Let me begin with National Security. Tell me how you see from where you sit the threats to america. Ambassador power from where i sit, the u. N. , i see a lot of countries finally getting past some of the free riding that they are used to doing and stepping up in a coalition against isil because of the particular gravity and horror of this movement. Isil is a movement along with al qaeda that we and most countries are very focused on. You would be amazed, it even in latin america and places, they show up at meetings and want to know about terrorists. One of the more worrying developments is russias aggression in the ukraine. Because of the nature of the Security Council, you need the u. S. And russia and other permanent members driving collective solutions. One of the permanent members is lobbing off a part of somebody elses country, it is a problem. It is not clear where putins ambitions end. Charlie he is constrained by where nato countries are engaged. Ambassador power we are engaged in a reassurance project on the eastern flank. But there are many who are suffering. The standoff in syria, still an area of disagreement, we have to make sure this does not lead oversaw the Security Council gets weakened. Charlie was it a mistake to have a veto in the Security Council . Ambassador power back in the day . Not for the u. S. , no. Charlie you had action in libya but the russians regret it. Ambassador power you can understand why this is a very valuable weapon with in our arsenal. Charlie you use it primarily for israel . Ambassador power we hardly use it at all. The number one user of the veto is russia, who has used it five times. Including to refer to the crimes being committed to the International Criminal court career that has cut down the amount of cooperation we have been able to do and has weakened the Security Council. Charlie what are the accomplishments of the u. N. . Ambassador power peacekeeping the Central African republic. You had all the ingredients for a fullfledged genocide. The french, we, and the african members deployed a peacekeeping force. The Central African republic is not pretty, but nonetheless, something much worse was averted. Charlie you get a lot of credit. Ambassador power the french get a lot of credit, and the africans, who put troops in harms way, also deserve a huge amount of credit. Another concrete example is ebola. Heres something that in september of 2014, i was the president of the Security Council. It is a rotating position. We convened the first ever emergency meeting on a health issue. We had Something Like 1000 new cases a week. We are now today, may, 2015, down to about 30 cases. We are going to get the number down to zero. It is a classic example of the United Nations and what it is built for. It is also an example of the indispensability of american leadership. President obama injecting 1. 3 billion. When the epidemic was at its height. Watching the military learn how to put on the suits, how to engage in a safeway. Our medics at the epicenter of the epidemic. The presence of u. S. Troops itself constitutes an inflection point. I think those are a couple examples. The coalition against isil is another example. It is a slow slog as you know. Also to curb the flow of foreign terrorist fighters. The architecture has been built. The coalition has been built. You have seen on the ground in iraq, 2530 of the Populated Areas once controlled by isil have been taken back. Charlie the attack by the saudis in yemen. Ambassador power they are trying to ensure that the government of yemen is restored. Some sort of political framework is recognized by the houthi. Charlie there has been a lot of criticism of the saudis because of civilian deaths. Ambassador power we are urging the saudis to show maximum restraint and vigilance in terms of civilian targets. The humanitarian situation is one of grave concern. Yemen imports 90 of its food. By virtue of the aggression on the ground and the air campaign, it has proved difficult to get fuel and food in. We are looking at a serious humanitarian situation that could turn downward. Charlie it seems to me that is one more place where you see sunni shia conflict. Ambassador power yes, although you speak to people in yemen they are adamant it is not. I can tell you how many visitors say, we have a lot of problems in yemen. We do not make our own food, now we have violence and infighting. But we need to make sure the International Community makes sure in the wake of the takeover of much of the country, the saudi led air campaign, though sectarian dynamics do not take hold in a manner that causes a graver crisis. Charlie what is the status on the ground in iraq . Ambassador power u. S. Led Coalition Air support has taken back, whether it is the mosul dam, 25 or more. They have also taken out oil revenue, the way isil was financing its efforts. In addition to taking out tanks, you are looking at weakening the legs under the movement. Which will be evident over time. Charlie does the United States believe he is doing everything to include sunnis, unlike his predecessor . Ambassador power certainly his predecessor alienated them. We have been clear with the Prime Minister and he has been clear with us that governance alongside airstrikes, if sunni continue to see their lot being better served by a Movement Like isil, we are in a world of trouble. We have seen the recruitment of soldiers, the arming of tribes began. We need to see that for the iraqis themselves. The sunni tribes have to be empowered. Much happened in the Sunni Awakening in 2006. Charlie will there be iranian militias . Ambassador power they are active on the ground. That is something the Prime Minister is going to have to do. Everything is going to have to come under Central Government control over time. Not enough progress has been made on that. We are encouraged by the individuals he has chosen and the statements of clerics who say it is intolerable to have statelets in effect. Charlie he spoke out when there was fear isil was moving towards baghdad. You have seen in your life a lot of violations of human rights, obscenities against humans. How do you rank isil to the other kinds of genocide that have taken place . Is it any different . More visible . Power if you look at the rwanda and genocide, that is an extermination mindset. Certainly what you see in isil is similar. If you do not possess the same ideology, the same horrific ideology, you are a target. To see what theyre doing with women and children, captives they have taken, people who claim to be respecting women and treating them as the hallowed gender, enslaving them and making them sex slaves. Creating camps for kids as young as six and seven years old. I do not know what possesses them. I would put them atop the hierarchy. Charlie is there influence spreading . Investor power they have exploited the new technologies. They have been projecting a message of a juggernaut on the move. Charlie you can be part of something bigger than you. Ambassador power they have also suffered a series of defeats. The more their momentum is blunted, the less powerful they will seem. Nonstate actors are using social media charlie individuals, denouncing what isil is doing. Whether it is individuals in the society that have suffered. Telling me story of what it was like when people were burned in cages or executed. That is an important part of puncturing the myth. Charlie how strong are they on the ground in iraq . Ambassador power when tribes come together and the forces are mobilized, you will see them rolled back. Charlie there is a delay until iraqi forces come together. Investor power unsatisfying know it is for those of us watching isil from far away, the fact is National Governments and actors are going to have to take responsibility. That is a slower process than we would like. I wish we could put this whole thing on steroids so suddenly you would have a big Sunni Movement ready to take on isil. The recruitment is there, the tribes are coming forward. We need to make sure they are paid every they have the weapons that the Central Government trusts is a better deal for them. Then to expect the center to be able to send everything off from there. Trust has been in short supply. Charlie is there a timeline on this . Ambassador power the president has said we are in it for at least three years. A lot depends on how quickly the iraqis move to make the sunni feel part of the population. There are elements of this that are not strictly speaking within u. S. Control. How the actors on the ground respond to the challenges. Coming together. Charlie then there is syria. Charlie your reputation, and also secretary rice, National Security advisor rice, was that you urged the president to intervene in libya. Ambassador power i dont discuss deliberations with the president. Charlie lets assume that is plausible. Why has that fallen apart . Ambassador power it gives me a good occasion to talk about libya. Particularly with the migration crisis charlie people dying because they are trying to leave libya. Killing christians on the beaches. Ambassador power libya is torn apart i strife. Just to go back. I think there is a fair amount of monday morning quarterbacking about what happened in 2011. To recall, qaddafi was himself an actor who across Subsaharan Africa and beyond was forever picking militia, nonstate actors, fermenting trouble. It was the libyan people who rose up, as we see in syria or yemen, once the spark has been lit, the idea that libya in 2011, one was going to stuff the revolution back any box if one had supported qaddafi or been acquiescent in the face of the slaughter he is intended to carry out is wishful thinking. Charlie there is no way we could have allowed him to go into benghazi. Ambassador power at the time, what you are looking at is what appears to be a near certain massacre. It is rare that a leader says, here is what we are going to do. It was a defensible territory. You had the support of the entire International Community. The un Security Council supported the military intervention. That is very different than what we have seen in syria, whether our divisions within the Security Council. With all of that, the president is making a judgment about to the benefits of acting out weigh the costs . The costs seems significant, what would it mean to have libya on fire, given qadhafi and his propensity to support terrorism. Flash forward, now we are in a situation where libya is wracked by conflict. We are throwing our weight behind the u. N. Ambassador. The sad fact, whether it is iraq or syria, ultimately this is going to have to be libyan led. There is a big support between islamists and the more secular house of representative forces on the other. Those forces need to come together and form a National Unity government and turn their sights on isil who are using libya as a base permitted charlie could it have been avoided . Ambassador power the fissures were deep. The leaders were adamant, no Ground Forces or peacekeepers. They wanted a tiny u. N. Technical support mission. We heeded their wishes. To do the opposite would have been, in effect, to go in and occupy libya. That did not seem to be a good idea. Everyone was saying, we would like your Technical Expertise on Security Sector reforms but we do not want your boots on the ground. Maybe that was a mistake, but we were listening to the libyans. Charlie to syria, the president made a clear decision. There were people who supported it and people who did not. Big names supported more assistance. People look back and say, it sent a signal. Would it have made a difference if we had done more for the moderate forces and restricted the rise of isil and other extremist groups . Ambassador power what would have curb the rise of isil is it the Syrian Regime which claims to be fighting terrorists charlie do they have any preference for attacking isil over the moderate forces . Ambassador power there is a time when it appeared there were oil deals. It appeared to us as though the moderate opposition groups, the people who were espousing a pluralistic vision, those were the chief targets and the regime made the calculus they could go after isil later. Having isil was helpful for their calculations. We offered a range of forms of support. President obama won to make sure we had vetting mechanisms to make sure the weapons did not fall into the wrong hands. If you are the commander in chief, that is a reasonable request. We are where we are. We are in investing in the moderate opposition in terms of the training program. Charlie some people say it is not going to make a difference in the and. Ambassador power a great friend of the syrian people. What is challenging about syria, it is arguably the most heartbreaking thing happening in planet earth. You dont wake up without some report of barrel bombs or chlorine. Lets drop them on schools and civilian neighborhoods. Robert is understandably frustrated as we all are we do not have an end to the conflict in syria. Charlie do we have a strategy . Ambassador power our strategy is to support the moderate opposition. They are making gains on the ground. Sadly, the al qaeda affiliate is also making gains on the ground. Charlie isil . Ambassador power people are chipping away at isil holdings. The coalition has not made as much progress in syria. The regime is not putting anybody on the ground to fight isil despite their claims to be contrary. Charlie the regime is not putting any forces to fight isil . At all . Ambassador power the Syrian Campaign generally against insurgents or terrorists has been by and large and air campaign. I dont want to generalize. Isil is now on the outskirts of damascus. While anybody would be very concerned about having isil on the outskirts of your city center, the regime response has been to use, just in the last week, aerial bombardment against a Palestinian Refugee camp. It is not the case the regime is fighting isil nowhere but it is absolutely the case that their priority target has been moderate opposition over terrorists. Charlie now they are trying to make the argument it is either us or isil. Ambassador power we need everybody to throw their weight until we get a political solution, which throws their collective weight against isil until that happens, we will not be joining forces against the true threat to the syrian people. Charlie how are these discussions taking place . How do you talk to him about some relationship, some possibility of transition . If you say to him, you can no longer remain in power, that is not an incentive to negotiate. What is his incentive to negotiate . Survival . Something else . How do you convince him he has got to leave . Unless he leaves, there will be no solution . Ambassador power those who have influence, namely iran, need to look at the bleak picture of syria and the foreign terrorist fighter flow. Make the case that it is in the interest of the syrian people, the region, and the broader security picture for assad to go. Charlie they are making the argument now or not . Ambassador power russia embraced the geneva communique. They never loved it. It said the parties need to come together around a transitional governing council. I think its very important the iranians shift in that direction as well, especially when you see isil making gains near the damascus. When you see opposition secular moderate groups being overrun. Charlie my guest who was here earlier said it is a stalemate on the ground. Ambassador power you have seen more moderate opposition and extremist victories. You have seen the regime on the move. The regime is always able to punish civilians with air power. It remains to be seen whether this is the beginning of a new trend or a phase in the at and below. Charlie when i spoke to assad he said he was not using chlorine gas. I said, would you allow inspections . He said we are not using chlorine gas. Would you allow inspections . Are we anxious to ask to inspect . If in fact he is, what is the case that can be made to change that . How do you change that . Ambassador power we have a fact finding mission. It came back with the highest degree of confidence. That chlorine gas is being used systematically in syria. They described hundreds of witnesses who described helicopters coming and victims who dont have even a scratch. We brought two doctors to the Security Council about three weeks ago in the hopes of shaking people into seeing this cannot go on as business as usual. To your question, our belief is there is a loophole in the International System where all that can be found is high confidence that chlorine was used. They do not have a mandate, have not at the mandate to point the finger at who did it. We need to close the loophole and an attribution mechanism needs to be created. But lets not kid ourselves. Member states know the regime is using chlorine. They need to stop them and make clear the financial and military is going to be suspended unless the attacks stop and go to the negotiating table. On that side of the equation the opposition needs to come together to be a kind of congealed set of actors on the other side of the table. We need a political solution that is going to require isil on one side, they are never part of a negotiation. And groups that want to see the state survive. Every day this war goes on, it is not just the people who are suffering. The state is getting gutted. From within. Charlie i said to him, you are destroying the state. There is nothing here to build. Ambassador power he has a bunch of people telling him everything is great. Happy talk. Charlie you think that means he is not responsible . Ambassador power absolutely not. He appears to have good command and control. The odds of a dictator of that nature getting truth telling on a regular basis is not high. Charlie so many people say, how can we stop this question mark you are saying we are using how can we stop this . Youre saying that we are using everything we can accept boots on the ground. Ambassador power a direct military confrontation. Remember, this is something president obama was prepared to do in august, 2013. In the wake of chemical weapons. There was not a lot of enthusiasm. Charlie he made a different decision. The russians said, we have a deal. We will get them out if you dont bomb. Ambassador power we have destroyed and removed 98 . Removed all of and destroyed 98 of the declared chemical weapons. Charlie how many are not declared . Ambassador power that is an open question. He has gone further and decided to use a household industrial chemical. Almost like a drug user, having his sarin taken away, looking for other ways. The strategy is to support the opposition such there is political and military pressure on the regime such that we can get these talks going. We are going to see a push on diplomacy in the coming weeks. It is our hope that a nuclear deal can go forward. We can get the terms we need and that. We need in that space. We will start to see a shift and iran. Charlie iran may be more receptive to putting pressure on their client. Ambassador power i cant speak for their intention. I wont speculate about what they will or will not do. The backers of the syrian president need to see the writing on the wall. The war will not stop until he is out of power. Ambassador power how far are they from seeing that . Do you think theyre about to see, this regime is terrible and they are going to withdraw support. Ambassador power i think iran is stretched. By syria, by iraq, by whatever support it is offering yemen and wants to be part of the International Community. Wants the sanctions to be lifted. Charlie do they want to be respected as a member of the International Community ambassador power that is what they say. They want to be a member like others. Because of the human rights abuses internally, the detention of some, because of the support for hezbollah and regimes like syria, that is hard. Charlie you are saying it is in the hands of the iranians and russians. It is in their interest to transition out of this government. We will not get this done and until they do that. Without military force, we need to get the iranians and russians to turn on their friend. Ambassador power increase support for opposition groups on the ground that we want to see succeed. This is getting more challenging. That is a critical part of this. These are going to be discrete forces that keep the neighborhood safe when this is over. Charlie is there a possibility that isil could defeat him. They are near damascus. If we thought they were about ready to march into into damascus, what would we do . Ambassador power we are fighting isil. That is something we are seeking to avoid. Not only their advances. Rollback the territory they have taken. We are not just fighting them in iraq. Also, in syria. There needs to be a ground presence, a ground force contesting isil. That is why getting these recruits into syria and making sure they have the equipment charlie have we stopped people crossing the Turkish Border . Is the turkish president doing it . Ambassador power we have seen strides. The awareness that has been raised about foreign terrorist fighters. All of that is for the good. We still have a big foreign terrorist fighter flow. The borders are more porous than we can afford them to be. There needs to be more prosecution of people moving in and out. We have seen countries that suffer attacks, lone wolf attacks or attacks that seem to be more orchestrated by isil command. We see those countries put in place new laws, surveillance balances between National Security and privacy. Often those come after an attack has occurred. Charlie is it true . High officials have, and said, the Assad Government is no longer our top priority. Our top priority is stopping isil in syria. Ambassador power i dont agree with that. Charlie if that is characterizing the administrations position, i dont get is fair. Ambassador power the core belief. President obamas core belief is you will not deal with the isil problems sustainably until the assad problem has been resolved. Part of the reason the fighters are flowing in is because they want to fight assad. You cant kind of separate them. It is true we have shown as a military matter we are fighting isil from the air and not fighting the assad regime. To think you can just make the terrorists going away without dealing with the root cause of the crisis and depriving them of the recruiting tool is wishful thinking. Obama thinks it is wishful thinking. Charlie because of your background, your experience, because of what your life has stood for, on these important questions, or so many civilians are dying, you are the conscience of the administration. Ambassador power the reason senator obama reached out to me a long time ago is he has always grappled with, whether as a senator or president , with the human consequences of decisionmaking. Whether that is decisions to do something or not do something. Charlie the consequences of war. Ambassador power the consequences of war, of assad, the north korean regime. I am even in the mix. I was not a born bureaucrat. Certainty not a born diplomat. Charlie that is why we are curious about this. You are not a bureaucrat in the way you think. Ambassador power what drew me to the now president is how much he cared about the set of things i valued. He was the only senator out of 100 who read my book and wanted to know what to do to stop those career that was not a fluke. Now he is the president. Those questions, have we looked under every stone . What can we do about chlorine . Are we shining a light on north korean horrors . These are the questions he is asking. Charlie i sat down with the foreign minister of iran. He said to me two things. Among other things. I have known him for 20 years and we have had many conversations. He said, sanctions did not bring us to the table. Did sanctions bring them to the table . Ambassador power absolutely. Charlie he said, we do not want a nuclear weapon. Its against our religious beliefs. Is it . Ambassador power i wouldnt even say trust and verify. I would say verify and never trust. Verify, verify, verify. As he noted, there is not a lot of trust between us. Charlie can it be overcome on the question of syria, even iraq and isil . Can that question of not trusting be overcome if there is a common enemy . There is no doubt that isil is an enemy of iran. Ambassador power isil is an enemy of iran. Of humanity. Of the sunni people, just as much as of shia or whoever else. It is important to focus on the challenge in front of us, bring the Nuclear Negotiations to a close. And a close that satisfies our redlines and our objectives. Charlie what is your sense of that . Ambassador power we have a long way to go. Charlie different interpretations of what was agreed on. Back to what you are doing now is that to be expected and can that be overcome . If they say, we can eliminate all the sanctions. You say, no, it has to be phased in. Because it has to be determined right conduct is there a , diplomatic way . Could Richard Holbrook have figured at how to get past it . They say sanctions immediately lifted. We say, phased in based on conduct. Ambassador power if there is a well, there is a way. If there is a will, there is a way. But there is not a will on our side to depart from a core necessity. Which is, they have to do big things in order to satisfy the terms of the deal before you can say these sanctions are lifted. The idea of pay for performance is a basic necessity. Charlie henry kissinger, who you know and can communicate with. Ambassador power seek counsel from. In terms of looking around corners, the long term. The historical sweep he offers. Charlie china, the middle east. Ambassador power i am blessed and amazed i am in the president s and get to represent the president s cabinet and get to represent the u. S. And u. N. Charlie what do you say to secretary kissinger, this is not a good deal for us . Ambassador power i have engaged henry about the contents of that editorial. I think he is coming around with charlie to your point of view the administration . Can we stay with that . Ambassador power he will have to come on the show and answer for himself. I read the oped. If there are discrepancies of fact in terms of his understanding, we want to address that. But the core question is, how do you feel about the terms of the deal and how you feel about it compared to the alternative . The Important Message is to remind them and everyone that sanctions brought iran to the table. There is no question. They want to be out from under them. That is why they are contemplating an Intrusive Inspections regime. Of a kind we have not seen before. No question. Sanctions did not disable their nuclear program. While these crippling sanctions were in place, they achieved a breakout time of 23 months. Charlie for the benefit of our audience, a breakout time means if everything broke off and they made a headline rush to produce a nuclear weapon, they would have the requisite material to make one bomb or more. Ambassador power to have enough material and then he time it would take to turn that into a weapon. Charlie that has been extended to a year by the deal. Ambassador power the kind of inspection presence we have in mines and mills and Storage Facilities goes well beyond what we have had up to this point so we will know more. That cuts off the risk of a covert breakout, which is what people are worried about. Charlie many are worried they can hide it. The inspections will be so intrusive, they cannot. If they do, we restart the sanctions. If that fails, the president has said, it is unacceptable. Therefore there will be a military response. Ambassador power that is a scenario few people want. I want to stress one feature of my world. Part of the crippling sanctions regime that brought iran to where it is now is the multilateral sanctions regime in new york which reinforced what the congress and executive branches did. We are going to make sure we have the ability to snap that are sanctions, but also the snap back at our domestic sanctions as a portion of this but also the International Sanctions in new york. We will do so in a manner that does not require russian and Chinese Support for a vote for snap back a second time around. We are in a different world in 2015 then we were when the architecture was put in place. This is something i talked to dr. Kissinger about. That is not well understood. People think, if they are in breach, you have to go back and start all over. President obama has been insistent the snap back come about by any member of the p5 plus one coming forward. You need to ensure it can happen in a timely enough way where it is a deterrent. Charlie what are we doing about getting access to their history . Ambassador power that is one of the issues are being worked through. Charlie theres a lot of work to be done to make this real. June 30. As you can see, i have Great Respect for you. I remember, Richard Holbrook saying, go read this book and have this woman on your show. It will change your sense of basic human rights and conduct around the world by governments. Thats what he said to me. You have now had a different experience. He was a hero of yours. You have had a different experience. Help us understand in a real way, what is that experience and what has it done for you . How has it changed, if anything, not to her values but a sense of your perspective . Ambassador power probably the part of government that is hardest to understand from the outside is the problem of bandwidth. Scarcity of time in the day. I say that as one who works 18 hours a day, seven days a week it feels like. Particularly these days, when there are so many crises happening. On a given day, i will go from Central African republic to molly to syria to afghanistan. Cuba normalization. The sheer number of issues we are trying to drive toward improvement, closure on a given date is a large number. Imagine if you are the president of the u. S. Charlie that is the reason the president has done everything he can to make his life as efficient as possible. Ambassador power people say would you write the book differently . I would write it the same. Charlie i am interested in what you are going to put in the book you write when you leave government. Ambassador power i think i have a more acute understanding for how an individual can make a difference from government. Way more than i would have had before. The way a room can turn on the basis of the simple argument. When things are trending in one direction. The way the delivery of food pellets to people on a mountain can save hundreds of lives. Deploying just 100 military advisers to Central Africa has virtually decimated the lords resistance army. An investment in ebola galvanized the entire community. I am more convinced about the good the u. S. Can do, the way we can lead. For all the talk of american decline, when we show up on isil, 60 countries came to join. When we showed up on ebola, even more countries including cuba. Which at that time we did not even have diplomatic relations. People are responding to us but also within government, there is an analog for individuals inside the system itself. When you are pushing an issue, when you bring the perspective of people suffering out in the field, if you are concrete and rigorous and prescriptive and you stay at it long enough, you can get the weight of the u. S. Government behind you. That is a formidable responsibility for anybody who serves in government. It is a tremendous privilege. Charlie thank you, madam ambassador. Thank you for joining us. See you next time. Emily live from pier 3 in san francisco, welcome to bloomberg west. Here is a check of your Bloomberg Top headlines. Israel a Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu has a fourth term in power, reaching a lastminute deal with the home party, giving his allies just over 50 in parliament. Stocks took a dive today. Federal reserve chair janet yellen had a warning. Janet yellen the equity market valuations are, at this point, generally, quite high. Now, they are