Transcripts For CSPAN Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20240622

The heart on pluto and what looked like massive tectonic features both radially emanating as well as others that run more or less northsouth. You will hear more about that later. I do want to tell you about one aspect of the interpretation weve been making over the last week they looking more carefully at the imagery. Like a real heart, it has two loads on the left and right side. The left is the western side and i think even to your eye, you can distinction difference tween those two. The right lobe looks like a much thinner deposit that has been painted on the topography. Our interpretation of that material in the right lobe as well as the material imitating to the south below the western lobe is that in both cases, we believe the source with that material is the western lobe probably nitrogen snow is being transported off source region of the western lobe, but perhaps by wind and alien transport perhaps by sublimation and wind and recondensation or perhaps by a process we have not thought about. But in any case, we think we are coming to understand this feature just a little bit. It is early days. Bill may have a little bit more to say about that. What i want to talk about next is our next timestamp, which is a false color image, which has been stressed to show the dramatic differences in color units on pluto and how they coordinate with the geology. This is pretty mind blowing. Kathy will have a lot more to say about it and what it means in the bigger picture, but as you can see, for example, with the western and eastern lobes we just talked about, they have different colors. They are telling us something in that, and soon we will have composition spectra city to support that at very High Resolutions. You can see that the polar regions have a different color still, and as we get down in the dark equatorial regions, there is still more information. This tells us that the payload that we brought to bear on the reconnaissance of the pluto system is really the right payload because we have on board the spacecraft now tremendous data sets with higher resolution color than this, higher resolution mapping for doing the geology, and a spectacular data set with compositional information with over 64,000 pixels we have put on the surface. Weve got a spectrum at every location. Were going to be able to tell the story very well over the next year. Really looking forward to that. Im going to move on to the next time set. Im going to tell you more about Atmospheric Science where we have also made some advances. This is to illustrate something about our ultraviolet occultation of plutos large moon charon. We designed this user go to look for an atmosphere around plutos largest moon. Theres been a pretty big body of literature speculating about how it could have an atmosphere. We just got the summary data down in the last few days. We do not yet have the full Spectral Data set. We will not have it until september. But if you look at that, you will be able to see the little yellow line represents the path of the sun as seen from the spacecraft moving behind charon. You see it just clips the northern regions of the moon. Thats exactly what we planned. That is exactly how we planned this trajectory to go. Just as you clip on either side of the body, you can see in that red and white graph that the light level from the sun just plummets straight to zero. Does not look anything like the data we showed you last week for pluto where we could clearly see a refractive signature, a slow decline in light levels. Here, its just basically a square wave, telling us it has much less atmosphere than pluto if any. We really cannot put strict browns on that yet because we do not have the spectra. We really cannot put strict bounds on it. For now, all we can say is its a much more rarefied atmosphere, confirming our preencounter notions. We are really looking forward to seeing just how rarefied that is. It may be that there is a nitrogen layer in the atmosphere or methane or some other constituent, but it must be very tenuous compared to pluto. Again emphasizing just how different these objects are despite their Close Association in space. I want to also speak to another part of our Atmospheric Science, which is that weve got some of the data for pluto where the deep Space Network transmitted a powerful signal up to pluto timed to arrive just as the spacecraft was passing behind the planet so we could measure the refractive index of the atmosphere. As you will hear more from mike, we got the data. They are beautiful data, and they have a wonderful scientific surprise the pressure in pluto press atmosphere measured a the base of the atmosphere for the first time in history is lower substantially lower than predicted and that is probably telling us the story, and mike will have more to say about that. I would like to close with one more timestamp. This is really a spectacular image. This is a silhouette of pluto looking back after the flyby. I think this is just fantastic. This is our equivalent on new horizons on the apollo first rise photograph that proves we were there. You can only get this image are going to pluto and crossing to the far side and looking back. As striking and spectacular as this image is emotionally, it also represents a huge scientific discovery because you see above the dark risk of pluto a band of light, which is actually telling us pluto has a haze layer in its atmosphere and mike is going to tell you more about it. Thank you alan. Good afternoon, everyone. Mr. Summers alan. Im going to talk about two new results on the atmosphere that are basically changing the way that we think about the atmosphere. Could i have the first graphic please . This is one of our first images of plutos atmosphere. This was the image that stunned the encounter team. For 25 years, weve known that pluto has an atmosphere, but it has been known by numbers. This is our first picture. This is the first time we have really seen it. This was the image that almost brought tears to the eyes of the atmospheric scientist on the team. What i want to tell you now is what we are seeing here this is the atmosphere. The light, the crescent you are seeing is sunlight scattered by small particles in the atmosphere, and these particles constitute a haze layer. This is a crosssection of that haze layer showing structure. The colors have then enhanced. They are not real colors, just so you can see that there is structure. There is an argument going on if this is dynamics or chemistry. This probably both, but the real answer is this is our first peek at weather in plutos atmosphere. To illustrate that a little bit more, theres a hint that there is either a layer of hayes at 30 miles, 50 miles, or a combination of layers and waves in this region. Those are the kinds of things we will have to sort out the coming weeks, and that will help us sort out how the atmosphere works, but the hayes is extensive, at least 100 miles above the surface. Thats a big surprise, five times further than our models predicted. Pauls predicted models predicted they would form where temperatures are called, but its forming high in the atmosphere where temperatures are hot from plutos specter, which is not hot from our perspective. Its a mystery. Its one of the things we will have to sort out in the coming days. Ok, the hayes haze is pretty. But it is a piece of the big story we are trying to understand, and thats how the atmosphere on the surfaces are connected. This is to illustrate one aspect. Could i have the next timestamp please . This shows how methane in the atmosphere is broken apart by ultraviolet radiation from the sun, and radicals, the small atoms and molecules that react trigger a Chemical Reaction that form complex hydrocarbons like ethylene and acetylene which were detected by new horizons. As time goes on, these buildup. They become supersaturated, and they should nuclease, form haze particles, which then grow and eventually, they will get big enough so you will see a haze layer, and then it will fall to the ground. At some point in this cycle these particles are chemically processed to produce chemically altered hydrocarbons that have a red color. We think that is how plutos surface got its reddish hue. In a minute, kathy will talk about the color and composition but this is just one piece of that story, not a coherent piece. There are some mysteries. As i said, we do not understand why there is a haze layer of the 100 miles altitude. It really is a mystery. The next story regards surface pressure. I will give you a little bit of context here. The surface pressure at any level is a measure of the weight of the air above that level and thats gravity acting on mass. If you know the surface pressure, you think you have a pretty good estimate of the total mass of that atmosphere, and it is important because that is a way of quantifying the global space of an atmosphere. Can i have been next graphic please . Ok this shows surface pressure on pluto as a function of time. The units might be strange to you. They are in micro bars. A micro bar is one million 1 one million of sealevel pressure on earth. What is interesting here is that in 1989, pluto was at its closest distance to the sun and now, pluto was moving away from the sun in its very elliptical orbit. As it moves away, it should be cooling. The nitrogen should be condensing onto the surface, and the mass should be decreasing, but we dont see that. We see the exact opposite. That has been very interesting. Nonetheless, we have been trying to figure this out. What im going to show you now is a new data point, more information that we had to add to this story. It is just one data point, but i do want to say it is significant, and we are going to have to figure it out. This is it. This is what the radio science experiment has contributed to this story a new data point which shows the surface pressure is at most 10 micro bars, so the mass, if you will, of plutos atmosphere has decreased by a factor of two in about two years. That is pretty astonishing, at least to an atmosphere scientists. That is telling you something is happening. It is just one data point. These are early retrievals. We got more data coming, as alan says, and theres more to the story, but its another mystery we will have to deal with over the next few weeks, months years, and so on. Ok, now, im going to turn it over to kathy, who will talk about the color and composition of plutos surface. Ms. Olkin ok. Now what i will tell you now is what we are seeing here this is the atmosphere and the light across as what you are seeing is light scattered. I want to talk about what were seeing scientifically and some of the things we know and understand from looking at this image. You can see the dark region. Remember, the stark regions all around that area. Just above it its a little bit brighter and a little bit less red. Remember, theres dark regions all around that area. If i can have the next graphic. Putting this latitude and longitude grid on this image allows you to help see, draw your eye to that banding pattern. I want to talk a little bit about it because it goes to the complexity mike was just talking about about the atmosphere and the surface and the interaction. Pluto has a very complicated seasonal pattern of transport it takes 248 years for pluto to go around the sun. Pluto has a very eccentric orbit, so sometimes its much closer to the sun than at other times. Also, additionally plutos north pole is tilted over at an angle of about 120 degrees relative to the plane that it orbits in. All of these factors together cause different parts of pluto to get different amounts of sunlight, and the sunlight is powering the sublimation from the surface into the atmosphere. Some parts are kind of eight like new the equator, and other parts received this condensation as you can see on the north here. Weve got a different pattern that you can see manifested on pluto that we understand from modeling of the seasonal transports, but there is one glaring difference in this pattern i just called out, and that is what clearly the reps this pattern of latitudinal variation of colors and brightness is, and one thing i should add is that the darker regions in the story i was telling of the seasonal transport are likely what mike was describing that was raining out from the hazes or falling from the atmosphere and a thesis. What is really special is we are seeing methane, nitrogen, and Carbon Monoxide there telling us something we need to understand. On the northern part, we see methane and nitrogen to jim, but not Carbon Monoxide. Maybe were seeing a source region for some of these. Well be looking at that in the future. As youve heard, we have a small bit of our compositional data down, and will get a lot more information when we get the rest down, but weve got some great images, and Bill Mckinnon is going to tell us about the geology of the region of the nearby vicinity. Mr. Mckinnon thanks, cathy. Ok, could i have my first graphic . Next, please. We will be looking at the fabulous near encounter hemisphere. I know you can see it. You can start the animation. What we have now is the full seven games of what will ultimately be a 12frame mosaic at higher resolution, but not even the highest resolution. That will come down later. This area on the next slide next. Yes. This mosaic covers in its entirety this vast more or less flat icy plain that we have been that we havent formally named. Its pretty big. Its just about the size of the state of texas. All around the periphery and in the interior geological wonders. I would like to share some of those with you. Could i have the next slide please . First, i would like to look at that orange box, the rectangle you see at the upper left of the mosaic. Next slide please. This is the northern boundary. Theres a little scale bar down there, but basically this is about 250 miles across, about the difference between kansas city, missouri, and st. Louis, a city which i picked completely at random. [laughter] mr. Mckinnon ok, next slide. Most of the picture you see is it the famous for having the segmented or cellular structure. You can see this really well a she move to the next side of the image. At the top of the picture, its really different. There is a rugged landscape, a degraded landscape, and something that to the eye of geologists looks like something that has been very deeply and extensively eroded. We can tell its old because you can see with your own eye various impact craters of large size, but what is really interesting to us is the actual interaction between it and this rugged terrain to the top. If you look carefully at the image, you can actually see a pattern that indicates a flow of viscous iced towards the stark or cliff boundary of the terrain. When you look at these streamlines, which ive marked with these curved arrows you see here, they look just like and we interpret them to be just like glacial flow on the earth, but i do not have to remind you that glaciers on the earth are made of ice you know, like in antarctica and greenland but waterice at plutos temperatures will not move anywhere. It is immobile and brittle, but on pluto, the kind of isis we think make up the planet, the kind of ices we think make up the planet are soft and malleable, even at pluto conditions, and they will flow like in the same way that glaciers doing here. Is one thing hiding of the 12 00 decision. We can see a flow of what is probably solid nitrogen ice flowing through a breach partially filling in the interior of the crater. We knew there was nitrogen ice. Weve known this for years. We imagined it was sublimating or evaporating one place and condensing in another place. I want to back up just one little bit and say when i say recent, i do not necessarily mean yesterday. I mean geologically recent, but the appearance of this terrain tells us this is really a young unit. We have models of what these objects would be, and they give various answers, but the best ones would be the ices in the flow we see as you point out that this curved arrows at the upper left there we could see them going around. Its really less conclusive evidence, but to get that to the age, the age is only a fraction of the total age of the solar system. Probably no more than a few tens of millions of years. What we know or can theoretically estimate about the heat flow coming from the interior of pluto, theres no reason why this stuff cannot be going on today. Ok, lets go to the next. Now we go down to the bottom of sputnik planum. This is a very busy scene ok . Its a bit bigger than the one i just showed you. This one is about 400 miles across, like taking a drive from l. A. To phoenix, although its a bit colder than that. Anyway next. Here are some things actually, at the very top of the image, you can still see sputnik planum. You can still see its polygons. At the very bottom is this ancient black, heavily cratered region, which we have been informally calling cthulhu regio. Our group up mountain blocks, which we discovered last week. In this picture, you can see economy the center actually, if you go a little bit above in the center and toward the left another arrangement of mountain blocks. These mountainous regions are actually somewhat similar. You might think the ones on the left are different, but thats just because the sun is higher in the sky when that one was taken, so you do not see the shadow. The arrangement appearance is similar from one region to another. We have given an informal name to this new mountain block after sir edmund hillary, who first summit of everest Summited Everest back in 1953. Most fascinating part to me is that the ice seems to have moved and surrounded the mountain. They cover up not just the mountain blocks, but they extend all the way down, and they just seem to feather out just onto the edge. When you look in detail, theres a lot of fine structure in the ice and a lot of fine structure that is different than the. That tells us the ice is substantially thinner. There are craters that have a sickly basically ponsds of this predominantly nitrogen ice. Lets look from one end of sputnik planum to the other. We start at the north, and were going to careen over the cliffs on to sputnik planum. There are the polygons, well delineated, and as we move into the interior, it seems like they disappear, but they do not. If they look carefully, they are still there. In fact, we basically are approaching the region that is super rich and the Carbon Monoxide ice that cathy was just talking about. Anyway, its a long flight all the way to the south, so we will skip over that part and rejoin our tour here. We are sweeping across them. Big blocks, small blocks, the dark asphalt cone surface, ancient surface on the right and one of those big craters with the big ice pond is coming into view. I crater itself is about the size of the d. C. Metro area that crater itself. The screen has gone dark, but theres a whole lot more we will learn about pluto and its moon. Most of our images, most of our data are still on the spacecraft outbound from pluto. We will be downloading this for months and in fact almost a full year ahead. With that, back to you, dwayne. Mr. Brown thank you. Now we transition into questions and answers. We start here in washington and hit the phone lines and social media and come back. Frank, i will give you the first question because your expression, its pretty cool stuff, right. Aviation week. For dr. Mckinnon i have a couple of questions about things i saw in the new disk image. It looks like a copyright bar just to the west of the plane. Its a big crater with some concentric circles. If you have any idea what that might be. Also, just to continue on the ice flows. Do you have elevation data as to what is making it flow . Dr. Mckinnon thats a couple of great questions. Are some security features i did not particular point there are some circular features i did not particularly point out to the west and north of sputnik planum and those are probably impact craters of some. And so will at least fundamentally ancient, leaving theirough they may be active. That is another crater not really showing on my graphic but another one of these craters that has ice in it, but also a central peak. It is sticking up through a bright ring. Your other question is elevation. We measure the elevation of notice by measuring shadow lengths, and if not, another technique which is determining the relative slip and we integrate, and we get some estimate of harvey. We can see on sputnik planum that the individual cells are by a few meters primary technique we want to use is called stereo imaging, and we do not have data yet to do that analysis. We are going to get more frames of that mosaic, and then legal get a sweet covering the whole of pluto and he will have a beautiful stereo view of on the whole weather sputnik planum is high or low. The one thing we can count is the north, the planum is lower than that close, and in the south, it seems to onramp onto cthulhu regio. Mr. Brown we will go here, and then the phone lines. If i could follow up, you speculate about what could be driving the flows and also how is source region got there to begin with. There has a debates whether these are ices that have accumulated from above or whether something is allowing ices to well up from within. Can you explain how this spot right in the family of the planet got to be there and what is driving it. Mr. Mckinnon if test sort of answered your own question. We have a vast region that is a reservoir. We described it as the beating heart of pluto. Maybe the supply for the entire atmosphere for a lot of geologic activity. How it was formed, you can imagine. You can imagine it was an inpact basin. We see on the south there is highly deformed topography. We know activity beyond the flows talked about at deformed crust. Have deformed the crest. We have only seen these seven images close up. When the rest comes down and we get this uncompressed on the ground, we will get a complete story. You can imagine with any reservoir, it could be filled in from the side by glaciers going into it, from below, you could imagine inside the ic crest of icy crust, nitrogen would be a liquid because it would be warmer and this reservoir of liquid nitrogen could supply the planet. These are interesting ideas, and it is very early days and we are enjoying a great deal of animated discussion. Nothing like these images existed a couple weeks ago. What we are learning and fundamentally is on pluto we have a much more intimate and intricate interaction between geology and the seasonal climate cycle. They are forcing feeding one another, and creating a layered story about planet history. It is rare in the pantheon of objects in the solar system that we have seen this kind of an intricate and complicated story. I am reminded by titan, but few other examples that are so dramatic. It is brandnew. Mr. Mckinnon just you wait until the rest of the images come in because it will be great stuff there. Mr. Brown lets go to the phone lines and then comes back here for social 80. Phone line. Can from the new york times. Remind me of the temperatures. What the temperature of the spirit is the surface and higher up with hazes. The temperature at the services 38 degrees kelvin, 480 degrees below fahrenheit. Mr. Mckinnon even if 30 kelvin solid nitrogen can creep, and below ground nitrogen will warm up and it is very sensitive to temperature. There is nothing physically implausible about the gray shall glacial flow. If there is a modestly deep flow, you get down to that, the pressure from the overburden of ice can change the properties of nitrogen because it is getting warmer because it is less viscous. There may be conditions where you can get liquid digestion flowing below a deep liquid nitrogen flowing below. We have a lot of work to do to say that with any confidence. Mr. Brown next up, wr reuters. I heard you say the surface pressure measurements show that figure atmosphere had increased by a factor of two in two years. Can you tell us what the twoyearold data set is how that is comparativred to what you are getting from new horizons . Mr. Summers it is based on stellar occultations. We have to use these to extrapolate down to the service to get a surface pressure. That is what was done for each of those data points you saw. As far as we can tell, those are accurate measurement of the this fear where the stellar occultations occurs. The thing that is different about rex, you can go down to the surface. And the data looks good. This should be our best measurement of the surface pressure on pluto. This is early our first data, first retrieval. We have more studies to do on this. Taking it at face value, it appears the atmosphere has changed by quite a bit. All those data occultations are dated that is observed from earth. We are detecting what may be a significant shortterm variation in that atmosphere that might be a turnaround. We will have to see. What will help is the most recent observations from sophia, which is one of our 747s, a fabulous telescope, that most recently in june race down to new zealand and chased plutos shadow and got a very beautiful occultation. That is a very recent occultation compared with who dont data for which it might help the interpretation of previous observations. Mr. Brown did you have a followup . As far as the britishreddish hue what would that look like if you are on the surface of pluto particles being big enough to see, like snow ice, fog, and why they universally distributed, or Something Else happened on the surface . This is putting together a puzzle when you do not have pieces but it is curious what your thinking is on that right now. Mr. Summers there are several questions. Were talking about a very thin haze. We only see it when we are looking at long slants through the atmosphere and this is the way he get that image. It is distributed over a very large region. It appears to be 100 miles or so high. In terms of the conversion of those particles to tholins, we do not know the exact details in that. Tholins encompass a range of different Chemical Substances that appear to be altered hydrogen hydrocarbons and compounds, irradiated, so it is not any particular chemical substance. Without having more detail, we cannot test the exact mechanism. We know these substances are around. We see them on titan, and british color is distinctive. The reddish color is distinctive. I can address one part of that question. I believe there is a question about the hazes falling uniformly on the surface, and that probably does happen. We have a lot of work to do to find out the rate of the story of seasonal transport reveals why we see this thing different patterns with these latitudinal bands, and it has to do with those tholins that will absorb more lice. More light. They will be deposited on the poles and cover up the tholines. S. These are pieces of the puzzle that will speak to the production of the tholins and the deposition of it. I have another question which may be too early to answer. Based on the data you have gotten can you say anything about the exact mass of pluto and any changes in the models of what the interior may have . Thanks. Mr. Stern i will ask bill to chip in. We had not been able to attain a new estimate. Before the flyby, data already gave us a very accurate mass. In order to constrain the interior properties, the uncertainty was in knowing the radius so we could get the volume and convert to density. What new horizons was able to contribute west discovered that contribute was to discover was 1187 kilometers. We had uncertainty that ranged over 70 kilometers. Plus or minus 2. Center dot around 1186. It is somewhat bigger than what we had expected. That will lower the density and will have implications to the interior property. Mr. Mckinnon everything alan is pretty much the case. He had good sizes for both pluto and charon. In the years past we thought charon was very icy and please dont have much more r ock. Now they are much more similar. Pluto seems to be a bit rockier. In terms of what the inside of pluto is, without gravity data it is hard to be absolutely definitive. That is one way we test our models of planets when we fly by then. Everything we see, all activity we see is consistent with the idea it has a massive rock core surrounded by huge icy shell, and that shall and that shell is probably figure. It raises test it increases the probability there may be an oce an way down under a single mayor of ice. That is something you keep in mind as pluto. One of the things we learned not just the size of pluto, but it was close to spherical. We cannot detect any old lateness in the body bo oblateness in this body. Pluto probably was spinning very fast after what we believe to be a giant impact that led to the formation of its satellite. After that, pluto and charon are close together and tides have created them to be locked up the way they are. Pluto does not show any evidence from its shape from this fast rotation. We think it must have been warm enough that no residual she could be supported. It is still too early to say exactly how hot, but that is the thing we will be applying our research tools, theoretical models, and going to Scientific Conferences and writing scientific papers and either coming to conclusions or not. That is how it goes in science. Mr. Brown sky and telescope. Mr. Beatty because the atmosphere density is higher you expect it to be, can you tell us about the possibility that are gone playing in the composition argon is playing in the composition . Mr. Summers it has gone the other direction. We believe the atmosphere has shrunk. I am not sure that says anything about argon. I do not believe there is anything we can say about argon. This one goes out to alan. You called pluto a double planet. Considering that pluto is larger than previously thought, what do the findings say in terms of how we define what the kind actually is . There is a bone of contention for those who have followed pluto for a time. Mr. Stern we called the pluto system a double planet for a very specific technical reason, because the two objects are close enough together and their match ratio is sufficient strong balance point between them into free space. That is analogous to the way we define a double sources, when the balance point called Bay Area Center the barycenter, is not within either of the two. I do not think there is controversy about the double planet moniker. There has been this controversy where astronomers and planetary scientists have been on different sides of this. You and the public lightly on the site steam account what we are dealing with. It is hard not to call object like this in this level of complexity with complicated seasonal cycles, and certainly the big complicated system of moons a plan. The way science works is individual scientists make their decisions one time and did eventually consensus reached. Now a new class of plan in our system, we are going three time of transition, and definitions are in transition as well. They will shake themselves up. Mr. Brown leo, you will at the last question. You get to the public also. Leo Bill Mckinnon mentioned a classical ocean. I was trying to understand how to get into what you are seeing. Could you say that nitrogen glaciers could be explained easily without a liquid ocean underneath that other mechanisms could achieve this, or that norgay and hillary could not be explained without that . Mr. Mckinnon we do not have any direct evidence of an interior ocean. What i wanted to imply that pluto is a complex look, plus the fact that any ice mantel increases the radical likelihood that there may be an ocean done it. Mr. Brown lets see what the social Media Questions are. Emily . Emily derek asks what information is used to make these false cover images . Ms. Olkin color images coming from the color camera. We have four filters, and they cover wavelengths where charged coupled devices are typically sensitive. So those images are a combination of those different filters, and sometimes we welcomed by knows to make natural color, and then other false cover images. You can pull the Near Infrared so our i is not to do. We can understand these compositional in a detailed could not with our eye. Emily when images of planets without atmospheres be able to be caught with this . The ring around pluto is from it mr. When images from its atmosphere. We have taken selected images of other objects that do not have missed years do not see the rain. We have a see the ring. We have a nice image where we are talk looking back into the glare of this done that show the crescent of charon, and there is no evidence of it atmosphere. You see a brand new moon. Once we clean it up we will make sure it is released. Mr. Brown two more. Emily simon asks is there a theory of what is driving the nitrogen ice flow . Mr. Mckinnon i guess that is for me. It is not sunlight. It is internal heat. If you have a sick enough, a massive enough mayor of these kinds of cases nitrogen, Carbon Monoxide, or methane, it will move if there is sufficient flow. We have done calculations which we need to do better ones, but we believe our leading model for the formation of the polygon at this moment is internal convective motion rising and falling at a slow rate of the nitrogen ice within sputnik planum. It is driven from the heat that is leaking the interior of pluto. Mr. Brown the final one. Emily when will we see the relatively High Resolution of the service . Mr. Stern in the nature of new horizons, it demanded that it was a consequence that we were going to observe one hemisphere in exquisite detail and the other side in much less detail. That is a combination of the fast speed combined with the slow rotation rate. The last time we saw far hemisphere we were 3. 2 days out, and that corresponded to millions of miles away. As opposed to the image you are seeing, it was taken 10 times we have a dichotomy and our maps. The far side, we can detect the largest craters on the surface and the largest units, but not nearly as well as in the close approach hemisphere. We have a good bit of imagery still in the spacecraft that will help improve the maps more, and in the fall when the data starts coming in, we will produce a better map of the far side than we have now. Eric i have a question for alan or mike. This shrinking atmosphere, the plummeting pressure, assuming it got to zero, that means the atmosphere froze out. Does this mean you got there in the nick of time and that is what pluto that is where it was heading, and how can you reconcile a changing atmosphere with detecting haze higher than was expected. It seems contradictory to me, a shrinking atmosphere with a hza aze. Mr. Summers the haze particles are very small. You could have the atmosphere decreased by factor of 10 and can still have a haze present. It could still be there. If you want to take the other part mr. Stern for a long time there have been models and climate models for pluto that suggested as it draws the sunday pressure could precipitously drop. In fact, during a time when the National Academy and committees were looking at a Pluto Mission and its priority, there was an interest in trying to get pluto while it had a substantial atmosphere. That helped motivate the case to get a Mission Launched in the 200s0s. Eventually there came to be a believe that it has been 25 or more years since its closest approach to the sun, maybe there is not going to be any atmosphere to collapse. What rex has detected is the first stage of the collapse just as it arrives. We will see if this is in fact it is complicated, not related to atmospheric collapse, and we have several more rex data sets that will help inform the question because we got data from two different stations at ingress and two sets at egress. Mr. Brown that will do it here. Pluto is very complex, and as dr. Stern mentioned, the data is raining down and we will be bringing you more in the future. Stay tuned for updates on how we will share that with the public and the world, and follow us on the National Social media accounts twitter, facebook youtube. Keep the questions coming in. Follow the conversations which will go on for a long time at plutoflyby. And updates cutting down in the future at 2 www. Nasa. Gov newhorizons. This theme is not ted will talk about reviewing the new lear agreement. And then, leadership resolving debt. Later, a look at the in the american prospect about how south drives a lowwage economy. Washington journal is live every morning and you can contribute to the program by phone and on facebook and twitter. Carter and Martin Dempsey are before the Armed Services committee today and ernest provides testimony at 9 45. The cities tour visits cities across the country. Jim was a hero and awarded the medal of honor for his actions in world war ii. We are sitting at the museum and there was a Permanent Military display. I did research on the look and the 3500 medal of honor recipients and he earned both overlords. He would say he did not deserve it. He was very humble and when i interviewed people who knew him and did the book, people knew him well. They said, what about the metal he earned. I have known a lot of recipients and most will tell you they do not deserve it and it should be given to someone else. We visit the boyhood home of woodrow wilson. Wilson was one year old and he moved to this house when he was three. His first memory was in 1860 and he was standing in front of the house and men came by and said that lincoln is going to be the president and there is going to the a war. What does that mean and why were they so excited . It is remarkable that it was about another president and another war. See all of the programs. Sunday afternoon, on cspan three. The pirates fought the british frigates. This was unheard of. Robert on the search for the pirate ship and the merchant who turned into a pirate. He was a noble english sea captain who was trusted by ship owners and between london and jamaica. It carried valuable cargo responsibly and nobly. Knowing to quite determine when joseph stole his ship, recruited a pirate crew and turned pirate. Q and day. Q a. Coming up next, testifying on a new lear agreement. Then taking a look at the headlines on washington journal. Congress and has less than 60 days to review the Nuclear Agreement and determine the terms. John kerry was joined by the Energy Secretary and treasury secretary to take questions from lawmakers this hearing will come to order. Today we continue our review of the Nuclear Agreement the oobama administration reached with iran. A critical hearing on one of the most sweeping dmoemtic initiatives in years, some say decades, demanding the committees thorough review. The global threat from iran has been a focus of this committee for as long as i can remember. Last congress we passed comprehensive sanctions legislation via vote of 400 to 20. It would have given irans Supreme Leader a choice between its Nuclear Program or economic collapse. But the administration was successful in blocking that legislation. So instead of us considering a verifiable, enforceable and accountable agreement we are being asked to consider an agreement that gives iran permanent sanctions relief for temporary nuclear restrictions. Should iran be given this special deal . In september Committee Members will face the important decision of approving or disapproving this agreement. We will have that vote only because of the iran Nuclear Agreement review act passed in may which the administration did not want. To be frank, the administrations preference has been to sideline americas representatives. So i was not entirely surprised when the administration went against bipartisan calls and gave russia and china and others at the u. N. Security council a vote on this agreement before the american public. That is backwards and wrong. Weve heard serious concerns from experts about the substance of this agreement. First, iran is not required to dismantle key bomb making technology. Does that make the world safer . Second, it is permitted a vast enrichment capacity reversing decades of bipartisan non proliferation policy. Does that make the region more stable . And third iran is allowed to continue its research and development to gain an industrial scale Nuclear Program once this agreement begins to expire in as little as 10 years. 10 years that is a flash in time and then the iranian obligations start unwinding. Does this make the world more secure . We appreciate president obamas effort to secure the most Intrusive Inspections in history. But it came up short. Instead there is managed access with iran, russia and china having a say in where International Inspectors can and cant go. The deals 24 day process is a far cry from anywhere, any time. And this provision expires too. While the administration is professed absolute knowledge about irans program it is a fact that we have been surprised by most every Major Nuclear development in irans history. And iran has cheated on every agreement they have signed. So i ask, mr. Secretary, has iran earned the right to be trusted . This deal guts the sanctions web that is putting intense pressure on iran. Virtually all economic, financial and energy sanctions disappear. And where does all that money go . To the largest Terror Network on earth. Gone are the sanctions on irans Nuclear Program. But also on the bad banks that have supported iran Easter Ritual and Ballistic Missile development. And two our dismay iran won a late concession to remove International Restrictions on its Ballistic Missile program and conventional arms imperilling the security of the region and our homeland. If this agreement goes through iran gets a cashcarbosh bonanza. With sweeping sanctions relief we have lessened our ability to challenge irans conduct across the board. As iran grows stronger we will be weaker to respond. Yes the u. S. Would roil diplomatic waters if Congress Says no to this deal. Sanctions that iran desperately needs relief from. Sanctions that continue to deter companies from investing in iran. I understand the stakes but these are about as high stakes as it gets. So the committee must ask if we made the most of our pretty strong hand. Or are we willing to bet, as the administration has that this is the beginning of a changed iran . These are complex issues. And i look forward to what should be an extremely informative hearing and i nowturn to the Ranking Member. Mr. Chairman, thank you for convening this hearing. Secretary kerry, secretary lew. Secretary moniz, welcome to the Foreign Affairs committee. Thank you all for your dedicated service no matter what side of the irkssue is on i dont think anyone here doubts your commitment to the United States and the good intentions on this deal. Thank you for the time you have taken to engage with members of congress on the proposed deal can and thank you for your testimony today. Congress gave itself 60 days to renew this deal. And i sincerely hope my colleagues take full advantage of the time to study this agreement torques ask questions and to make an informed decision when the time comes. Weve had many months and hearings to discuss the different aspects of a Nuclear Agreement with iran. But at this point we are no longer dealing with hypotheticals. We have a specific deal on the table. And we have to decide if that deal advances the National Security interests of the United States and or allies. To answer that question to be fair we also need to ask ourselves what is the alternative . Absent this deal or the International Sanctions regime and the p5 1 coalition hold together . If this deal fails how o would we get the iranians back to the table . Would new sanctions have to be coupled with the military action. As i continue to review the deal there are a number of issues i find troublesome. I hope the three of you will address them in your testimony and as you answer the committees questions. First i continue to have concerns that International Inspectors are not will immediate access to undeclared sites. Under the agreement iran has 14 days to grant access. If iran refuses access after that time then members of the joint commission could take another week to resolve the iaeas concerns. After that iran has three more days to provide access. So were already nearly a month after inspectors first wanted access. If iran continues to say no another month could go by while this is resolved that. Potential length of time gives me pause. Id like to know how we can be sure iran cannot use these delays to sanitize sites and get away with breaking the rules. Already were seeing irans leadership declare military sites will be off limits to inspectors if this is their version of transparency to implementation of the agreement were getting off to a bad start. Also how the arrangement reached between iran and iaea how partchen will be inspected. Second concerns about the Ballistic Missiles and the advanced conventional weapons. My understanding was these werent on the table during the talks. So i was disappointed to learn that after a maximum of five and eight years respectively they will be terminated. Id like to understand why we allowed this to happen and what we can do to ensure this doesnt make a terrible situation in the region get even worse. Im also concerned about what irans leaders will cowhen sanctions are phased out and new resources come flowing in. Were talking about tens of billions of dollars. Of course id like to see irans leaders use this money to help the iranian people. But even with tough International Sanctions in place, iran has bolstered hezbollah, shia militias hamas and the assad regime. If this deal goes through how would you propose to keep this newfound wealth out of the hands of terrorists and tyrants . Next, while im glad that iran will be limited in its development of advanced centrifuges for eight years i worry what happens down the road. After the research and Development Ban expires, iran could quickly move towards the next stage of its enrichment activities. Id like to know what other provisions in the deal, if any, will mitigate this risk. Finally i have a fundamental concern that 15 years from now iran will essentially be off the hook. If they choose irans leaders could produce weapons grade highly enriched uranium without limitation. They could use advanced centrifuges to speed this progress even further. This amounts to iran being a legitimatized Nuclear Threshold state in the year 2030. My big question is this what happens then . Are we back to square one . Is this deal just pushing pause for 15 years . I also must say i have trepidation. Barely a week after the iranians signed the deal there was the supreme lead erer ali ayatollah chanting death to americans. How can we trust iran when this type of thing happens . It is very disconcerting. So im looking forward to hearing from our distinguished witnesses. Again thank you for your service and hard work. And i yield back to the chairman. Thank you mr. Engel. This morning were pleased to be joined by john kerry, ernie moniz, and jack lew. Prior to his appointment secretary kerry served as the United States senator for massachusetts for 28 years. Before being appointed secretary of energy dr. Moniz was professor of physics and engineering at mit where he was a faculty member since 1973. From director of the office of management budget. Secretary lew now serve as the secretary of the treasury. Without objection the witnesss full prepared statements will be made part of the record. Members will have five days to submit statements for the record. And before turning to the testimony we have most members present here. I know we all recognize the gravity of this issue. We want everybody to have a chance to question the secretaries. To accomplish they would ask everyone members and witnesses respect the time limit. And that means leaving adequate amount of time for witnesses to answer your questions. And nothing requires full use of your time. So we will begin with a summary of secretary kerrys testimony. Mr. Secretary. Well chairman royce, Ranking Member engel and all of the members of the committee, thank you very very much. We genuinely appreciate the opportunity to be here to, frankly, clear up a lot of misinterpretations, some element of public distortion that exists out there. There is one ad ive seen on tv has at least three or four major absolutely, totally incorrect facts on which it bases the ad. And with all respect to both the chairman and the Ranking Member there are conclusions that have been drawn that just dont in fact match with the reality of what this deal sets forth. And we happily, happily look forward to clarifying that of course at this hearing. That is what its all about. And we welcome the opportunity. We are convinced that the plan that we have developed with five other nations accomplishes the task that president obama set out, which is to close off the four pathways to a bomb. And i think as you listen to ernie moniz particularly on the technical components and see the whole deal i really believe that that is a conclusion that everybody can come to. Not saying they will. But can. Im joined by obviously two cabinet secretaries. Both ernie and jack were absolutely critical to our ability to do this. The treasury departments knowledge of the sanctions and application of the sanctions has been exemplary, and they helped us understand the implications of all of these sanctions. And as jack will let you know, were not talking about 150 billion. Were not talking about 100 billion. Were actually talking about 55 billion that will go to iran and well go into that later. But from the day that our negotiations began mr. Chairman, we were Crystal Clear that we would not accept anything less than a good deal. One that would shut off all of those pathways towards fissile material for a Nuclear Weapon. And after 18 months of very intensive talks, the facts are pretty clear that the plan announced this month by six nations in fact accomplishes that. I might remind everybody all of those other nations have nuclear power, or Nuclear Weapons. And all of them are extremely knowledgeable in this challenge of proliferation. So under the terms of this agreement iran has agreed to remove 98 of its stockpile of enriched uranium, dismantle twothirds of its installed centrifuges and destroy by filling it with concrete the existing core of its heavy water plutonium reactor. Iran has agreed to refrain from producing or acquiring highly enriched uranium and weapons grade plutonium for Nuclear Weapons forever. Now, how do we enforce or verify so that that is more than words . And particularly to speak to the Ranking Members question what happens after 15 years . What happens is forever. We have an extremely rigorous inspection verification regime. Because iran has agreed to accept and will ratify prior to the conclusion of the agreement and with if they dont it is a material breech of the agreement to ratify the protocol. Which requires extensive access as well as significant additional transparency measures. Including cradle to grave for the countrys uranium from mining to milling through the centrifuge production to the waste for 25 years. Bottom line, if iran fails to comply with the terms of our agreement, our Intel Community our Energy Department which is responsible for Nuclear Weaponry, are absolutely clear that we will quickly know it and we will be able to respond accordingly with every option available to us today. And when it comes to verification and monitoring there is absolutely no sunset in this agreement. Not in 10 years not in 15 years. Not in 20 years, not in 25 years. No sunset, ever. Now remember two years ago when we began these negotiations and a lot of people are kind of forgetting conveniently sort of where we are today. People are sitting there saying oh my gosh in 15 years this is going to happen or whatever. Iran is going to have the ability to be, you know capable nuclear power. Folks, when we began our negotiations we faced an iran that was already enriching uranium up to 20 . They already had a facility built in secret under ground in a mountain that was rapidly stockpiling enriched uranium. When we began negotiations they had enough enriched uranium for 10 to 12 bombs. Already. Already they had installed as many as 19,000 Nuclear Centrifuges and they had nearly finished building the heavy water reactor that could produce weapons grade plutonium at a rate of one to two bombs per year. Experts put irans braektdeakout time when we began which remember is not the old time with arms control. Breakout time as we have applied it is extraordinary conservative. It is the time it takes to have enough fissile material for one bomb. But for one potential bomb. It is not the amount of time to the bomb. So when we say they will have one year to a certain amount of fissile material, they still have to go design the bomb, test do a whole bunch of other things. And i think you would agree no nation is going to consider itself Nuclear Capable with one bomb. So if this deal is rejected, folks by the way that the existing when we starting negotiations the existing breakout time was about two months. We are going to take it to one year and then it tails down slowly. And ill explain how that provides us with guarantees. But if this deal is rejected we immediately go back to the reality i just described. Without any viable alternative. Except that the unified diplomatic support that produced this agreement will disappear overnight. Let me underscore the alternative to the deal that we have reached is not some kind of unicorn fantasy that contemplates irans complete capitulation. Ive heard people talk about dismantling their program. That didnt happen under president bush when they had a policy of no enrichment. And they had 163 centrifuges. They went up to the 19,000. Our Intelligence Community confirms and i ask you all to sit with them. They will tell you that is not going to happen. So in the real world we have two options. Either we move ahead with this agreement to ensure that irans Nuclear Program is limited rigorously scrutinized and wholly peaceful. Or we have no agreement at all. No inspection, no restraint no sanctions, no knowledge of what they are doing and they start to enrich. Now to be clear, if Congress Rejects what was agreed to in vienna, you will not only be rejecting every one of the restrictions that we put in place. And by the way, nobody is counting the two years that iran has already complied with the interim agreement. And by the way complied completely and totally so that weve already rolled their program back. Weve reduced the 20 enriched uranium to zero. Thats already been accomplished. But if this is rejected we go back to their ability to move down that road. You will not only be giving iran a free pass to double the pace of its uranium enrichment to build a heavy water reactor, to install new and more efficient centrifuges, but they will do it all without the unprecedented inspection and transparency measures that weve secured. Everything that we have tried to prevent will now happen. Now whats worse . If we walk away, we walk away alone. Our partners are not going to be with us. Instead they will walk away from the tough multilateral sanctions that brought iran to the negotiating table in the first place. And we will have squandered the best chance that we have to solve this problem through peaceful means. Make no mistake from the very first day in Office President obama has made it clear that he will never accept a Nuclear Armed iron. And he is the only president who has asked for and commissioned the design of a weapon that has the ability to take out facilities and has actually deployed that weapon. But the fact is iran has already mastered the fuel cycle. They have mastered the ability to produce significant stockpiles of fissile material. And you have to have that to make a Nuclear Weapon. We cant bomb away that knowledge. Anymore than you can sanction it away. Now, i was chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when we a lot of us joined together and put many most of the iran sanctions in place. And i know well, as you do, that the whole point was to bring iran to the negotiating table. Even the toughest sanctions previously did not stop irans program from growing from hundred and hundred and what 63 to 400 to 5,000 more 19000 now. And sanctions are not an end to themselves. They are a diplomatic tool that has enabled us to actually do what sanctions could not without the negotiation. And that is to reign in a Nuclear Program that was headed in a very dangerous program and to put limits on it. To shine a spotlight on it. To watch it like no other Nuclear Program has ever been watched before. We have secured the ability to do things that exist in in other agreement no other agreement. To those wondering what might happen in year 15 or 20. I say this. If you walk away year 15 or 20 starts tomorrow. And without any of the longterm access and verification safeguards we have put in place. What is the alternative . What are you going to do when iran does start to enrich. Which they will feel they have a right to if we walk away. What are you going to do when the sanctions arent in place and cant be reconstituted because we caulked awalked away from a deal that our five fellow nations accepted. I heard ask that the vienna agreement would somehow legitimate iez irans Nuclear Program. That is non sense. Under the agreement irans leaders are permanently barred from pursuing a Nuclear Weapon. And there are permanent restraints and access provisions and inspection provisions to guarantee that. And i underscore, if they try to evade that obligation we will know it. Because a civil Nuclear Program requires full access 24 7, requires full documentation and we will have the ability to track that as no other program before. The iaea will be continuously monitoring their centrifuge production as those centrifuges cannot be diverted to a convert facility. For the next 25 years the iaea will be continuously monitoring uranium from the point it is produced all the way through production so kit not be diverted to another facility. For the life of this agreement, however long iran stays in the npt and is living up to its obligations they must live up to the Additional Protocol. And that Additional Protocol as we can get into today greatly expands the iaeas capacity to have accountability. So this agreement, ill close by saying this agreement gives us a far stronger detection capability more time to respond to any attempt to break out towards a bomb and much more International Support in stopping it than we would have without the deal. If we walk away from this deal and then we decide to use military force, we are not going to have the United Nations or the other five nations that negotiated with us. Because they will feel we walked away. And make no mistake, president obama has committed to staying with the policy of stopping this bomb. So in the 28 years a little more, that i was privileged to represent massachusetts, i had a 100 voting record on every issue for israel. First traveled there in 1986. I have great friends there. Members of my family others who care enormously about israel. I understand the fear. I understand the concerns that our friends in israel have. But we believe that what we have laid out here is a way of making israel and the region in fact safer. And i emphasize we do not lose any option in 15 years 10 years, 20 years 5 years that we have available to us today. We will push back against irans other activities. Weve laid out a very detailed policy for working with the gulf states and others. And we look forward to working with israel in the effort to do that. Our current Security Cooperation with israel is at an unprecedented level and it is why we have a robust military presence in the region and it is why were working so closely with the gulf states. So mr. Chairman, we will continue to push back against iran on every front available. But the fact is it is a lot easier to push back against an iran that doesnt have a Nuclear Weapon rather than one that does. Thats been our principal strategic objective. Deal with a Nuclear Weapon, and then you have an easier time dealing with the other issues too. The outcome here is critical. We believe this makes our countries and allies safer. It will guarantee irans program is under intense scrutiny. It will ensure that the World Community is unified in backing this up. And in the end it will guarantee irans program has to be peaceful and therefore is a good deal for the world a good deal for america a good deal for allies and our friends and we believe it richly deserves your support. Dr. Moniz. Thank you secretary kerry. Secretary kerry has been very thorough. Dr. Moniz if you could be brief and well get back on time and recognize you at this point. Thank you chairman royce Ranking Member engel and members of the committee. And thanks for the opportunities to discuss the nuclear conventions of the agreement reached. The jcpoa prevents iran from getting a the Nuclear Weapon provides strong verification measures to give us time to respond if they violate its terms and takes none of our options off the table. I was backed up in the negotiations by the nuclear competency built over decades at doe and supported by this congress. Americas leading experts at doe labs and sites were engaged throughout the negotiations. Nine labs and sites in seven states took part in supporting our negotiating position. These experts, again were essential. And as a result of their work i am very confident that the technical underpinnings of this deal are solid and the department of energy stands ready to assist in implementation. The jcpoa will extend for at least ten years. Fissile material being reduced from 12,000 to 300 kilograms. Stringent constraints on irans enriched uranium stockpile as i said for 15 years. A strong containment and surveillance measures on all centrifuge manufacturing and the uranium supply chain for 25 years. The verification is forever stronger than it would be without the agreement. The iraq reactor redesigned. And further more the irradiated fuel sent out of country for the life of the reactor. Thus the parameters are maintained and all paths to a bombs worth of Nuclear Weapons material are addressed. In fact lazon is materially strengthened in the p5 1 vienna agreement. One important area and only one of that strengthening is that iran will not engage in several activities that could contribute to the development of the Nuclear Explosive device including explosively driven neutron sources and multiple point detonation systems. These are indefinite and in addition iran will not pursue plutonium or uranium or uranium alloy metal lur ji for 15 years. Mr. Chairman, i cannot agree that the agreement does not dismantle irans Technology Efforts or relevance to Nuclear Weapons. In fact every aspect is rolled back. The iaea will be permitted to use advanced technologies such as enrichment monitoring and electronic seals technologies that Doe National Laboratories have in fact developed. Much has been made about a 24 day process for ensuring iaea inspectors getting access to undeclared sites. In fact the iaea can request access to any specific location with 24 hours notice under the original protocol. Which iran will implement under this deal. The deal doesnt change the baseline. The jcpoa goes beyond the baseline recognizing disputes could arise regarding iaea access and provides a crucial new tool to resolve such disputes within a reasonably short period of time so iaea gets the access it needs within 24 days. Again this is the first time there actually is a cutoff in time. Most important to complement that is environmental sampling provides extremely sensitive measurements of the microskop ek traces of the Nuclear Materials even after attempts are made to remove the materials and a 2003 example found undeclared Nuclear Material even after iran delayed access for six months. The combination of the agreements eagreement s technical measures and the coherence of p5 1. Any time must earn a sharp response by all necessary means. In fact a steep response must be clear from the start for any violation of the agreement. Blocking the convert path i should emphasize will always rely on the work of the american Intelligence Community and those of our friends and our allies. The deal is based on science and analysis because of its deep grounding and exhaustive Technical Analysis carried out largely again by our highly capable doe scientists and engineers im confident this is a good deal for our americans and allies and global security. Individuals dedicated to stlenging the bonds between israel and the United States. And i quote this landmark agreement removes the threat that a Nuclear Armed eded iran would pose to the iran and israel specifically. We see no fatal flaws that should call for the objection of the agreement and have not heard any viable alternatives. As stated by many thoughtful analysts the big gamble would come in turning away from the agreement rather than in implementing the agreement. So thank you for this opportunity to be here. I look forward to our discussion. Thank you. We go to secretary of the treasury, secretary lew. Thank you mr. Chairman and Ranking Member and members of the committee. The powerful array of u. S. And International Sanctions on iran constitutes the most effective sanctions regime in history. These measures have clearly demonstrated to irans leaders the cost of flouting international law, cutting them off from World Markets and crippling their economy. Today irans economy is about 20 smaller than it would have been had it remained on it pre 2012 growth path. United States Government stood the forefront of this effort across two administrations and with the bipartisan support of dock. Congress. We created a web to. International consensus and cooperation to achieve this pressure was vital. The worlds major powers have been and remain united in preventing a Nuclear Armed iran. That the point of these sanctions was always to change Irans Nuclear behavior while holding out the prospect of relief if the worlds concerns were addressed. Accordingly, once the iaea verifies iran has completed key steps to roll back the Nuclear Program and extend the breakout time to at least one year, phased sanctions relief will come into effect. Theres no signing bonus in this agreement. To be clear there will be no immediate changes to u. N. , eu or u. S. Sanctions. Only if iran fulfills the necessary conditions will the u. S. Begin suspending sanctions on a phased in basis. Sanctions that target third Party Countries doing business with iran. Of course we must guard against the possibility that iran does not uphold its side of the deal. That is why if they violate once weve suspended sanctions well be able to promptly snap back both u. S. And u. N. Sanctions. And since preventing requires an affirmative vote from the u. N. Security council, the United States has the ability to effectively force the reimposition of those sanctions. Even as we phase in sanctions relief well maintain significant sanctions that fall outside the scope of the deal including our primary u. S. Trade embargo and other measures. With very little exception, iran will continue to be denied access to the Worlds Largest market and we will maintain powerful sanctions targeting irans support for terrorist groups such as hezbollah, the destabilizing role in yemen. Backing of the assad regime, Missile Program and human rights abuses at home. Just this week, sanctions were made. And we will not be relieving sanctions on irans revolution guard core, it forces subsidiary subsidiaries or senior officials. Some argue the sanctions relief is premature until iran ceases activities and funds recovered could be divert forward malign purposes. But the concerns is exactly why we must keep iran from obtaining a the Nuclear Weapon. The combination of the two threats would be a much worse scenario. If we cannot solve both concerns at once we need to address them in turn. Jcpoa will address the nuclear danger. By contrast, walking away from this deal would leave the worlds leading sponsor of terrorism with a short and decreasing Nuclear Breakout time. We must also be measured and realistic in understanding what sanctions relief will really mean to iran. Irans 100 billion in restricted reserves will many feel will be direct forward nefarious purposes constitute the annual savings not the budget. Over 20 billion is committed to projects with china where it cannot be spent. And tens of billions in additional funds are in non performing loans to irans energy and banking sector. As a matter of Financial Reality iran cant simply spend the usable resources as they will naturally be needed to meet International Payment obligations and financing and debt. And the president there faces a political imperative to start meeting unfulfilled promises. He faces over a half trillion dollars in pressing requirements and government obligations. Iran is in a massive economic hole from which it will take years to climb out. Meanwhile well aggressively targets attempts to fund hezbollah or military proxies. Backing away from this deal to escalate the economic pressure and try to obtain a broader capitulation from iran would be a mistake. Even if one believed that extendingextend extending sanctions pressure was better course than resolving the threat of irans Nuclear Program, that choice is simply not available. Our partners greed to impose kostzly sanctions on iran for one reason, the put a stop to its illicit Nuclear Program. If we change our terms now and insist the countries escalate the sanctions and apply them to all of irans activities they just wouldnt do it. They wouldnt balk. And weed be left with no nuclear deal and additional sanctions. Its impractical to turning down a deal our partners believe is a good one. The joint comprehensive plan of action is a strong deal w. Phased relief after iran fulfills its deal, and its terms achieve the objective it was meant to achieve thats blocking that. Thank you again, and we look forward to answering your questions. Thank you, secretary lew. To get back to a point that was made, as i read it, the 24day suspect site process does expire in 15 years. The iaeau Additional Protocol alone, i think that point stands. The other question i would like to ask secretary kerry relates to what the secretary of defense said in his testimony about the i in icbm stands for enter continental, which means from flying from iran to United States. Simply countries develop icbms to deliver a war head and they will be aimed at us and not at moscow and at the same time these restrictions are coming off, those involved in the bomb work are also coming off so how is that making us safer . Seems to me the winner here is russia which demand and won on the lifting of the sanctions, and why did we concede on that . We didnt concede on that, mr. Chairman. In fact, we won a victory because the we have seven nations negotiating and three of the seven thought the sanctions ought to be lifted immediately, iran russia and china and four thought they shouldnt. What we succeeded in doing was keeping both the arms embargo and the missile component, the missiles for eight years and the arms for five years, not withstanding the fact that iran has a very legitimate argument which they were making that the u. N. Resolution 1929 which is what created the sanctions and the structure that we were negotiating under said that if iran comes to the table and negotiates, all the sanctions would be lifted. Now, they just didnt come to the table and negotiate, they made a deal, they signed an agreement and came to an overall agreement, so they felt that they were in compliance with the u. N. Resolution and we felt on the other hand, their behavior in the region was such it would be unconscionable to lift, and we dont feel we lost anything in that, mr. Chairman, for the following reasons. The u. N. Resolution 1929 is a nuclear resolution. Susan rice put the she was then at the u. N. And she put the arms piece in at the last minute. It was a throwin at the last moment into this Nuclear Nuclear resolution. And the nuclear resolution always contemplated if the iaea came to what is known as the broad conclusion that iran was not engaged in any elicit activities in its declared or undeclared activities, all san sanctions were lifted, and no matter what happened we would lose that arms under that component, and here is what we have done in the meantime that we believe actually takes care of this issue. First of all mr. Secretary i followed the arguments that you made about the laws that we have to defend against irans Missile Program, and i understand the steps that you took here. I am just saying big picture, big picture, when we end up with a bottom line where in eight years they get the missile, it doesnt look like a victory to me it looks like but they may not get the missile at that time but they can buy the material at that time. But they cant. We have several other protocols that prevent that from happening, we have an executive order by the president of the United States that in fact presents the transfer i would just point out, theres a reason why russia pushed it, and theres a reason we did not want because they did not want the u. N. Component of this, and they know we have separate capacities and would apply them. I would hope that we could strengthen our hand in this as we go along, but the bottom line is iran is getting a financial win fall and increases terrorists support for proxies and they announced that recently and it upgrades its conventional weapons and i think it upgrades its Ballistic Missile program in this over the time of the agreement, and has an Industrial Nuclear sized program in ten years and thats the timeframe only if they dont cheat. When i look at this, and i see that irans neighbors who know it the best, trust it the least, i just ask were presuming iran is going to change its behavior and that behavior did not change last weekend when they were chanting again death to america. With all due respect we are not presuming any such thing. There is no presumption about what iran will or wont do. There is one objective. Make sure they cant get a Nuclear Weapon. On the backside of that, we have a very robust initiative that will push back against irans other activities. Let me be very specific my time expired. It authorized u. S. Sanctions that material contribute to the materialization of missiles by any person or foreign country of papaw paw live ration concern. My time expired and i will go to mr. Evenngel, but thank you very much. I want to get back to 15 years because that disturbs me the most. The truth is after 15 years iran is a Nuclear Threshold state and they are legitimized in this agreement as being a Nuclear Threshold state which means they can produce weapons with uranium without limitation and i know you say they are at that point now, but why not negotiate a deal where they couldnt have those things in 15 years. I also want to mention a Nuclear Agreement doesnt whitewash the fact that iran continues to remain a destabilizing actor in the region and continues to fuel terrorism around the globe. Our friends in israel rightfully are concerned that iranian funding of terrorism would continue to affect them and one of the issues i had in this agreement from day one it limits irans Nuclear Program. With this agreement, the way i look at it irans financing of terrorism will continue and could become much worse. The Iranian Revolutionary guard corp. Can take advantage of any relief between p5 plus one. So i would like to know how specifically will we work with our allies to minimize the potential win fall from terrorists organizations and protected israel. And the lifting of the arms embargo and the sanctions around irans Ballistic Missile program further destabilizes the region, and i was disappointed the sanctions had been lift, and i was told they were outside the scope of the negotiations, so in my opinion the changes to these sanctions should have been outside the scope as well. What that means when the arms embargo expires iran can shift weapons to president assad so he can continue to torture and kill his own people. Would the administration be open to further congressional consideration of new sanctions on the Missile Program, and the arms embargo and missile sanctions are not specifically mentioned in the jcpoa, only the resolution governoring and does the snapback of sanctions apply to violations of the arms and missile embargoes if iran would continue to ship weapons to hezbollah before the arms embargo expires and would they be in violation of a jcpoa . Congressman, there are so many questions in there. Obviously we are very happy to come back to you on the record and i want to answer every single one of them. Let me try to take on the biggest ones, first of all. Let me just call to everybodys attention here the irgj opposed this agreement. They are not sitting there thinking they will get to do what they want to do. I invite you to talk to the Intel Community about that, they will document it they see themselves losing for their activities. Theres nothing here to prevent us from pushing back the irgj and others going forward. Congress and others were all free to Work Together to build the pushback against the destabilizing activities. Let me ask you a question, was iran stripped of that and us coming in with a whole new set of security arrangements and push back . I think the answer to that is Crystal Clear. You asked the question of what happens with respect to year 15. Folks, according to the modified code please focus on what happens. Theres not a breakoff at the end of 15 years and they are remarkable constraints specifically the comprehensive safeguards agreement they have to negotiate with the iaea that goes on forover provides the aiea with the obligation to insure the material is not diverted to Nuclear Weapons and all nonNuclear Weapons states party have to bring it into agreement, and that requires iran to maintain detailed Accounting Records on all material subject to the safeguards operating records and all facilities subject to the safeguards, and all public facilities in their program are subject to the safeguards, and it provides for a range of iaea inspections, including verifying the location and the identity and quantity and composition of all Nuclear Materials subject to the safeguards and the design of nuclear facilities, and it requires the board of governors to take action without delay. Thats a quote in a situation where its essential and urgent and provides consequences for a finding of noncompliance. Thats just on the side of the declared facilities. Theres a whole set of requirements for access and inspection and accountability on the undeclared facilities. Congressman, they are forever under enormous constraints here with respect to inspections and accountability. They have to provide accountability for all the Nuclear Research and Development Activities not involving Nuclear Material and manufacturing the production of technology, and construction of hot cells and useable for plutonium separation, and Uranium Mines and concentration camps and Nuclear Waste and all kinds of things. May i suggest this mr. Secretary, we can respond for the record mr. Secretary to the ranking