verveer.general and his relationships with russia and vladimir putin and couple that relationship with vladimir putin's comments where he is very blunt about his desire to regulate the internet and take control of the internet. so i ask you, is that an unfounded concern or fear that i have as its relationship when the secretary general of the i.t.u. has this relationship? is it unfounded? is this relationship concern? what steps are we taking to be able to counterbalance that relationship? >> my view is the secretary general is in fact very effective and hon. international civil servant elected to this position and reelected unanimously at the last go around. he is very well-respected. he has been very affective and i don't personally have any serious misgivings about his ability to be fair or helpful in terms of helping to see that the conference and the ongoing activities commissioner mcdowell mentioned take place. he is a man who has a strong and personal connection with the united states.

i think we've seen this demonstrated by the statements and actions by ambassador verveer you saw this morning, by assistant secretary larry strickland, by the white house including danny weitzner played an important role and announced earlier today by ambassador verveer, the incoming held of delegation terry kramer. i will confess i've known terry many years. we worked together at airtouch. been good friends for many years and i could not be more pleased and confident of a successful outcome because of who i'm sure will be his excellent leadership. his leadership is important and helpful in addresses some of the questions raised to the first panel about the ability to create, inform, successful coalitions to be able to identify the issues. he has great experience not only in the telephone industry but also having worked and been very active internationally, he knows what's it takes to bring people together and to be able to find that consensus that will be very important. i also want to recognize, of course, as you all have already done this morning the extraordinary work done by fcc

ambassador verveer's comments mean there really isn't a grave threat to the internet and that there aren't these serious threats on the table. would you characterize, would you agree? >> i am still very nervous, mr. chairman, about this process. i will make one observation, that it is not just a matter of the voting question and the one nation, one vote. this substance of the changes or additions to the treaty are critical, and here we have somewhat more leverage i think. those are not necessarily just a matter of voting. i think ambassador gross probably amplify on this, but the negotiations for the actual language probably gives more leverage to us than the actual voting process does. but i have to say, mr. chairman, that there is a notion in what's calmed chaos theory called the butterfly effect. the butterfly waves its wings in indonesia and we have a tsunami some else. i do worry that small changes can be used and interpreted in ways that could be quite deleterious to the utility of the internet. >> ambassador gross, what strategies did you employ when you had the honor and opportunit

ambassador verveer, thank you for being with us. we look forward to your testimony.eed to push the little button. >> chairman walden, ranking member issue and members of the subcommittee, thank you for this opportunity. i am particularly pleased to appear with my friend and i am happy that the subcommittee will hear later from my predecessor david growth and sally wentworth who played a significant role during her service in the state department appeared to end of kirsch -- state department. over the years, a relatively small number of governments have made proposals to change today's successful approach to internet governance been typically, it involves the united nations and one of its many manifestations, including the general assembly, the commission on science and technology development and the international telecommunications union. the proposals have been successfully opposed, but it is important to recognize that this will be a continuing debate. from the privatization of the internet in the mid-1990's, the unity -- united states has been committed to a feder