We need to be on our best behavior. I have the distinct honor and privilege of introducing this afternoons session. First of all, kudos to fdd and cliff may and the whole team for assembling this discussion with two of the most important, if not the most important figures in the National Security. Certainly with now the National Security adviser h. R. Mcmaster with us this afternoon. So a real honor and privilege i think for all of us to have general mcmaster with us today. Ive been asked to introduce general mcmaster as well as Mark Dubowitz who will conduct the interview. Mark is the ceo as the founder of defense one of the great minds in the world of National Security in particular on iran policy, the use of sanctions, the use of financial pressure in our National Security. Let me introduce general mcmaster for those of you who dont know him. He of course is the 26th assistant to the president for National Security affairs. He is the president s National Security adviser. General mcmaster has led a life of service to this country in the army and in the military. Graduating from west point in 1984. Taking command of various units and commands in iraq, afghanistan, in the United States on behalf of the army and the u. S. Military. General mcmaster is one of the great warrior scholars of our day and i think its a great privilege that he sits where he does next to the oval office and at the side of the president. As you know, hes the author of the dereliction of duty which is one of the great studies on military political relations during the johnson period. He holds a ph. D. In military history and is, again, one of the great scholars of National Security. Finally, just a point of ledge, privilege, i noted my relationship with director pompeo. I have a personal relationship with general mcmaster. Been privileged to know him his entire career. This is not just a great public servant, not just a great patriot, not just an incredible warrior scholar, but hes a great man. Great father. Great husband. Ive been privileged to call him a great friend. And so i think all of us as americans, regardless of where you are politically, regardless of where you stand on National Security issues, should be incredibly proud that we have somebody of h. R. s caliber and character in the position of National Security adviser, especially at a time of so many challenges. So with that, allow me to introduce Lieutenant General h. R. Mcmaster, our National Security adviser and Mark Dubowitz for the afternoon discussion. Thank you. [ applause ] thank you, juan, for that kind introduction. I am a huge admirer of juans as well and the Ground Breaking work he did on countering threat and terrorist financing. And hes been a friend, mentor example for me for as hes mentioned across my entire professional life. And its just a real privilege to be here alongside him. I heard he said that he loves mike pompeo. I may be a little bit jealous. I love juan zarate more. I love mark and fdd. It is a real privilege to be with all of you. I want to thank the foundation for defense of democracies for hosting this event and giving me the opportunity to be part of this discussion and also to say just a few word up front about one of the president s most recent discussions which is to approve a comprehensive strategy for the problem set associated with iran. I want to thank fdd for the work its done over the years on so many Critical Issues including the early work on the threat posed by radical islamist ideology and more recently the threat from adversaries who use the internet to wage Economic Warfare against the United States. We have drawn heavily on the scholarship and analysis of fdd and other think tanks and academic institutions as well as we developed integrated strategies over the past months. Of course theres no shortage of topics to discuss and i look forward to the discussion with mark on a broad range of topics. But i thought id outline a few of them and in general terms and then talk about the iran strategy. First, we face the challenge of revisionist powers who are subverting the post world war ii cold war political, economic and Security Order that the United States helped to create and lead. An order that has prevented great power conflict for over 70 years. And expanded a free and Prosperous Community of democratic states. Second, we face a challenge from rogue regimes. Rogue regimes that flout international norms, pursue weapons of mass destruction and export terror to exattetend the influence and exkotort concessis from nations. And use hatred as justification for mass murder and unspeakable brutality against innocence. And they do this under a cloak of an irreligious wicked ideology. These actors often appear on the same battlegrounds. They often operate in parallel. But at times they cooperate when their interests align. For example, russia and iran aid, abet, and sustain the murderous assad regime in syria. That access perpetuates a sectarian civil war that strengthens islamic terrorists who portray themselves as patrons and protect ors of parties in that conflict. Iran in turn uses that same conflict and conflicts in iraq and yemen to pursue aims and threaten isreal and saudi arabia and others with their terrorist and mily sitia proxies. Yet as urgent threats like these have increased, our strategic competency has actually diminished. I think weve been prone in recent years to what we might describe as an almost narcissistic approach to National Security. Strategies are frequently based on what we would prefer rather than what the situation demands. In recent years, we have allowed incomplete plans, disconnected from the problems they were meant to address to mass so what strategies like the three i just highlighted to National Security and complex challenges like those that are manny fe manifest in syria demand, to direct the purposeful employment of all instruments of power. So as we establish first order principles for president trumps National Security strategy, the importance of using every element of National Power, diplomatic, informational, military, economic, Law Enforcement, intelligence, in an integrated way is at the top of that list. The president s new strategy toward iran is a good example. Instead of focusing almost exclusi exclusively on jcpoa, the new strategy considers the fuel range of irans destabilizing behavior and malign activities including its material and Financial Support for terrorism and extremism. Its complicity in the assads re gem atrocities against the Syrian People. Its unrelents hostility to isreal. Its repeated threats to navigation, strategically in the persian gulf. Cyber attacks against the u. S. , isreal and allies and partners in the gulf. Its rue man rights abuses and arbitrary detention of foreigners including u. S. Citizens on false grounds. As the president made clear in his speech on october 13th, our strategy integrates all elements of National Power and is oriented on neutralizing the government of irans destabilizing influence and constraining its aggression particularly its support for terrorism and militants. Second, revitalizing our traditional alliances and regional partnerships as b ths is an area where the president s leadership has paid off as youve seen wr the growing together, the mutual understanding, much closer relationships and common understanding of problems in common action with our traditional allies and partners in the region. They are denying the iranian regem and especially the jobs corp, funding for its malign activities. This is where juans work is important. And opposing irgc activities that extort the wealth of the iranian people and countering threats to the United States and our allies from Ballistic Missiles and other asymmetric weapons. What we must do is we must rally the International Community to condemn the irgcs gross violations of human rights and its unjust detention of american citizens and other foreigners. And last, we must deny iran all paths to a nuclear weapon. This is the Strategic Direction that the president has given us. Our next challenge is to execute. And as i mentioned, rally all of our friends to the cause. As the secretary of state said to csis yesterday, states that use terror as an instrument of policy will only see their International Reputation and standing diminish. It is the obligation, not choice, of every civilized nation to combat the scourge of terrorism. So as we develop the strategy, we began work wherever we could with our partners and allies. Now were mobilizing every element of National Power and efforts of our key partners to achieve our objectives. Where new resources or authorities are required, we will seek them. Where organizations must be reconfigured and re tooled, we will change them. We will proceed to work hard hand in hand with our allies and partners and with members of congress to defend america and advance our vital interests. But we need your help. We need fdds help and we need the help of all of you here. We need organizations like fdd to continue their scholarship on the threats that we face. And we need our media, our press, investigative reporters to look hard at countries like iran and north korea and help inform the world about how these rogue regimes skirt sanctions, flout international norms, brutalize their own people and minister neighbors. With the knowledge that you and others help bring to light about these threats, america can act with confidence. That confidence comes not only from knowledge of threats but as we all know it comes from knowledge of who we are as a nation, what we stand for, what we value. That confidence is essential to generating the will and the commitment to prevail in the competitions we face. And is part of regaining that strategic confidence. Thank you and i really look forward to the conversation, mark. Thanks, everybody. [ applause ] so first of all, general mcmaster, thank you for being here. Your time is precious. Thank you for your service to our nation. Thank you for bringing a an understanding of the nature and gravity of the iranian threat. I want to start with just a more broader topic of just how you develop integrated National Strategies and what they mean to you. I think youve given us some insight in your speech. When you came in as National Security adviser with a mandate to develop these strategies, tell us a little bit about your vision of integrated strategies and in particular with respect to the iran strategy. So we began with the president s guidance who said this white house and by extension the National Security council has become very tactical and we are very much involved in areas of responsibility and actions and programs, initiatives that ought to be within the purview of the departments head agencies. We asked us decentralize where we can. And support the departments in executing our policies. But think. Think clearly about the problems and opportunities we face as a nation. Guide ach guidance was also based in all of our understanding that the balance has shifted against the United States in recent years and decades. We have to understand how to compete more effectively. Compete more effectively to advance and protect u. S. Interests and to shift the balance back in favor of the United States in some of these critical competitions. And so to do that, we have initiated and are well along in an effort to develop integrated strategies for our what were calling National Security challenges. First order challenges that are relevant to protecting and advancing american interests which we define as really four fundamental interests. First is to protect the American People and protect the american homeland. Second is to advance american prosperity. Third is to achieve peace through strength. And the fourth is to advance american influence. I would say the president s made great progress in all four ever these. We can talk more about that if youd like. We use these vital interests as the lens through which we view these National Security challenges. And then we craft an over arching goals and objectives based on how these challenges relate to the American People. This is really foundational to an american first Foreign Policy and National Security strategy. What we do is involve the president s National Security cabinet in the framing of these problems. In describing the situation, understanding how its relevant to our vital interests, laying out overarching goals and objectives and giving guidance from their perspective at the heads of their departments and agencies about how we can begin to get after this challenge in a way that advances and protects our interests, over comes obstacles to progress and seizes on opportunities. That guidance thing goes to the department who refine this guidance into an integrated strategy. So youve seen this on north korea. On south asia. On the in the iran strategy. On the cuba, the president s cuba strategy. We could go on. These are well developed. Many of them are implementing now. Have been in implementation for a while. And rothers are still in development. With that guidance from the National Security council, the president s cabinet, up front it allows those departments to begin executing and coordinating their efforts. So general, lets Start Talking about one of those major first order challenges that youve described which is iran. Theres obviously a big announcement on friday. The president s speech laying out a new comprehensive strategy. A lot of the discussion has been telescoped down on exactly which condition is a president refusing to certify on. So i want to take the conversation up to a broader level. You talk about using all instruments of National Power. I want to go through various theaters of operation where iran represents a significant threat to the United States and our allies. What are you trying to achieve in iraq . In iraq its easy to say and hard to do. What we would like to see is a stable iraq that is not aligned with iran. What we would like to do is continue to assist the iraqis to do what the president has told us and our allies is to destroy isis and to not permit another group like isis. Another Jihadist Group to come back by doing three fundamental things. Deny them safe havens and support bases. Cut off their funding. And to defeat the ideology. Eliminate this draw of vulnerable populations into these kind of organizations. So the fight in iraq is relevant to that but its also relevant to ensuring that iraq emerges from this horrible period of conflict strong. The United States has a strong interest in a strong iraq. I would say that others who were operating within iraq who were subverting iraq, iran in particular, are attempting to keep iraq perpetually weak and reply to iraq what you might call a hezbollah mob where you have a weak government, a government that is deliberately weakened and a government that is rely yaiant on iran for supp. While iran grows militias and illegal armed groups that lie outside of that governments control. Militias and terrorist groups that can be turned against that government. So this is a model you see sadly in the beautiful country of lebanon. It is a model i think you see in syria where about 80 of those that are fighting on behalf of the brutal murderous assad regime or iranian proxies. It is a model you see attempted to be applied in iraq and its something you can see maybe trying to play out in yemen as well. So its easy to say. As i mentioned, hard to do. It takes a sophisticated sustained effort. But its a stable iraq that emerges strong. And is not aligned with. Of course have a relationship with its neighbor. But not aligned with iran. What do you say to the allegation that the president gives a speech on friday that hes rolling out a comprehensive policy using all instruments of National Power to undercut iranian influence to neutralize their aggression and on monday the force shows up in kirkuk . Well what you have in iraq is a greater level of complexity now. Associated with the kurdish referendum and then the actions that follow the kurdish referendum. And so what we want to see in iraq as i mentioned is a strong iraq emerge. Part of a strong iraq is a strong kurdish region where we have very long Time Partners whose partnership we value tremendously. Who bore the brunt of saddam husseins brutality over many years. And who we intervened on their behalf. As everyone knows after 1991. They used the safety and security we helped provide that region to build a phenomenal communities. These are southern european thriving cities when you go to the kurdish region. But what we need to do is we have to work to mediate this conflict in a way that allows our kurdish friends to enjoy the safety, security and prosperity they built over so many years and not regress from that. But then also that keeps iraq on a path to strengthening and to not being aligned with iran. And so this led to a level of complexity. We did recommend to mr. Barzani, we have great relationships with, Great Respect for that this was not the time as the region is emerging from this horrible trauma of isis and the fight against isis and the iranian sub version within iraq that complicates the heck out of things. And turkeys difficult relationship with kurdish populations and how thats playing out in North Eastern syria. This was not the time to do this we thought. But of course we are where we are now. As you know, ha ban knee passed away recently. God rest his soul. Part of what is complicating this is a power struggle and the ability of iranians to take advantage of all of this. What does iran do . Iran is very good at pitting communities against each other. This is something they share with groups like isis, with al qaeda. They pick communities against each other. Because they use tribal and ethnic and sectarian conflicts to gain influence by portraying themselves as a patron or protect or of one of the parties in the conflict. And then they use that invitation to come in and to help, to advance their agenda. In irans case i think its a hegamonic design and its increasing their ability to threaten the United States or saudi arabia and so forth. So i didnt really give you a definitive easy policy answer to the complicated situation in Northern Iraq now, but i know that the president sentiments are with the Kurdish People and with the iraqi people and what he wants to see emerge is a stable iraq but a stable iraq that is not aligned with iran. General, the president s speech, again, is at the core of it were going to neutralize irans influence. So clearly theres been a very successful counter isis campaign under your administration. There seems to have been some Great Strides made. Unfortunately, theres a power vacuum that the iranians are filling and have filled both territorily and using various instruments of iranian influence. So what is the message to the iranians today with respect to iraq . The message has to be that iran has to stop using illegal arm groups in iraq to advance its own interests at the expense of the iraqi people and at the expense of security and stability in the region. If you think about one of the greatest sources of strength for isis and groups like isis, it is again their ability to portray themselves as protect ors of in this case mainly of the sunni arab community. One of the drivers, the drivers of that conflict is iran. Iran has perpetuated these conflicts in a way that has created a humanitarian and a political catastrophe across the region. Mainly in syria but also in iraq. The challenges inside of iraq. And so the message has to be that none of us, iraqis, the United States, are partners in the region, our european allies can tolerate this degree of subversion and support for terrorists and militias. To go from iraq, which is a problem from heck to syria, which is a problem from hell, what are you trying to achieve in syria . So what has to happen, secretary tillerson and everyones been very clear on this, there has to be a political settlement in syria that allows for all Syrian People to have a say in the nature of their government. And the assad regime, rather than moving toward anything like that, it can only perpetuate the conflict. And so what can we do . What we can do is we can work with our partners in syria to defeat isis but defeat isis in a way that bridges into that long term political settlement. Now, this is under the geneva process. What is the process for this . Its pretty dim. But we and our partners are not without considerable leverage in syria. If you think about really how dire this situation is in syria, think about all the people who have been killed by the combination of isis and this brutal regime. How many have been wounded. How many are displaced external to the country or internal to the country. How much of the infrastructure in that country, about 200 million infrastructure in syria destroyed. We should ensure that not a dollar, not a dollar goes to reconstruct anything that is under the control of this brutal regime. And so we need to use the leverage we have to incentivize a political so collusion that protects all Syrian People that is correct sets conditions for the return of those who were displaced and allows for a higher degree of security in the region and security that comes from also denying iran its designs in syria. So those who are obstructing any kind of progress toward that kind of a political solution ought to be called out for it and ought to be ought to bare responsibility for enabling the assad regime. I would say iran and russia are those who ought to be called out for continuing to perpetuate for perpetuating this conflict. So you dont buy into this argument that somehow russia, which as you said has been primarily responsible with iran for the assads regimes brute agriculture distransaction of that distraction of that country that as long as the International Community helps reconstruct syria s pours in hundreds of millions of dollars into territories under assads control, that the russians can deliver the iranians . Well, i dont know if anybody can deliver the iranians. I think what the iranians have to understand that theyre going to pay a price. Theyre going to pay a price in terms of isolation, diplomatic financial isolation. This is one of our challenges and the president has given us very clear guidance on our relationship with russia. He has as youve seen taken a very strong stand in the middle east and in ukraine, for example n confronting russias destabilizing behavior. But what he wants us to do as well is make sure that we deter any kind of conflict with russia. We dont think this would be in anybodys interest. But the third area that he told us to focus on is to foster areas of cooperation and of course secretary tillerson has had the lead in this area. You see some initial glimmers here with deescalation zones in syria. Well see how theyre executed and so 40. But there are so many areas where the United States and russia could cooperate that are in our mutual interest. Another easy one, an easy one is on north korea. While we recognize that china has the vast majority force of economic power and influence over north korea, russia has considerable influence as well. If they were to use that in a way thats consistent with this campaign of maximum pressure, this effort to convince kim jongun and his regime to move toward denuclearization of the peninsula as really a last cl s chance to avoid severe consequences, i think its becoming clear to russia its not in its interest to its imposing cost on russia, economic costs, credibility costs, and so these are all areas that we could work with russia on. And i know the president and the secretary of state, the whole team would welcome the opportunity to do that. And general, the president s speech focused pretty intensively on the revolutionary guard core and one of the takeaways from the actions on friday was the designation of the guard corp in its entirety as a terrorist organization using treasury authorities antiterrorism authorities that the Treasury Department actually used in 2007 to designate the kuds force in his entirety. As a beginning predicate of a roll back strategy against the guard corp, what are what are you trying to achieve with respect to the irgc and its malign activities . What we have to do is recognize that this is a hostile organization that has victimized. Countless people across the greater middle east and beyond as planned terrorist attacks here, elsewhere in the western hemisphere. So what do we have to do . We need a strategy along with our allies and partners to cope with the irgc. What the irgc is is it is a terrorist enabler. It is a network that is involved in a broad range of illicit activities to advance its the Iranian Regimes malign agenda. And so what are the elements of this strategy . First of all, we have to understand the problem. We have to pull the curtain back. I think one of the most important things we could do, fdd is doing this. Pull the curtain back on what iran is doing in the region. Show it to the world. And have them pay a price in terms of their reputation for what theyre doing to perpetuate violence. And then we have to ask some big questions. We have to say what is the irgc and all of us can work on this, on understanding what this organization is. More broadly. And then what is its goal and expose that. Understand its strategy. What is the strategy of the Iranian Regime and the irgc in particular . We need more work on how its organized and were working with our intelligence community, to understand obviously notes in this network and what they do to enable terrorists and militias and criminal activity across the world really. But then to understand relationships between those nodes, within the organization and with outside organizations. What are their connections to illicit businesses, to financial institutions, to those who provide them cover for action, the ability to move freely, to achieve anonymity and work within legitimate state institutions and functions and subvert those institutions for their own design. So its not just the network itself but its relationships. We have to understand relationships of authority and deferens and antagonism. Then we have to see flows. This is where Law Enforcement could be a huge lever. International Law Enforcement, u. S. Law enforcement. Often underutilized as a tool of Foreign Policy, National Security strategy. Financial tools thanks to juan and others are more routine, but some of the most overworked and valuable people in our government are in the Treasury Department. They do an amazing job. We need more of them. They are just a great team and we have to learn from what they do and apply it more broadly across more departments. Justice is getting more involved. Our attorney general has established a team, using an established team to really reinvigorate the department of justices role in National Security. And so we have to be able to see flows through these of people, money, weapon, narcotics, other illicit goods. Illicit fuel and other items they smuggle and use to enrich themselves. There is great narcotic straskistras trafficking organizations that has been using the heroin trade coming out of afghanistan to enrich themselves while they poison themselves and to use that money to commit murder. So we have to take a whole lis tick approach at it and what are their strepngths of support wha are their weaknesses. So were already doing it. Were already working on this. But we are becoming more agile. Were going to access more and more tools that we have at our disposal within the u. S. Government. But this is where fdd and others can help with our understanding of the problem and what we can do about it. Obviously our multinational allies and partners are a huge part of this effort. I want to sort of generally pick on that part of it. The irgc z yas you know control 20 of the iranian economy. They are huge influencers around economy that many of our allies are interested in doing business in. What is your message to the International Business community that today is looking for opportunities to engage with iranian economy . Well, the message would be dont do business with the irgc. Dont enrich the irgc. Dont enable their murderous campaign. Dont enable their threat to our friends in the region and to especially isreal, but also saudi arabia and others. Its in everyones interest to really work hard on business intelligence. To understand who are the Beneficial Owners of these companies who were opening our checkbooks to do business with in iran . And so what we would want to do is take an approach that is an obvious to president trumps approach to cuba where he said were not going to do business with them. Were not going to enrich the castro regime and allow them to tighten their autocratic rip on the cuban people and deny them the freedom and liberty that they deserve. We will do business with actually legitimate cuban private sector such as it is. But maybe we can incentivize it emerging. But we cannot afford to do business with the irgc. And because of all of us, the world will pay for it later. So the irgc you described as Trans National criminal organization as well as obviously an organization responsible for Irans Nuclear program, missile program, malign activities in the region, their human rights abuses. Let me focus on that last piece of that. Because that hasnt got i think enough attention over the years from previous administrations or from our allies. As you know, the guard corp and not only responsible for aggression abroad but oppression at home. What are you thinking, whats the administration thinking with respect to human rights issues and internal issues within iran that help protect the iranian people from the irgc in its repression . I think the president was really clear in his speech. That one paragraph where the president talked directly to the iranian people i think ought to be amplified. As you mentioned, the speech was about a iran strategy and everything focused on, again, this part of this narcissim that we suffer from where were focused on the nara legislation, our report to each frother insi the United States when this was a speech about a strategy to really counter this country and this organization in the irgc thats a threat to everyone. And so i think what to focus on in the speech is is that taught to the iranian people who are o pressed by the irgc. Theyre also o pressed by these that these are essentially and these are criminalized networks to enrich themselveses and keep the supreme leaders audio tkpwratic grip on powers. What could be better than an Iranian Regime that is no longer fundamentally hostile to anyone including its own people . So the president has Great Respect for the iranian people, the rich culture, their heritage and was very important to him in the speech to distinguish between the regime and the iranian people. I know my colleagues wrote a piece on this, and this is an interesting observation that hes in the speech, the u. N. General Assembly Speech that there were, i think, 11 out of 17 sentences on iran were very much focused on the iranian people and human rights issues, and on the growing gap between the rules and the rules. And, you know, the speeches as i imagine are they go through a vigorous process of review and its, i assume its not accidental that there railroad 11 sentences devoted to the iranian people themselves and the brutal repression they suffered for decades. These are the president s speeches. You can hear his voice in all of these. And if i could just if you want to look at i think his speeches to understand his Foreign Policy, he made some just really i think truly landmark speeches. One was in saudi arabia in front of 55 or so muslim majority leaders of muslimmajority nations. Very, very important speech. And another, he made on that same trip, that first overseas trip in poland. With western civilization and really all civilized peoples would also aspire to his speech on the south asia strategy i think is very important. These are substantive speeches to lay out a clear direction for the Foreign Policy. The iran speech is part of this group of speeches that explain to the American People how the president is prioritizing their interests and security, and how were doing that through a coherent approach to these National Security challenges. And we talked about the guard corps again is a Trans National criminal organization and the Severe Threat to our allies, to the iranian people, to u. S. National security. What are you trying to achieve with the hezbollah part of the strategy, you mention the role hezbollah is playing and the iranian Business Model of trying to replicate hezbollah throughout the region. What is the hezbollah strategy . Its similar to strategies that are against other directed at other networked organizations that are of violence and oppression. The hezbollah strategy is similar in a lot of ways in terms of getting visibility on their finances. Weve done this in our government in the past. And we need to reinvigorate our effort theres. Efforts there. There is a big informational dimension to this as well. So as you know, hezbollah really relies on its legitimacy through its ability to portray itself as an advocate for the disadvantaged Shia Lebanese population. But its actions in recent years, especially since, you know, you say really picking up since 2012 with the onset of the Syrian Civil War has been to act as a proxy for the iranians and the rogc. I think what can be done about hezbollah is to expose it to what it is, you know, to write about its behavior and catalogue their behavior, to show what its doing to its own people, to lebanon, and to the world broadly. Its interesting on that point. One of our friends congressman Mike Gallagher from wisconsin actually introduced legislation that essentially would target iran and hezbollah for using lebanese civilians as human shields. I mean, as we all know, hezbollah has been using civilians, putting armaments and kindergartens and homes. This legislation would shine a spotlight on the fact that hezbollah is not just working for, you know, disadvantaged shia in southern lebanon. If anything, theyre putting the disadvantaged shia at risk. Absolutely. How could that be . How could that be in the interests of the lebanese people to have hundreds of thousands maybe, many, many, tens of thousands of rockets and missiles pointed at israel. And what do you expect israel to do under that kind of a threat . And if they act on that threat, if they use it for blackmail or coercion on behalf of the iranians, i mean what do you expect israelis to do . And how is that going to help the lebanese people . And not just the lebanese shia population in southern lebanon but the devastating effect it could have on the beautiful country that has been through so much since the 70s and emerged in a way that theyre getting feet back under it. It is, you know, it is showing promise for the future. So this is what iran does, right . It denies people their dreams and aspirations. And it meshes people in the cycles of violence. And why this is important is because when you see the kind of violence that heartbreaking humanitarian catastrophe in syria and iraq and elsewhere, what you see is that violence creates conditions where nobodys really being educated, right . Where are the children . Theyre not going to school. Its heartbreaking. Theyre in refugee camps and were providing a lot of this. Obviously we and partners. Jordan is doing so much, so much to alleviate this. Lebanon is as well. Others in the region, turkey was bourne of the brunt of a lot of this. So we have to do everything we can to support those who are providing relief in this catastrophe. But what iran relies on and what groups like isis, these attack fearing groups rely on is they rely on ignorance. You need a certain degree of ignorance to foment hatred, and use that hatred to perpetuate violence against innocent people and that in turn creates conditions in which no one is being educated and so communities are pitted against each other and vulnerable to the demagoguery of these people. So its fundamentally we have to work to break that cycle and those who are perpetuating that cycle at the top of that list are groups like isis, al qaeda and its affiliates and then right with them is rogc, hezbollah. So, general mcmaster, a real direct question. So what is wrong with Iran Nuclear Deal . Okay. Well, should i i have you know, i brought a card with me and some of the president s top quotes about the Iran Nuclear Deal which i used to refresh my memory. But you might instead of saying Iran Nuclear Deal, say worst deal ever. Right . One of our european allies was talking with him today, actually, and they were getting tongue tied around the full wording of jcroa. I said just say worst deal ever. And so, i mean, there are fundamental flaws it with. Part is the payment up front. And so some people said, hey, they got all the money up front. They didnt get all the money up front. This is a gift that gives over time. Right . And so if iran was pumping 1 billion no, a Million Barrels a day, its getting close to 2. 5 Million Barrels a day, what are they doing with that money . What are they doing with the Defense Budget . Its the benefit of the regime out of proportion. What has iran done since then, right . This is what the president calls the spirit of the deal, right . They are not acting within the spirit of the deal. Other fundamental flaws is what layout side of the deal, and also the missile program, which is continuing unevaded, right . And also the anemic capacity to be able to verify compliance with the deal, and so look at the regimes behavior since 1979, right . Are you going to bet the farm on their goodwill and that they are going to adhere to an agreement . The noise they make, so section t has to be implemented in terms of monitoring of the jcpoa, and theres a fundamental flaw in the sunset clause. So it can continue to advance its technological understanding of how to develop its Nuclear Technology and use this deal as its cover for announcing a mad dash to the nuclear capability. This is just some of the problems with the deal. What the president decided is that the best approach now, recognizing all these flaws, how can he certify that to congress . You cant do that. So what he would Like Congress to do, instead of having legislation that has us reporting to each other, lets have legislation that can address some of these flaws, that can, at least from a unilateral perspective layout a marker on where we think this should evolve and work with our allies and partners to rig hrusly enforce this thing and hold iran accountable for the behavior that lies outside of the deal. Theres been a lot of misunderstandings, and thats not what it was, and the way its implemented is not proportional to what we achieve in terms of greater security from this horrible regime. So you know, i know we are almost out of time and i want to give it back to you, mark, but its a fundamentally flawed deal with the president has decided to do his best to try and rectify in the interests of the security of the American People, and to work with allies and partners, who should see this as an opportunity, and they do, as a way to Work Together on the broad range of irans destabilizing behavior, while we work on rigorous monitoring and enforcement. So its a strategy to decertify and then an opportunity to fix and strengthen the deal to work with allies and congress to figure out a way forward. The president was clear in his speech and double downed to a reporter afterwards, and he made it pretty clear not pretty clear, very clear, if that were not to happen, if the europeans were not able to help fix the deal that he would terminate the deal. Absolutely. The president , i think, everybody gets a clear message from him that hes not going to do anything that is not in the interests of the American People. So he will always prioritize what is in the interests of the safety, security, prosperity of the American People, and thats what he will base his decision on. You are confident that our allies, particularly our european allies will come along with this strategy of pressure and fix . I think they already are coming along. If you see some of the actions of our european partners, and canada and others to improve the capacity of the iaea, to make clear we are not going to listen to the iranian bluster of you cant do this or that. Heck, yes, we can do that. Thats what we are going to do to enforce the agreement. You see more and more of the allies and partners on the sanctions, and we are working with them as part of the implementation of the congressional legislation that gives the president and treasury more authorities to sanction irans behavior. We absolutely see a willingness to work with us on this, and what we owe the president is options, right . What we have done within the National Security council, we worked together to present options to the president , and then once he makes a decision we assist in implementation, across all departments and agencies, they do the implementation and we report back how we are doing and what options are to revise that strategy, and none of the strategies are signed off by the president and then filed away forever, and they are living documents we are continually assessing. Thank you very much. I think we have some questions, and its courtney from nbc . Thank you. I am hoping you might jump to a different continent and talk a little about niger. I know the attack is still under investigation, but can you fill us in on what happened that day with your expensive military background, do you look at Something Like that and think was there an intelligence failure that led to the terrible ambush . Do you know anything about why Sergeant Johnson may have been left behind . In your new role in the white house, what happens when one of the operations like this is under way, does it come to your desk . Does it go to the president s desk in advance for approval . So of course i got to defer to the department of defense, and they will be able to give you authorize taeuf of authoritative defensive answers. When Something Like this happens the report does come to us. As we say in the military, the first report is always wrong. Theres always ambiguity here in washington as to what is going on halfway around the world. So on the mission there, it is a mission the Defense Department will describe what the mission of the circumstances were of that action, and of the deaths of those soldiers. All that will come out. What happens in every one of these instances, in anything that happens like this, theres a full investigation. And the investigation really has a couple of aims, and one is to inform the American People, and inform the congress and inform across our government as to what really happened and to have a high degree of clarity and common understanding. It was not that long ago, and this investigation is under way to provide that kind of definitive answers, and answers that are provided sometimes to have been an accurate causes confusion. Certainly an important audience are the families that get fully briefed once we know what really happened. The second purpose is to ensure that we get better, right, that we learn from every experience. And that we improve our ability to operate effectively and we improve our ability to reduce risks to our incredibly courageous soldiers and sailors and everybody involved in these missions. Theres no combat mission, theres no enabling mission operated by indigenous forces that is risk free. There will be more on that, and i am not the person to give those answers and i know those are the right questions to ask, and i know the department of defense will do that properly. Reporter [ inaudible ] . So all of these all of the operations that are conducted are conducted based on on approved policy, and approved authorities. Those are, as i mentioned, under constant revision. Situations dont remain the same, right . So its in any of these, not in niger in particular, but in any operation, once you begin the operation you interact with the complex environment and interact with enemies and adversaries and no progress in any of these missions is linear, hey, we will plan this and get to this objective. So enemy actions and Counter Measures and initiatives all play into it. So all of these all of these efforts, and broadly the effort to defeat terrorists organizations that attack us and allies abroad, those are under constant review. Nancy . General, i wanted to talk to you nancy nancy from the wall street journal. I wanted to ask you about a comment john mccain said that he had an easier side getting information from ash carter than he has from secretary mattis and this administration. I wonder if you can speak to that in terms of how you see the comm communication and if there are areas that needs to be improved . Sure. Hurt my feelings. I love and respect senator mccain. I think from a different perspective has done quite a bit with respect to the staffs, and i mentioned the process we undertake, and we have been able to be a lot more collaborative, and use expertise that exists in places like think tanks and ath hill staffs are so knowledgeable. If senator mccain says we need to do a better job communicating with him from our departments, we will do it. This is a problem we can solve. One more question. Conor . Conor with abc news. I wanted to ask about north korea. They said they will not negotiate until they perfect their nuclear capability, and that is a director that said it could be a matter of months. We know that sanctions take time to have an effect, so are you out of time, running out of time to really deal with the issue until it gets too late . Thank you. Thats a great question, and the answer is we are not out of time but we are running out of time, we are running out of time. This is a problem that we have to take on with a great sense of urgency. The president has been extremely clear on his perspective on north korea. Hes not going to accept this regime, threatening the United States with a nuclear weapon. He wont accept it. There are those who have said, what about accept and detour . Well, accept and detour is unacceptable. This puts us in a situation where we are in a race to revolve this short of military action, and Everybody Knows it. I mean, we all know it across the departments and agencies. Our allies and partners know it. China knows it. Russia knows it. So what we need to achieve now is really an unprecedented level of international cooperation. I think the prospects for that are pretty good for that level of cooperation. Because of the president s leadership, in his first meeting with president xi, he said they established a Good Relationship and that was a substantive meeting, and there were three fundamental outcomes of the meeting that we have been building on since then. The first is that this is a recognition that the problem of north korea armed with Nuclear Weapons is not an issue between the United States and north korea, its an issue between north korea and the world. Remember, the old chinese talking points before president xi, was, this is between you and north korea so sort it out. Thats a big change. And the second thing is its clear that the only acceptable objective is denouclearization. This is again different from what we used to hear a lot, a suspension for suspension, and as you eluded to in your question, we are running out of time. We cant take the same failed approach in the past of entering into long drawnout negotiations without any prospect for initial steps, at least toward denuclearization. And negotiations during which north korea continues to advance in its nuclear program, and then we have a weak agreement and then north korea breaks that agreement, and that agreement locks in the status quo as the new normal. We cant afford it anymore. As Ambassador Haley said we have been kicking the can down the road and now we are out of road. The third big result of what we have been following up on, che knees h china has the great deal of influence. What is worse, right . What is worse, that or war . I think we have opportunities that the president has created with a clear policy and with a relationship, not with just china i focused on china to show the shift with the strategies, and what you have seen is great work with the state department in engaging with countries around the world and saying its time for everybody to do more, and you see other countries shutting out the guest workers, which is slave labor by north korean laborers outside of the country. Cutting down on a lot of the elicit activities associated with the regime that gives it the hard currency it needs, and more rigorous enforcement of sanctions. Some of our Southeast Asia partners have done great work here and some of our partners in africa, certainly in europe. So if you are kim jongun you should see a much different perspective when you look out from pyongyang, and a wreck tpheuz that if you think this weapon is going to make you secure, its going to have the opposite affect, and its making you less secure and its time to take a different tact. What we have heard from you today, north korea is close to a lethal end state, and the iranians are on a patient pathway to a lethal evened straight and the administration is developing strategies to try to respond to both of those evened states before its too late, is that fair to say . You know, is it cocktail hour . I was thinking, you know, that sounds pretty depressing. These are opportunities, right, but these are opportunities its a segue to cocktail hour. Free drinks at the bar. This is an opportunity, obviously, to take a clear view of things. If you think about it, what was the previous strategy on north korea . It was kick the can down the road, right . Hope the threat doesnt emerge. Well, thats not a strategy. Its a fantasy. What was the iran strategy . The iran strategy was jcpoa, and that was the strategy, and the pursuit of that enabled iran and its desire, and we should be happy for the president s leadership and the fact that he has directed the National Security team to work across our government with allies and partners to develop strategies that are not based in Wishful Thinking that are based in reality, and will deliver improved safety and security and prosperity for the American People. Thank you very much. I want to invite my colleague, john hanna, to come up and give closing remarks. John has served in three administrations, the highest levels of National Security. Just provide maybe a short summary of what we heard today, but before he does i want to thank you for your service, and thank you for the opportunity to get to know you, and provide whatever Technical Analysis and research we can to be helpful and thank you for making the time today to explaining the strategy to United States and t us and the americamerica people. [ applause ] coming up tomorrow, hillary clinton, amazons ceo, jeff bezos and Billie Jean King will be there. Live coverage starts at 5 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan. Its also on our website, and listen with the free cspan radio app. The u. S. House yesterday approved the 2018 republican budget resolution and instructs the relevant committees, and the bill will be introduced on november 1st. The Senate Finance committee is expected to take action on tax reform later this fall. You can read the budget resolution and tax reform language on our website, cspan. Org. Heres more from a capitol hill reporter. Richard ruben, how does the republican Budget Proposal specifically set up the next steps for tax reform in congress . It does two things. It sets up what is known as reconciliation and thats a fast track procedure that lets the bill move through the senate in particular without any democratic votes. It can get on the floor with a straight up or down vote and republicans have the majority, and can get off the floor, a path with a straight up or down vote. Thats unlike most legislation, and republicans would need some democratic assistance. The budget by the house and