budget that substantially decreases the state department and usaid. so i understand the sensitivity. you don't want to answer that. but that is going to be something you are going to have to face. let me ask you something about. are you satisfied in your statements with regard to the u.s. support of article v in the nato treaty? are you satisfied that you have assured our allies that america supports article v? sec. mattis: i have, sir, and i believe the president has just recently done so from the white house. was it in his speech and he took it out when he was over there? sec. mattis: i think he believed was -- being there, that those actions spoke louder than any words, but he has put it in his speech since then, as you know, in the last couple of days. sen. nelson: all right, let me ask you about, do you think that the existing sanctions are enough to deter further russian aggression in ukraine and syria? the sanctions against russia. sec. mattis: sir, it is hard to tell what influences putin. i would think that he is not acting in the best intere

budget that is substantially cutting the state department and other agencies of soft power such as usaid? >> senator nelson, i have not looked at detail with the state department, but i can't tell you what is being cut or min tained. i'd have to direct that to secretary tillerson. i'm not confident to answer it. >> well, i would suggest you look at it because if you're supporting a budget that whacks the state department and usaid, you well know you're not only a warrior, you're a diplomat. as a commander who utilizes all those other agents of government in projecting your soft power, and this is a budget that substantially decreases the state department and usaid. so i understand the sensitivity. you don't want to answer that, but that's going to be something you're going to have to face. let me ask you about are you satisfied in your statements with regard to the u.s. support of article 5 in the nato treaty -- are you satisfied you have assured our allies that america supports article 5? >> i have, sir. and i believe the president has just recently done so right from the white house. >

we have to make sure that usaid has a strong budget to do their work and we have to make sure that the intelligence community has the operating authorities to bring the hammer down on the folks over there. we also have to think about what day do we celebrate. one of the things, the question i always ask people, that are experts in this field. i say what day do you celebrate when it comes to the war on terrorism? the best answer i've gotten is from my friend ambassador hank crompton, the for thor head, was involved prosecuting the war in afghanistan after 9/11. he said you don't celebrate a day because terrorism is always going to be here. and the strategies you use to fight influenza are some of the same strategies you have to deal with when it comes to terrorism. so we have to bring the hammer down and stop them from having safe havens. we have to counter their ideology as well. when i was chasing al qaeda in pakistan, afghanistan, they were doing a thing called night letters, writing letters, putting them on people's doorsteps, now isis is doing four social media campaigns a day, tra

some of the cuts to usaid. particularly a 15% cut to maternal and child health programs. that's worrisome. the impact those cuts have around the world. i think america is a great nation. but a great nation leads by our values and morals. we do not withdraw from the world. my concern is that if the cuts go into effect the number of women that will suffer in the number of women that will die. i think some of the cuts with regards to a potential billion-dollar production on the zeroing out of family planning funds will have devastating impacts. i have read the testimony of senator shaheen discussing mexico city policy and i heard your answer to that that your office would be studying the impact of the extension of the global gag rule. can you give us assurances that when you get the report back if we are seeing adverse impacts that you would make recommendations to reverse that policy? >> thank you for the attention to that particular matter i cannot commit to you that i would seek a reversal of that policy as i explained to senator shaheen yesterday our implementation was s

but western democracy altogether, this amendment would provide support to the state department and usaid to help build the resilience of democratic institutions in europe against russian aggression exerted through corruption, propaganda, and other forms of political interference. we need now a strong russian sanctions amendment. we need it now. and we need it on this piece of legislation. we need this amendment because we have no time to waste. the united states of america needs to send a strong message to vladimir putin and any other aggressor that we will not tolerate attacks on our democracy. there is no greater threat, there is no greater threat to our freedoms than attacks on our ability to choose our own leaders free from foreign interference. so we must act accordingly and we must act now. mr. president, i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. blumenthal: thank you, mr. president. ill ask that the -- i ask that the quorum call be lifted. are. the presidin

lot of concern and a recent article by mike mullen and james jones is specifically cited cuts to the usaid is risking us national security. they go on to specifically say that in the 21st century, weapons and war fighters alone are in a position to keep america safe. mr. chairman, i ask you to submit the entire article into the record. i also have concerns about the staffing up that needs to be done because that will help you do the job you need to do if yoa have the people you need to have. is there a backlog of policy recommendations now because of the lack of staffing? back there really is not. again, i want to recognize every job is filled today. either a deputy assistant stepped up to the acting assistant for an acting assistant stepped up to be the under if necessary. these are remarkably good people, competent, dedicated -- i have a lot of conversation with them about how i know it's difficult to be the acting but they are doing a superb job. i have great confidence in them and they travel with me, when i go overseas, these are thehe people that help me develop a policy, they are ex

the president has offered a budget that reduces the state department and usaid budget by 31% while substantially increasing the defense department. i want a strong military. the credible threat of forces is a critical of a successful diplomacy, but as secretary mattis has said, if the diplomacy is guided, he will have to buy more bullets. further, secretary tillerson's along with the white house has not built many of the -- filled many of the positions leading us leaderless on many, many fronts. most concerning is the recent "wall street journal" op-ed by national security adviser mcmaster and director of national economic council calling. they said the world is not a global community but an arena where nations, not government actors and businesses engage and compete for advantage. as the "new york times" said, this is not hardheaded realism. but quote, a vision of the world of cutthroat competition and zero-sum outcomes deeply at odds with the most cooperative rules-based division that is motivated america's ally since world war ii. the trump administration vision of competition will not allow

when we sit down and develop a campaign plan for raqqa and mosul, sitting at the table is usaid to making sure we can go into stabilization and set conditions as quickly as possible. >> before i ask the last question i'm going to present our traditional national press club mug. mr. chairman, your picture will go on the wall outside with the rest of the historic speakers that have been coming here since we started speakers program in 1920. last question. goes back to -- >> wait a minute. >> can you expand upon your plans after isil is defeated? that's an optimistic question, you say that the -- does it become a safe zone or are you prepared to protect it from aerial attack. if there's no fly zone are you listening to expand that zone? >> aisle answer the -- i'll answer the raqqa piece. we're working now with the state department to making sure there's local forces that are recruited to provide security inside. of raqqa. that's our plan for raqqa. what i will tell you that, violent extremism is not over with isis. that's one of the reasons why i'm running now, we have all of our commanders

need the support of america's diplomats and development professionals at the state department and usaid inter-- in the international marketplace to succeed. for less than 1% of the federal budget, our diplomats and development workers help create good governance and stability in developing countries around the world. these efforts enable their economies to grow, creating new market for american goods in a highly competitive global marketplace. with 95% of the world's consumers living outside of our borders, some of the fastest growing economies are in developing countries. currently 41 million american jobs depend on international trade, including 800,000 in the great state of minnesota. we simply can't afford to disengage from the world. we also know that individuals who experience economic growth and trade with one another prefer peace over conflict. if the united states is to remain an economic powerhouse that continues to create jobs for hardworking americans here at home, we must invest in our critical development and diplomacy agencies. if we don't, our economic competitors, and g

so when i look at this hand out, this hand out is from usaid and it talks about the funding gap. we have madesubstantial contributions but other donors still have quite a lot to contribute. so i wanted to know your thoughts on how we might be helpful to you in terms of getting other donors to step up to the plate, including some nontraditional donors such as china and the middle east. >> thank you. and i -- i really do believe these four famine areas are extremely important. and we need to -- if we really want peace and stability we need to look at that. when it comes to thefood aid, very important that we continue to work with usaid but also with the world food program. we now have -- we made sure that we have an american leading that who happens to be a former south carolina governor david beasley and he has hit the ground running and is really starting to raise quite a bit of money for the world food program as well. but we need to continue to put pressure on other countries because thesecretary general has raised the famine issue as something to be concerned about. we don't w