Transcripts For CSPAN British House Of Commons Debate On Airstrikes In Syria 20151207

One of the key questions, with respect to your observation, how do they respond to pressure . Do they keep things intact . Or do they end up going into a tailspin because they do not expect pressure to have the effect that it does . Do either of you have comments . There was a wonderful table pledged allegiance to isis and wedge of this group has isis accepted to pledge . Thank you for the discussion. Something nadia said, from my understanding, is saudi arabia the mothership . And here we are just focusing on the little actors, the ones actually doing the brutality. But the money, thoughts, ideas are all coming from saudi arabia . Is that the case, the International Community needs to focus on that and to finally have the balls to stop getting oil and giving you money, is that what it is going to take to end it . At this rate, it will never end. We will go after one fruit after another. What the Islamic State forces children to learn in its schools is the weddings writingshools is the. It is being enforced in areas that are under isis control. It is a match. The report compared isis to other revolutionary i think the comparisons should be between them and the journey of Mohammed Abdullah because that is at actually who they aspire it is not so simple. It is not the state itself, it is the people, the 5000 princes, some of them have stronger alliances with the others. It is not so black and white. For those that argue that it is not so black and white, why is it that when a liberal speaks one sentence outline, he is cut like this . You have millions and millions of dollars invested in islamic schools and mosques, that basically perpetuate hate and violence. You would not believe the amount of excitement against the west and the hate. Stop giving us all of this hate. Stop turning people into killing machines. There is definitely an enormous role for them to play. I do not see, personally, that we can tackle this without going to the source. At the same time, it is not the state itself, maybe people within the state. It is not so black and white. I have a question, because yesterday i was at the conference on turkey and they were talking about oil and they said it was not necessarily turkey that was processing the isis oil. It was people in turkey. Basically, the state would not take responsibility for helping isis financially. It is almost like Everybody Knows the problem, but they are not talking about that and how saddams daughter is helping isis. Interpol has a warrant out on her but she is still in jordan. We do not confront these people who are obviously a part of the problem. Is there any plan coming up to actually confront the problem, our allies . Like this addressed, because once i think people are clear about what america expects, maybe change can happen. This is a really important point. We have saudi arabia and particularly turkey in this conflict playing a similar role that say, pakistan did in the war in afghanistan. In which there are clear ways with which they are facilitating the fight and are part of the problem. On the other hand, there are other ways in which they are assisting and which they are of relative utility. The wonderful term i learned for my children, is fienemy. Children is from my frenemy. I think this is how we need to approach these types of states. If saudi arabia is a problem, on the other hand, it is not a particularly stable state. What happens if we because of sanctions or Something Else we did to them, the state false. The state falls. The last thing we need is for one more unstable place in the middle east. That is the worst of all outcomes. We have our hands tied and we need we are going to have to deal with this. What you are talking about is important. Speaking truthfully about what these states are doing, and not doing, having sunshine, having a name and shame policy that is appropriate, i think it is absolutely part of the solution. I think when we need to stop using the term ally, frankly. I want to add to that. With respect to turkey, i see there is a problem on the al qaeda side, then isis side. I think they are generally antiisis, although they occasionally referred to bump the kurds. But are actively supporting al qaeda. I think turkey has taken an extraordinarily dark turn. Dark. Extraordinarily one of the problems for us, for the u. S. , looking at the leverage over turkey, we need the airbase. But, i think we boxed ourselves in with thinking that we need them more than they need us. Right . It is a lot like pakistan during the afghansoviet war. At the end of the day, turkey has a mess on their border. It will affect them a lot sooner than it will affect the United States. I think we have a lot more leverage than we believe. Part of what i think we need to do is recalibrating our role in the region and tried to deal with some of these issues that have been highlighted. Recognize that we have leverage and not allow ourselves to see the u. S. As being dependent. With a few changes in our outlook, we could do a lot more to get concession, or not feeling like shooting ourselves in the foot in the process. When dealing with these groups and determining what their ideology and strategies are, how likely they are to change over time . A coauthor on this paper recently wrote an article contesting what has been a narrative that isiss attack in france was the change in strategy. You recently touched on this. How stable has isisstrategy been . Has isisstrategy changed, perhaps not in that year, but before and after the airstrike campaign . He is referring to the people who are sitting back there. I think they did a very thorough job of looking at the question of whether attacking the west, the terrorist attack, represents the change in isisstrategy. Their conclusion, is that it is not. If you look at the rhetoric of the organization, and reviews actions, including the january plot disrupted in belgium. They tried to do this before, what changes do that they succeeded. I think we are going to see a change, not an strategy, but in resource allocation. I think isis is likely to invest proportionately more resources in external operations, terrorist attacks abroad. It has to maintain its image of having momentum. As it loses ground in iraq and syria, there will be challenges in doing so. They will focus on ensuring themselves in places like sinai, libya, it tunisia, and trying to carry out attacks in in the west to show that they have momentum. They have a social media type strategy. The strategy is to get people excited, and you keep getting them excited. It is a strategy of momentum. That is what it is part of the strategy is, keep people and, replenish their ranks and draw relations to them. Which is why we will have completely fake social media campaigns orchestrated by isis supporters and some Major Organization is going to defect to them. More people would say it and keep saying it and then shabab will issue a statement and say no. Thats happened in some cases where they got Media Outlets to report a battalion they had not yet put it in their videos. It was reported in multiple Media Outlets that they were in isis affiliate. They never were, by isis was able to get a supporter from the organization to issue this release that made it look like it spoke for the whole organization. They have a very momentumbased strategy. I think that the resource of allocation will shift. They tried to attack the west they wanted to attack the west from the outside. They tried well before paris. The broader question is can these groups change is very interesting. The biggest debate is occurring, the brotherhood now, is it the same brotherhood or has it become an electoral force. That is were i think the central debate is, about to what extent these organizations change over time. It is a question that will be that we will be debating for some time to come. We are talking about isis and al qaeda and if we have seen any changes and it has been small and mostly strategic. Nadia we can explain the social media momentum because the vast majority of the recruits are in their 20s. This is in the organization that has an organization that has been intimate relationship with computers. Figure up explains expressing themselves they grew up expressing themselves through computers. That is how they communicate. A freelance journalist, given the tenor of our president ial race and the xenophobia coming out of the gop, it has been in a noticeable uptick with isis and al qaeda . That is a good question. I have not seen it, but i also think it would not manifest itself yet. You are talking about a relatively recent phenomenon over the past few months. Generally, we would start to notice it based upon arrest and understanding the genesis of where people draw their inspiration or grievance from. I think it is possible, i just have not seen evidence for it so far, that there is a noticeable uptick. Naida is talking about how there is so much hatred of the west in the media. Our media, there is so much hatred for muslims. Nadia a night and day difference. I watch fox, cnn, msnbc, really night and day. In the arab world, you have 80 of the population under 40, unemployed, disadvantage, not allowed to legally participate in the government. These socalled allies but all of their energy the media is controlled. We do not have free media like we do here. They take all of the responsibility from the failure of the nation on the west. It is rampant that people think everything that goes wrong is because of the west. That is what they hear 24 7. Thank you very much. As has been a great discussion, i left it. Susan, a retired analyst. I am curious to know what you think i was watching the news this morning, and one of the speakers said that what is happening is world war iii, we are in world war iii. I wonder what you think about that. I also wonder, if we lose world war iii and isis wins, what does our day to day life look like . To the International System that analogy has been made up several times, cold the cold war was world war iii. I think it is possible, if it is world war iii, it is not the u. S. Versus isis. What we are seeing is a broader phenomenon. I think al qaeda and isis are one subset of this phenomenon. Not so much and i were of north america, or europe. But in africa, middle east, places with weak governments. The state plays less of a role. I think we are seeing this global, broader phenomenon with al qaeda and isis if they are the most prominent subsets in which the state is being challenged. Transnationalism is possible now in a way that it never was before. Al qaeda was notable because it was the first global insurgency. Now, transnational is a is very easy. We are also interconnected. You can find transactional operations not just with al qaeda and isis, but with anarchist movements, racialist movements, with groups dedicated to a set of ideals, like anonymous. I am not saying that all of these groups are the same, but they are the same with some state actors that are capable of functioning to some extent at it differs from group to group. To some extent, it is strategic level. The number of countries that have been ripped apart by violence is very high. From syria, mali, libya, iraq. I am not saying it is a failed state, but it is work that hard where you have a violent act or controlling large parts of the territory. I will, not just at al qaeda and isis, but this broader phenomenon. What we will have to do, i think it is two things. We are going to have to better navigate a world of isis is bad, al qaeda is bad, but some groups are either a little bit more ambiguous, or in some ways, a lot of them. We are going to have to navigate this world were all religions are not on state to state level. The second thing is, the analogy i make a lot is between the disruptions and political states and disruptions in the economic state. Like his industries that are a legacy of another time. Look at blockbuster videos and netflix comes along and it is not blockbuster anymore. The analogy i use, the violence looks a lot like startup competitors in the political organizing space. They are able to innovate quickly, they have a streamlined structure, they are able to make strategic shifts in a more rapid way. Like the u. S. They look at how these startups are beating them and they have adapted their structures in some ways. Ultimately, i think that is one thing we are going to have to do. Agility is going to be important in this world that we are in the midst of the we have not adapted to yet. Do we have the last few questions . I am lolita, with the state department, i have a question with the Muslim Brotherhood. Just background i am sure you know, but this is for everyone else, there has been mixed reports about the role they play within isis. 2012, there are videos online on youtube of them raising isis flags in the background while making political speeches. There is also are we talking about egypt . Yes. And a couple of days ago, saudi arabia has ordered that all books written by Muslim Brotherhood scholars be removed from the school system. This is also tying into the msa, i am not sure if you are familiar with that. That also has ties with the Muslim Brotherhood. Is this something that we need to worry about in our universities on our side of the world . Msa is the Muslim Student association. Nadia it is definitely a great thing to ban them, but saudi arabia has a lot more if you compare it to the writings of Mohammed Abdullah, you have isis versus the brotherhood. I think it is clear which one is more violent and more harmful. I think it is pretty important to go at the ideology of exclusion of owning the truth. This idea this egomaniac idea that i know what islam is and if you do not adhere to it, you have no human rights, you are to be butchered like an animal. We need education and values such as religion tolerance, ability to agree with one another without violence, without coercion. How are we going to do this in a fire environment where these are the main mechanisms of influence by our own state . If you want to talk about tolerance and nonviolence, the state has to treat its own citizens with nonviolence. The state is not modeling what it really wants to see. You cannot leave without leading by example. A list there is a human right and participation by the population, i do not see how this will end. Number two, reform from within, we are aware of the limitations of what has been forced on us. We are monitoring a lot of, on social media, it starts off line and goes online. The debates are more audacious and more than anything that i had seen in the west. People do not address the issue at all, it is radioactive. People who live under islamic rule and forced to adhere to one persons vision or another, it is a problem on a daily basis. For example, a jordanian citizen, i can only, if at all, jordanian women do not inherit anything, i could inherit half. This is the list is so long about the abuse to my life. Every day, it is the name of islam. It is a problem. If you look under islamic rule, we need to reform. The modern state came to europe, and is a past that took hundreds of years of abuses and for the state recognized that it is not its place to enforce christianity on people. Then, they said we have to give up this control, and instead of having real states and human rights and participation. We would never have had that. The arab we are learning the hard way. Definitely, the west can help in that debate, but they are not. Lets get a closing statement and comments going down the line. This is a very important report that lays out the distinctions between these two groups. I do not think we should let the distinctions over one the commonalities. At the end of the day, this is in internal view and the entire family is a problem. Nadia i would conclude about the reports, i like the section about tunisia and how dowa efforts can start to we really need to focus on the ideas and the spread of the legal ideas before they become actual, physical violence. As you all noticed, this has been an unusual week as of all the world. Let me first start by apologizing. I misread the invitation before i set my schedule for the day. I am sorry i showed up late. Normally, you do not begin a closing statement with an apology. This is an exception. I would like to thank the teamwork, jason frtiz and bridget who did a phenomenal job with the reports. I want to thank the america for publishing it. This is a phenomenal institution and we are thrilled to have our report associated with it. Thank you, david for moderating this panel. This is a panel i respect deeply, doug and nadia. Overall, i would take this back to where i started. When we look at this period in a couple of years, we will look at this like a missed opportunity. We look back this as a period of missed opportunity. It is happening in the open. Increasingly, you have al qaeda describing isis as a blessing in disguise and saying they were able to clarify who the true shiites war and who the true muslims were. We need to Pay Attention because in the past we have not, they laid out their blueprint for societies like tunisia and we do not Pay Attention to that. We end up overlooking opportunities to stop their plans from coming to for titian. Fruition. Thank you. [applause] up on day next washington journal, Jonathan Martin on the of donald trump. And the director of the Washington University program on extremism details a report on isis supporters in america. And to an examination of the Education Department at school torments grants designed to raise performance in the first performing schools. Grantsol performance designed to raise performance in first performing schools performing schools. On the communicators we will examine how new members are recruited by isis. Were joined by the Vice President of the Media Research institute and mark wallace of group. If you look at the world, the production of media worldwide, if you look at hollywood and madison avenue, there is no doubt there is more of us than them. But if you look at the narrow space group by searching for this type of stuff. In the subworld, the subculture, in this niche they radically outnumber. Have a they should robust discussion in the United States that these countries, they are using these platforms. We have two policies in place that limit to and d9 this. If they do not, we must have a robust discussion do these platforms become support for these terrorists . Watch the communicators monday night at 8 00 p. M. On cspan2. Abigail fillmore was the work outsideady to the home. She successfully lobbied for fines for the first library. Her hairstyle and favorite color us replicated. Jacqueline kennedy was responsible for the White House Historical association. Nancy reagan, as a young at as a young actress, saw her name mistakenly on a that werepporters blacklisted. These stories are documented in , giving first ladies the lives ofk into every first lady and how their legacies it resonate today. The book is based on original interviews and has received numerous reviews including from a researcher and historian who cspan is a national treasure. Said, cspan has performed a valuable book theice with its series on first ladies. Known us can one find such a useful and insightful look at the lives and influence of these women. Said it was an invaluable collection of rare insight on our first ladies and the Important Role they played in shaping america during their husbands tenancy. Cspans book is available as a or hardcover. They sure to order your copy today. Be sure to order your copy today. In an address to the nation, massdent obama discuss the shooting at San Bernardino. He talked about Counterterrorism Measures, including disallowing those on nofly lists to kiss weapons. This is almost 15 minutes. The president good evening. On wednesday, 14 americans were killed as they came together to celebrate the holidays. They were taken from family and friends who loved them deeply. They were white and black; latino and asian; immigrants and americanborn; moms and dads; daughters and sons. Each of them served their fellow citizens and all of them were part of our american family. Tonight, i want to talk with you about this tragedy, the broader threat of terrorism, and how we can keep our country safe. The fbi is still gathering the facts about what happened in San Bernardino, but here is what we know. The victims were brutally murdered and injured by one of their coworkers and his wife. So far, we have no evidence that the killers were directed by a terrorist organization overseas, or that they were part of a broader conspiracy here at home. But it is clear that the two of them had gone down the dark path of radicalization, embracing a perverted interpretation of islam that calls for war against america and the west. They had stockpiled assault weapons, ammunition, and pipe bombs. So this was an act of terrorism, designed to kill innocent people. Our nation has been at war with terrorists since al qaeda killed nearly 3,000 americans on 9 11. In the process, weve hardened our defenses from airports to financial centers, to other critical infrastructure. Intelligence and Law Enforcement agencies have disrupted countless plots here and overseas, and worked around the clock to keep us safe. Our military and counterterrorism professionals have relentlessly pursued terrorist networks overseas disrupting safe havens in several different countries, killing osama bin laden, and decimating al qaedas leadership. Over the last few years, however, the terrorist threat has evolved into a new phase. As weve become better at preventing complex, multifaceted attacks like 9 11, terrorists turned to less complicated acts of violence like the Mass Shootings that are all too common in our society. It is this type of attack that we saw at fort hood in 2009; in chattanooga earlier this year; and now in San Bernardino. And as groups like isil grew stronger amidst the chaos of war in iraq and then syria, and as the internet erases the stance between countries, we see growing efforts by terrorists to poison the minds of people like the Boston Marathon bombers and the San Bernardino killers. For seven years, ive confronted this evolving threat each morning in my intelligence briefing. And since the day i took this office, ive authorized u. S. Forces to take out terrorists abroad precisely because i know how real the danger is. As commanderinchief, i have no greater responsibility than the security of the American People. As a father to two young daughters who are the most precious part of my life, i know that we see ourselves with friends and coworkers at a Holiday Party like the one in San Bernardino. I know we see our kids in the faces of the young People Killed in paris. And i know that after so much war, Many Americans are asking whether we are confronted by a cancer that has no immediate cure. Well, heres what i want you to know the threat from terrorism is real, but we will overcome it. We will destroy isil and any other organization that tries to harm us. Our success wont depend on tough talk, or abandoning our values, or giving into fear. Thats what groups like isil are hoping for. Instead, we will prevail by being strong and smart, resilient and relentless, and by drawing upon every aspect of american power. Heres how. First, our military will continue to hunt down terrorist plotters in any country where it is necessary. In iraq and syria, airstrikes are taking out isil leaders, heavy weapons, oil tankers, infrastructure. And since the attacks in paris, our closest allies including france, germany, and the United Kingdom have ramped up their contributions to our military campaign, which will help us accelerate our effort to destroy isil. Second, we will continue to provide training and equipment to tens of thousands of iraqi and Syrian Forces fighting isil on the ground so that we take away their safe havens. In both countries, were deploying special Operations Forces who can accelerate that offensive. Weve stepped up this effort since the attacks in paris, and well continue to invest more in approaches that are working on the ground. Third, were working with friends and allies to stop isils operations to disrupt plots, cut off their financing, and prevent them from recruiting more fighters. Since the attacks in paris, weve surged intelligencesharing with our european allies. Were working with turkey to seal its border with syria. And we are cooperating with muslimmajority countries and with our muslim communities here at home to counter the vicious ideology that isil promotes online. Fourth, with american leadership, the International Community has begun to establish a process and timeline to pursue ceasefires and a political resolution to the syrian war. Doing so will allow the Syrian People and every country, including our allies, but also countries like russia, to focus on the common goal of destroying isil a group that threatens us all. This is our strategy to destroy isil. It is designed and supported by our military commanders and counterterrorism experts, together with 65 countries that have joined an americanled coalition. And we constantly examine our strategy to determine when additional steps are needed to get the job done. Thats why ive ordered the departments of state and Homeland Security to review the Visa Waiver Program under which the female terrorist in San Bernardino originally came to this country. And thats why i will urge hightech and Law Enforcement leaders to make it harder for terrorists to use technology to escape from justice. Now, here at home, we have to Work Together to address the challenge. There are several steps that congress should take right away. To begin with, congress should act to make sure no one on a nofly list is able to buy a gun. What could possibly be the argument for allowing a terrorist suspect to buy a semiautomatic weapon . This is a matter of National Security. We also need to make it harder for people to buy powerful assault weapons like the ones that were used in San Bernardino. I know there are some who reject any gun safety measures. But the fact is that our intelligence and Law Enforcement agencies no matter how effective they are cannot identify every wouldbe mass shooter, whether that individual is motivated by isil or some other hateful ideology. What we can do and must do is make it harder for them to kill. Next, we should put in place stronger screening for those who come to america without a visa so that we can take a hard look at whether theyve traveled to warzones. And were working with members of both parties in congress to do exactly that. Finally, if congress believes, as i do, that we are at war with isil, it should go ahead and vote to authorize the continued use of military force against these terrorists. For over a year, i have ordered our military to take thousands of airstrikes against isil targets. I think its time for congress to vote to demonstrate that the American People are united, and committed, to this fight. My fellow americans, these are the steps that we can take together to defeat the terrorist threat. Let me now say a word about what we should not do. We should not be drawn once more into a long and costly ground war in iraq or syria. Thats what groups like isil want. They know they cant defeat us on the battlefield. Isil fighters were part of the insurgency that we faced in iraq. But they also know that if we occupy foreign lands, they can maintain insurgencies for years, killing thousands of our troops, draining our resources, and using our presence to draw new recruits. The strategy that we are using now airstrikes, special forces, and working with local forces who are fighting to regain control of their own country that is how well achieve a more sustainable victory. And it wont require us sending a new generation of americans overseas to fight and die for another decade on foreign soil. Heres what else we cannot do. We cannot turn against one another by letting this fight be defined as a war between america and islam. That, too, is what groups like isil want. Isil does not speak for islam. They are thugs and killers, part of a cult of death, and they account for a tiny fraction of more than a billion muslims around the world including millions of patriotic Muslim Americans who reject their hateful ideology. Moreover, the vast majority of terrorist victims around the world are muslim. If were to succeed in defeating terrorism we must enlist muslim communities as some of our strongest allies, rather than push them away through suspicion and hate. That does not mean denying the fact that an extremist ideology has spread within some muslim communities. This is a real problem that muslims must confront, without excuse. Muslim leaders here and around the globe have to continue working with us to decisively and unequivocally reject the hateful ideology that groups like isil and al qaeda promote; to speak out against not just acts of violence, but also those interpretations of islam that are incompatible with the values of religious tolerance, mutual respect, and Human Dignity. But just as it is the responsibility of muslims around the world to root out misguided ideas that lead to radicalization, it is the responsibility of all americans of every faith to reject discrimination. It is our responsibility to reject religious tests on who we admit into this country. Its our responsibility to reject proposals that Muslim Americans should somehow be treated differently. Because when we travel down that road, we lose. That kind of divisiveness, that betrayal of our values plays into the hands of groups like isil. Muslim americans are our friends and our neighbors, our coworkers, our sports heroes and, yes, they are our men and women in uniform who are willing to die in defense of our country. We have to remember that. My fellow americans, i am confident we will succeed in this mission because we are on the right side of history. We were founded upon a belief in Human Dignity that no matter who you are, or where you come from, or what you look like, or what religion you practice, you are equal in the eyes of god and equal in the eyes of the law. Even in this political season, even as we properly debate what steps i and future president s must take to keep our country safe, lets make sure we never forget what makes us exceptional. Lets not forget that freedom is more powerful than fear; that we have always met challenges whether war or depression, natural disasters or terrorist attacks by coming together around our common ideals as one nation, as one people. So long as we stay true to that tradition, i have no doubt america will prevail. Thank you. God bless you, and may god bless the United States of america. s reaction up on twitter to the president s speech, starting with lindsey graham. President obama is a denture it is intentionally misleading the nation about the threat we face. Democratic representatives, many in congress criticize the president ss strategy against isis but do not even have the courage to actually vote on any strategy. Tomorrow, Homeland Security secretary talks about counterterrorism, Cyber Security, and border security. Live coverage begins at 8 30 a. M. Eastern on cspan two. Then we will hear from a texas congressman about National Security and combating terrorism. Cspan see both live on two. Having business before the United States supreme give your attention. Tomorrow, we will look at 10 baker versus carr. Warren calledearl it the most important case of his tenure. These tennessee voters live and serve in the largest cities in tennessee. They are the intended and the actual victims of a statutory scheme out which devalues, reduces and their right to vote one 20th of the vote of rural residents. Estates like tennessee had the majority of rural voters move into the city, yet to the rural districts held voting power equal to the larger urban districts. So the voters challenged at the case toy and took the the supreme court. It became a milestone in supreme as the termsm onepersonone vote is still being debated. You will hear from a former solicitor general and an offer and an author of a book on the subject. That is tomorrow night at 9 00 book,n cspan in and the landmark cases is available on our website. On saturday, john kerry spoke on middle east policy at to brookings institution. Syrian civilt the war into refugee crisis and the iran that nuclear agreement. He remains the fundamental question of all administrations. In the enormous the grateful for brought. Ht that modern i also want to pay tribute to somebody we all wish could be with us. Sandy berger was a friend to me and many of you. He was somebody who loved every aspect of politics and policy. He had a profound understanding of american interests in he to do boththe time what was smart and right. He will be missed. I talked to susan yesterday at the service. It is clear that the legacy of his service will endure. Chaim andet me think cheryl for your gift to all of us. For me to congratulate them in person for the incredible work they do to strengthen the relationship between the u. S. And israel. This forum reflects their commitment. It has become the premier venue for u. S. Israeli dialogue. It is also a great place to. Enerate new ideas that is why i came here to years and why i amyear here today. I consider this an important opportunity to have a critical conversation. The United States has an abundance of programs in the region. Everything from rule of law and issued us to Vocational Training to partnerships in the west bank. We believe profoundly in the capacity for progress. Here. Bassador is sitting he is diminishing, wasting away, folks. But for all of the right reasons. Constantly of the progress we can make depending on a large extent on improved security. We understand that. Security for the region means security for us, also. It is a major goal of American Foreign policy in the middle east. Last month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was clear about the stakes. He spoke about the savagery of daesh, in the turmoil that has displaced millions in the region. He also spoke about the to the vision of two states, two peoples living sidebyside in peace and security. It is important that that not the company slogan, a thoroughly phrase, that it becomes a policy which is what it is meant to be. Spirit, it is americas support for the. Uilders that informs every single aspect of our policy in the region. Holds thee glue that components of our strategy there is ad yes, strategy. I know the criticisms, we know how the chatting heads on Cable Television can command any day the negative because the negative cells and polarizes. That that isean wisdom. That we cantrategy work on together whether we are mobilizing the coalition against terrorism which we have undertaken or try to hold the outbreak of violence which i traveled israel to try to do. Or striving to put in place new foundations for prosperity and stability. Help ensure that the builders and healers in the region have the chance they need to accomplish their tasks. This is a struggle to which we are deeply committed for the outcomeeason that the is vital to our security. That is why we are supporting democratic transition by helping its leaders to reconcile differences and to defend their borders. It is why i was there a few weeks ago from a strategic dialogue. We have worked to support democratic or seizures and strengthen the law. That is why we are engaged in the u. N. Led effort to forge a genuine government in libya. Are convening, we have called it together other nations to join us with Martin Kubler to go with urgency to rome in a few days to convene a conference at it we can help the people of that embattled nation find a common purpose and the internal stability that they literally, altogether a legitimate government around which we can organize future efforts which are essential to being able to push back against daesh which seeks to fill the vacuum. That is why we encourage all parties in yemen to reject violence. In it is why we are working for a negotiated settlement and with the parties working to agree on a process of political transition in which all can participate in the rights of be respected. Will that is why we have led the effort to mobilize a coalition of more than 65 countries to. Ight and defeat daesh i ask you all to remember, 12 months ago, there was no coalition against daesh. Daesh had started to move against most into baghdad. Osul and into baghdad we mobilized forces a we moved immediately to keep faith with our obligations and commitments. The urgency of defeating daesh cannot be overstated. Killerse a mixture of and kidnappers, smugglers, thieves, and apostates who have hijacked a religion in combined medieval thinking with modern weapons to wage and especially savage brand of war. They have conjured a theory that rape of nonmuslim women is ofdoned by god and is a form prayer. The butcher teachers, burn books , shut schools, destroy sacred spaces, including the tombs of the profits jonah and daniel, and they have seized the director of antiquities in theyra, made him kneel in square, cut off his head and left his body tied to a pole. This man was 83 years old. He had been in charge of preserving palmyras Cultural Heritage for more than 50 years. Executes people, not for anything they have done from within our. In for what they believe and how they choose to worship. They are fighting against everything that our ancestors fought for instant for through the course of history and particularly, the 20th century. They have they have a contempt for decency, modernity, liberty, lot. Sacredness of the individual. And for truth. Hasso it is that daesh become an overt, declared threat to the interests of the United States and albany many women. It has fueled a refugee crisis. Now, all of europe. Unitfound impact on europe in recent weeks, we have seen, in paris, egypt, beirut, and elsewhere, the evidence of their desire to carry out and inspire murderess acts wherever they can. That is why obama at the very outset, the moment we saw what they were doing and coming into iraq, he declared that we must defeat daesh and that is why we are now increasing the pace of doing so. The president has defined three missions to achieve our goal, first, mobilize our partners to accelerate the International Campaign to defeat daesh. The second is to work diplomatically to bring in and to the civil war because every single country consistently from the beginning of the Syrian Revolution has said, there is no military solution to this, it has to be political. If you are not looking for, youre certainly not going to find it here and you have to stumble on it out there. Everybody here knows that. Third, lack of strata ensuring that the instability standard created by the war in syria does not spread further beyond its borders and so we israel,port jordan, lebanon, turkey, any country negatively impacted. Our respect to daesh strategy is to attack the organization at its core, in syria and iraq and to strengthen networks is attempting to establish and other countries. We have said from the beginning that this would be a multihere fight but i am telling you that we can already measure important gains. To date, the coalition has launched more than a thousand 200 airstrikes in iraq and syria and the number is rising every day. Year, thet half coalition and its partners have worked with iraqi forces in liberating to create and now 100,000 sunni have been able to return to tikrit to rebuild homes. We liberated sinjar and we have supported them. We have removed terrorist commanders from the battlefields and we have cut off terrorist supply lines. We have been hitting Oil Facilities particularly hard over the course of the last month including in recent weeks the of the 400 tanker trucks have been destroyed and we are out of 25 of the oncetory that is controlled. We are intensifying the pressure ramadi, mosul, recruiting, propaganda. The british have begun the launch strikes of their own, germany is stepping up with support, and we are increasing the presence and capacity of the United States special forces. That the fastest way to defeat daesh is to halt the outflow of refugees by to this war. Nd that is why the second core elephant of our strategy is political. A renewed Diplomatic Initiative which we have led. Convening people in vienna twice within two weeks to create a broader and more actionoriented effort than ever previously attempted in order to isolate terrorism and set syria on the path to peace. Last month in vienna, the interNational Security a support group which we did some in ,ogether in a great effort called for negotiations between the government and the moderate opposition, the targeted to begin january 1. Even just had driving over, i was in touch with folks to talk about what is happening with the saudis who are convening a conference on the opposition are now the opposition and russia and iran are at the table for the first time joining with us in this communique which consensus, unanimous, in which they agreed that there has to be a transition year the shape it takes we will have to fight about it. The governments involved are going to meet later this month. In new york, in order to continue to move this process forward. Our goal is to facilitate a haveition that all parties stated that they support. , a nonsectarian syria, a syria which will choose its own leadership in the future by an election but they have all agreed to be supervised by the United Nations under the highest standards of International Law and elections with fair, fully, transparency and accountability. In order for even the diaspora to be will to vote for future leadership. The purpose of this transition will be to establish a credible, inclusive government. Will include the drafting of a new constitution, relations for internationalsupervised elections within 18 months. I cannot promise you everybody is going to make it happen. But i can promise you that the legitimacy of this effort will and call onomacy all of us to make the choices we need to make in order to end this war. Meanwhile, a nationwide ceasefire will go into effect between the government and the responsible opposition, assuming they come to the table in a processed. Initial imagine what that wanted to take the pressure off refugees, daytoday turmoil. This step would also further isolate terrorism. And enable the coalition and its partners to then go after daesh and other extremists with Greater Unity and power. I want to be clear. We are. Imagine what that wanted to note obstacles that exist for success in this effort or any other one. Nor even the one that i will come to in a few minutes. About israel. It is difficult all of it is difficult. If it were easy, it would have happened long ago. This is a conflict that in many ways has been going on for centuries. It is not new. It doesnt mean it cannot be changed. There remain sharp differences and divisions within the International Community. Regarding syria. Especially, the role of president assad and we have emphasized from the outset that for this to work, the process has to be syrianled and implanted. , anwe also saw in the anna unprecedented degree of International Unity on the need to implement a political transition. I want you to imagine how difficult it is to get saudi arabia, turkey, egypt, qatar, and iran in the same room at the same table for the same purpose. We had representatives from governments that do not agree on much else. Except coming together to support this process. So we have a lot of work still to do but make no mistake, this is the most promising Political Initiative that we have had in years and it deserves to be pursued to the fullest. We have also worked hard to mitigate the incredible burden, the third pillar, the war placed lebanon,ighbors, jordan, iraq, turkey israel. We have contributed more than 4. 5 million the largest contributor of relief and we are constantly encouraging other countries to open their own wallets because even as another forer closes in, the help the help that is needed for the supply. Ighs we have been helping lebanon and jordan to strengthen their ability to defend themselves from external threats. Earlier, u. S. Policy is to support the builders, not the destroyers. Is approach to syria designed with that goal in mind. There are other elements to our strategy because if builders will have the opportunity to succeed, then they have to be shielded hers is much as possible from the sources of in and the potential danger. That is why president obama placed such importance on achieving a negotiated solution to even ons nuclear program. I know some of you here and some of you throw the community and the United States come elsewhere, i know you still have concerns. I understand his concerns. Nobody is blind to that. But we are convinced, based on judgment andnd years of expertise provided to us by our entire Intelligence Community and our Energy Department which manages our own Nuclear Weapons program, that we have the ability to know what iran is is doing doing and we have to do remain committed to the policy that iran will not get a Nuclear Weapon. Two years ago, when our negotiations began, iran and a Nuclear Activities had grown from a few hundred centrifuges to more than 19,000 here that is where we began. The had 19,000. They were spending, they were enriching, they had a stockpile. Already building a heavy water reactor able to produce enough weapons grade plutonium for a bomb for twoyear. That is what they were ordered doing. Iran already had a large stockpile of enriched uranium, enough for one doesnt bonds. That is where we were when we began. Iran couldd us that if he chose to obtain all of the material that it would need for a Nuclear Weapon in as little as two months. We began. En compare that to where we are now. Under the joint comprehensive plan of action, every one of a rons pathways to a bomb is blocked, its a ring and pathway, and plutonium pathway, covert pathway. Due to massive cuts in its uranium stockpile and reductions in its enrichment capacity, all of which the iranians agreed to, people forget we are to have 2. 5 years of compliance under our belt. Because we had the interim agreement. Which rolled back their program. This, the breakout time, the two months that we were living with will now stretch to 12 months for at least a decade. Because of the unprecedented monitoring and verification requirements that we negotiated which are an integral part of this plan, we now have 25 years of daytoday complete visibility on every ounce of uranium that is mind and put centrifuges we track it. Daytoday 24 hours. We have that tracking. We will know if iran tries to break up. I will tell you, they might not, but we will know. We have the same option that we had. Is, if iran did decide to try to get around this, its technicians would have a do more than bury reprocessing facility beneath the ground. They would have to come up with a complete and completely secret Nuclear Supply chain from start to finish. Our experts and the experts in france, germany, britain, china, agree they would never get with such a deception. Of such a complete supply chain. Although some of the specific limitations in the plan apply for 10 years, some of life or 15. Semper 20, some for 25 heres the most important thing, the basic monitoring and verification provisions are in secretary kerry and under the agreement, iran will be prohibited from pursuing a Nuclear Weapon forever. Now, and the u. N. Resolution, i might add. So signing the deal and implementing one are obviously two different things. We have given one of our most capable Foreign Service officers, steve mull, the daytoday job of making sure iran lives up to every single one of the commitments they have made. We will continue to consult closely with our allies as that process goes forward. The iran agreement was considered on its own terms. It wasnt part of some opening the door shift or hope or some, you know, speculation about behavior. It was the right thing to do whether it leads to cooperation or not in other areas because e any effort to roll back irans behavior, my friends, is a heckuva lot easier if they dont have a Nuclear Weapon. We are not making any assumptions about irans future policies because we base our policy on observable facts, actions we can see and verify. The fact is that tehrans policies are a major reason why we work so closely with our partners in the region. And nowhere, nowhere, nowhere is that more evident than with our friend and ally, israel. Prime minister netanyahu will agree we have engaged in an unprecedented level with military intelligence and security cooperation. The defense minister told this gathering yesterday that those relations were superb, and they are. And we are determined to help israel to address new and complex Security Threats because it is changing, and we understand that. We know how this region in turmoil poses a problem. And we are just determined, mr. Minister, to guarantee there is a qualitative military edge. We work with israel every day to enforce sanctions, to prevent terrorist organizations such as and hezbollah from obtaining the financing and weapons they seek, whether from iran or any other source, and we will stand with israel to stop its adversaries from once again launching deadly and unprovoked attacks against civilians. Since 2009, we have provided 20 billion in Foreign Military financing to israel. More than half of all the military assistance we have given worldwide. Over and above that, we have invested some 3 billion in the production and deployment of iron dome and other Missile Defense programs and systems. We saw lives were saved in israel because of that assistance. We have given privileged access. Israel is the only nation in the middle east to which the United States sold this fifthgeneration aircraft. And earlier this year, the president authorized a massive package live resupply package. Diplomatically, our support for israel also remains as rocksolid as we continue to oppose any effort to delegitimize the jewish state or to pass biased resolutions. I have personally been on the phone lobbying, whether it is a Human Rights Commission or counsel or individual, you name it, we are constantly fighting that battle. Just last month, i went to new york and i spoke at a very moving event commemorating the extraordinary speech 40 years ago denouncing the u. N. General assemblys infamous resolution. One of the finest speeches i have ever heard. Patrick moynihan called it the day of infamy when the abomination of antifeminism was given the appearance of sanctions. It was not only absurd, it was a sad day for the United Nations itself. It brought people together to seek nothing less than to grant a global license to hate. And im delighted that he is here. We honor your father because he spoke the truth, and so must we. Antisemitism is there today, it is a threat today, in europe, in the middle east, and asia, and everywhere. No matter what, to defeat it is our responsibility. That, my friends, is a lesson taught to us by history. Which we must never ever forget. But history also teaches us the importance of peace. Because peace is ultimately the best guarantor of security. The United States is deeply committed to secure israels future as a jewish and Democratic State. And we are also committed to an independent and viable palestinian state, where palestinians can live with freedom and dignity. The only way to achieve that is through a negotiated solution that creates two states for two peoples living sidebyside in peace and security. I know how complicated it is today, been out there enough times, i think i understand it. The United States remains deeply committed to helping the parties realize the vision that we just articulated that the Prime Minister and everybody has accepted. It is a vision that we put out there not for our sake, but because it is the best hope for both israelis and palestinians. But ultimately it is up to both sides to take the steps necessary to make peace possible. So today, i want to talk about some of the difficult questions and hard choices that everybody faces. Because there are no easy answers here. It will take leadership, courage, and both sides have to make decisions that could have a profound impact on their future and on the future of the entire region. First, the violence must stop. Nobody should ever be subjected to attacks as they go about their daily lives. And there is no justification for violent targeted against civilians, now or ever, and we condemn these outrageous attacks in the strongest possible terms. President obama has made clear that israel has not only the right, but the obligation to defend its citizens. And we have worked hard to try and find a way to end the violence. We have stressed the importance of refraining from inflammatory rhetoric. And to refrain from steps that obviously are going have an impact on other peoples perceptions. We need to have people exercise restraint, take affirmative steps to reduce tensions. And i have called on the palestinian leadership to do Everything Possible to combat all forms of incitement and to explicitly condemn terrorist attacks. I have urged israeli leaders to bring those responsible for terrorism against Palestinian Civilians to justice, and i applaud the recent arrest that was made in that regard. And we work with jordanianisraeli leaders. Last week, because of our concern about the increased violence, i again visited jerusalem and the west bank. A terrorist attack had just tragically claimed the life of an 18yearold student from my home state of massachusetts. And president obama and i both talked to his family. It brought home to us the her level of grief parent feels with the loss of a child, and particularly under those circumstances. We also had brought home to us the urgency of preventing the senseless loss of more innocent lives. Now i heard Prime Minister netanyahu described the fears israel lives with on a daily basis. And i heard his obligations to provide them with basic security. And the president spoke more despairingly about the sense of hopelessness the Palestinian People feel. And i have been traveling over there since the 1980s. I have spent more time with him than any other leader in america today. I have had a lot of discussions with both sides over the past two years. And let me tell you the level of distrust between them has never been more profound. Israelis believe the palestinians will never accept israels right to live in peace as a jewish state, and that they are teaching hate and glorifying terrorists. And that a Peace Agreement would turn the west bank into another gaza. I have heard all that. The palestinians believe this government will never give them a state, and that their land is being systematically taken away, and the daily indignations of occupation will never end and that there is impunity for attacks against palestinians. Heres what i know. The israeli and Palestinian People deserve better. But the current path is not leading to a more peaceful future. I am concerned that unless significant efforts are made to change the dynamic, and i mean significant, it will only bring more violence, more heartbreak, and more despair. That is a fear. Not a threat. Secretary kerry and changing course will require real courage, leadership, and difficult choices. The palestinians must decide what kind of future they want for their people. This form focuses on u. S. Israel relations, but i want to highlight some of the key questions now facing the palestinians. How would ceasing security quite a nation and cooperation, and dissolving the Palestinian Authority, which some over there have suggested how would that bring them closer to peace . Isnt it the Palestinian People who would then suffer most . Do they really believe that boycotts and efforts to delegitimize israel or pass biased resolutions will help them achieve a palestinian state . The president has long been committed to nonviolence. Dont forget that. But our palestinian officials are really doing Everything Possible . Dont these terrorist attacks against innocent civilians deserve condemnation . And how can israelis be assured that the palestinians are truly prepared to end the conflict and allow them to live in peace as part of a two state solution . How do they address israels concerns about not creating another situation like gaza and the west bank. All kinds of security and other kinds of steps could be taken, and buffers and guarantees and oversight and cooperation, countless answers if you want to find them. Israelis are appropriately debating some of these issues. Some officials in israel have reportedly argued it is not in israels interest to have a Palestinian Authority. Prime minister netanyahu made clear he does not wish for the collapse of the pa because despite serious differences, he recognizes the alternative could be worse. Nobody can tell you what the alternative is in a world buzzing with daesh and hamas. Circumstances i believe force us to consider it seriously. Because there are valid questions as to how long the pa will survive if the Current Situation continues. Mark my words. Remember, there are some 30,000 Palestinian Authoritys Security Forces in the west bank, and Israel Security officials acknowledge their key role in preventing the situation from spiraling out of control, including during the turmoil of three wars with gaza. Didnt blowup in the west bank. Without the pa Security Forces, the idf could be forced to deploy tens of thousands of soldiers to the west bank indefinitely to fill the void. Are israelis prepared for the consequences . When the inevitable friction is to confrontation and violence. What are the financial and strategic costs when israel is already facing new threats in the region . Are israelis ready to accept the risk, chaos, and desperation and allow terrorists to fill the vacuum . Without the pa, israel would also shoulder the responsibility of providing basic services in the west bank, including maintaining schools, hospitals, and law and order. Are israelis ready to make up for over 1 billion a year in assistance that were no longer be provided by the International Community because it is no longer there . What would happen if the Palestinian Economy and private sector collapsed and there was widespread unemployment, poverty . This brings us to a broader question. If there is a risk that the pa could collapse, and it is in israels interest for it to survive, as the Prime Minister suggested, should more, therefore, not be done to help sustain it . This really goes to the heart of the bigger debate. Because the truth is that many of those arguing against the pa simply dont believe in two states. The Prime Minister has been clear, he does not want a binational state and he remains committed to the vision of two states for two peoples. But at the same time, many current israeli ministers have been clear they oppose a palestinian state not just now, but ever. So my friends, we cant come to a forum like this, we cant have meetings, we cant go back and fourth and maintain the norms of diplomacy and pretend we have to be honest about whether a one what a one state solution. First, nobody should below the into complacency that the pa would still be there under those circumstances. The chances that it would collapse increase over time every day now, let alone what would happen if that were the direction youre moving in. It would collapse sooner rather than later, along with all of the other risks. Lets focus on a few other critical questions that that approach raises. Im just asking questions. How does israel possibly maintain its character as a jewish and Democratic State when from the river to the sea there was not even the a jewish majority . Then, next question. Would millions of palestinians be given the basic rights of israeli citizens, including the right to vote . Or would they be relegated to a permanent underclass . With the israelis and palestinians have segregated roads and Transportation Systems with different laws . Would anyone really believe they were being treated equally . What with the International Response be to that, my friends . How could israel ever have true peace with its neighbors as the Arab Peace Initiative promises and as every arab leader i have met with in the last year reinforces to me as recently as in the last month that they are prepared to do . But how will they do that if there is no chance for a two state solution . How will the arab street let that go by . I think the answers are to make it clear to all, the one state solution is no solution at all for a secure Jewish Democratic israel living in peace. It is simply not a viable option. And, no less a statesman the man i admire most in the world, one of the most eloquent people i have ever heard talk, as perez put it himself, anyone who rejects the two state solution wont bring a one state solution. They will instead bring one war, not one state. So, my friends, that again brings us to a broader question. If the two state solution is only the option, what can be done to advance it . I have a 100 voting record over 28 plus years, and i remember the great fans we have made over friends i made over there, but i ask people to answer this question as honestly as possible. This is not an abstract issue that you can put off for some distant day. The status quo is simply not sustainable. And the fact is that Current Trends, including violence, settlement activity, demolitions are imperiling the validity of a two state solution. I cant stress this enough. The terrorist attacks are devastating the hopes of israelis who want to believe that peace is possible and the violence must stop. Yes. The palestinian hopes are also being dashed by what they see happening every day. The transition to greater Palestinian Civil Authority contemplated by the oslo process has, in many ways, been reversed. In fact, nearly all of area c, which comprises 60 of the west bank, is effectively restricted for any palestinian development. Much of it claimed for israeli state land or settlement counsel. And settler outposts are regularly being legalized while demolition of the palestinian structures is increasing. You get it . At the same time, the settler population in the west bank has increased by tens of thousands over just the past five years, including many in remote areas. Settlements are no excuse for violence. No, they are not. And we arent clear about that. But the continued settlement growth raises honest questions about israels longterm intentions. And will only make separating from the palestinians much more difficult. There are no easy answers, but we cant stop trying to find solutions that move us closer to peace. That is why president obama has called on both sides to demonstrate with actions and policies a genuine commitment to a two state solution. The quartet has suggested steps on the ground that would reverse Current Trends and resume the oslo transition in ways that do not affect israels security at all. And i want to stress that point. Increasing Palestinian Civil Authority does not happen at the expense of israeli security. In fact, strengthening the Palestinian Economy will enhance security for palestinians and israelis alike. And the palestinians must also meet their commitments. Including combating violence and incitement, improving governance, and building their institutions. The steps, my friends, can be a very important beginning, and they will never take the place, however, of a real, credible political horizon for two states that meets the legitimate aspirations of both peoples. But these steps could help begin to reduce tensions, build some trust, restore a measure of hope, open up new possibilities, and hopefully create some political space for people to be able to make bigger, more critical decisions. Again, i repeat, i know these are difficult decisions. I understand why israelis feel besieged. I understand why palestinians feel there is no hope. And there will always be a reason not to act. You have to keep those questions i put you in front of you every moment of that time. Now is the time to see beyond the politics of the moment and to look to the future. Both sides need to act in the longterm best interests of their people, not as a kind of concession. It is not a concession. It is not a concession to be doing things that make you safer and broaden the political space to make choices and to begin to give justice and sense of rectitude to agreements which have been signed. And if everybody keeps waiting for the other person to move first, the risk is the situation spirals downwards and it makes it harder to ever be that firstperson to move. We obviously hope that both sides will choose a path that leads towards peace. We want both to show that they are serious. And we will be there every step of the way in every way possible. We will support them in that effort. We are ready to bring jordan, egypt, the rest of the gulf states, others to the table for a Regional Security arrangement that includes israel that will make the entire region safer. And i know that many in the region are absolutely committed to recognizing israel in the way that israel wants to be recognized and move forward, to begin to make the region a Financial Hub and an agricultural and technology for the world. We all know from years of discussion an effort this is not an impossible dream. It is achievable, but it demands we never lose hope and we all draw strength from those who have sacrificed so much for peace. Yitzhak rabin, who was murdered 20 years ago last month is the example of that. The Prime Minister did take risks. He dared to take bold initiatives to end the conflict because he knew the answers to some of those questions i posed. Because he knew the alternative. Because he believed it was essential for the future security and prosperity of the jewish and Democratic State of israel, and because he understood the on the complicating factors, that influenced the events in the region, that this is a struggle that transcends any distinction of national or religious identity, a struggle between people who are intent on opening wounds versus those who want to close them. He is gone. But his legacy in jurors as a his legacy endures as a challenge and inspiration to all of us. I encourage all of us to use our words and our actions to advance the cause of peace. Thank you very much. [applause] [indistinct chatter] thank you very much, mr. Secretary. It is wonderful to have you here again. That was a really great speech. I just want to say on behalf of everybody here how much we appreciate everything that you do, your untiring efforts in every regard. You are an inspiration and we hope that your energy never tires. In that regard, i got a sense it is up to them now. Its up to for minister netanyahu, the Palestinian Authority, and the government. You have done with you can. Is that the message you are sending here . I should askry him all the questions. Mr. Indyk i was the only one that could ask you questions because i think they are worried about your answers. [laughter] in that regard, there was a certain sense, i felt, and what you had to say of frustration. And that the underlying message, correct me if im wrong, is basically it is up to them now. And it is up to netanyahu and the Palestinian Authority on the government of israel. In a sense, you have done what you can, and they are going to have to take the steps. Is that the message . Secretary kerry not completely. No, not entirely. Is there some frustrations . Sure there is. We made great progress, and they know we really advanced the ball in many different ways. Were close on certain things. And then things got in the way of it. I dont want to go backwards and talk about that, but i think that i believe we do still have i dont think it is just exclusively up to them, but it is mostly up to them. We can help shape, we can support, we can provide a foundation which will give them confidence that if they do x, y, or z, we will be there, others will be there, and following things will happen. And i think the United States always plays a very Critical Role in providing that kind of assurance. And we are a, i think, unparalleled convener on the planet. We have the ability through many years of relationships to be able to bring people to the table to help in these matters. But fundamentally, i say this very respectfully, there are a couple cabinet members here and folks outside the cabinet on the other side of the fence, the choices are clear. If if abbas gets weaker, i believe that is a danger for israel. How is israel advantage to have chaos in the west bank or have another war . Gaza is ready to you know it is very, very tense. And it is very important for us to take steps with respect to gaza and the west bank together. I think the Prime Minister has some good ideas about gaza. There are some things he is prepared to do there, but obviously, the violence has made , the climate a difficult when politicians are screaming at you from one side or the other. That you are not doing enough, this and that. It closes the political space. But nevertheless, you have to do what is in the best interest of the country. And its security. And i believe strengthening the Prime Minister and it hasnt happened sufficiently for years is critical because if you dont strengthen the one person who is most committed to nonviolence, you send an incredibly negative message to all the rest of the people who are frustrated. And they will finally say, well, we cant do it that way. They tried it for 30 years. We got oslo. It was signed. Madrid, all these things were done and signed, but nothing happened. Folks you cant do that. , you know, you have to give life to these instruments, or want to find ways to give life to them, in order to build that different set of possibilities. Right now, youve got a lot of young people growing up in the west bank who dont have jobs, they dont see a future. And the question is, what choices are they going to make . I think israel has a vital National Security interest in wanting to do more, and i believe i say this nicely but i believe there are people within the security establishment of israel who believe what i just said. So, it is not exclusively up to them, but it is predominantly up to them. And there has got to be a greater indication of the things that both are willing to do to move down this road. Mr. Indyk can you without violating any diplomatic protocols can you give us a sense of what those things should be . Secretary kerry well, an example, oslo called for. Oslo divided the west bank into three sectors. C. B, a is a sector which has exclusive security and administrative rights to the palestinians. B is a split. Security in israel, administrative to palestinians. And c has both in the hands of the israelis. C is 60 , as i just said. And so, a, regrettably, has seen multiple incursions of Security Forces from israel notwithstanding that it is supposed to be exclusively within the jurisdiction of the palestinians. And the reason for that is that israel asserts they dont do it. Or that they havent done things to protect israel. And israel gets wind of some the some nefarious activities, so israel is going to resort to selfhelp. And im sympathetic to that. But there should be a greater effort cooperatively with everybody, including us, by the way. We have a role. We have a person represented, we work with some of the training, the jordanians do it. We need to do more to guarantee they are getting the job done and work with them and uphold the agreement. But more importantly, what we need to do now and the reason we need to do this, when i first went over there three years ago and we started this process, we put in a whole bunch of economic measures. Opening the bridge for a period of time, increasing the amount of water that flowed, increasing permits for work, lowering the age for this or that. We get a lot of things. Some were fully implemented, many were not. But those were the things we agreed on. The problem is now we are three years down the road with a disappointing process in the intervening time that reduces trust and hope, and so just coming in with the same kinds of measures will not get it done again. So what im trying to persuade people is that you have to go a little further to indicate to the palestinians a political horizon. Something that begins to say to them, yes, you can have a state. There is a way to get there. Here is what you have to do. And begin to open up some opportunities in area c for them to build, to have some agriculture, do some business, and begin to strengthen themselves. That would began to send a very different message. It doesnt mean you have a big negotiation, it is not opening up a whole new set of promises for some outcome you can produce, but it is real and tangible in terms of the transition to oslo and to rights. As i said earlier, it does not have any negative impact on israels security because in area c you would still have a legal right to israel for full security. It only affects their right to build some housing, not to have their houses demolished, and to begin to have some hope. That is one of the steps we are looking for. Mr. Indyk and it sends a signal that the area is not going to be in israels hands for ever. Secretary kerry that is absolutely correct and that is , very important, my friends, because right now because of the municipality laws and because of the settlements that are there, there is a significant reduction in the availability. There is a lot of area c that has actually been, as i said, taken under state control and therefore not available to palestinians, which raises their questions about whether it is ever going to come back to them or not and where israel is really going with this. So both side have legitimate questions. The other day i was in cyprus. We are working very hard to try to break a frozen conflict. And i had dinner. I had dinner with the leader of the turk cypriots and the leader of the greek cypriots. And they are talking to each other. We had dinner together. And they sat there and had a discussion about how they could provide for each others security. That doesnt happen in this conflict 1948 it just doesnt happen. So we have to change the paradigm. And rather than keep blaming each other, weve got to start saying, weve got to build. I just talked to about builders. We need to build. And that is what we think these policies could begin to do. Mr. Indyk what do you want to see him do . Secretary kerry he needs to change the rhetoric above all. I was very direct with him about the mosques. And there were some very insightful comments made. I think one of the problems is he now doesnt control some of the people, he doesnt control an arab israeli who runs around with a pair of scissors or grabs a knife. In fact, nobody, to some degree, controls that now. That is social media driven. And it is a reflection of some of the challenges we face in fighting daesh in terms of the youthful populations that have no sense of future. The issue here is can the palestinians work to deal with a transition in their own governance, which has to improve . There are levels of some corruption and challenges within the pa that have to be taken on. There are in addition to text books, education, maps, things like that. A lot of things that could begin to change that would reflect her to israel that the palestinians are working sincerely. But if you are not sitting down if all you are doing is hurling invectives at each other on a daily basis, there is no prayer in be getting back on of conversation. Other than the security exchanges, which he is responsible for ultimately, there is good cooperation there. They are working still, despite everything else. If that could be translated to another level, you could begin to break down some of these barriers. Mr. Indyk i am very conscious of the presses on your time. So just one more question. You have done an amazing job in managing to get all of these external parties around the table, even though, as you said in your speech, they disagree on so much. How do you see them actually getting to agreement between iran with its commitment to the regime, because if he were to go they feel that their whole position in the region would go . The russians who fear that if he goes there will be chaos, and the saudis who wont do anything unless he goes how do you navigate that . How do deal with the fears about the day after . Because that seems to be what motivates a lot of the concern. Secretary kerry i think the key is that you dont have one day after. You have a process, and this is what we worked very hard to achieve. I had a very constructive meeting with the Russian Foreign minister in belgrade the other day on the sidelines of the osce. And that followed a very constructive meeting that president obama and i had with president putin the day before in paris. Two days before in paris. Where we really talked about these hard kinds of questions. Believe it or not, despite all the other problems, it was genuinely constructive in trying to find answers. I think russia understands, and i think iran is coming to understand, that no matter how much you might want to keep assad, even if were the most i in the world even if we were the lets say secretary kerry say we said we wanted assad and go fight daesh. Couldnt do it. You cant do it. There is no way to stop the support for the sunni fighters. And remember, most of this is on that side of the ledger. There is no way to stop them from attacking and going after assad as long as he is there. No matter what your feelings are about supporting him, you cant end the war. And if your goal is to get daesh out of the picture, which ours certainly is because part of daeshs attraction is the fact that it is there and it has this caliphate that is taking on the russia and the United States and giving people a sense of external assault by the rest of the world, which if you have the right narrative you can build , into a pretty good recruitment tool. And that is what they are doing. And that is the danger. And so if assad stays, those who are continuing to fight assad will attract more jihadis, more daesh. And ultimately it is they who will be the tougher fighters and the better armed and the more perceived as capable of getting rid of assad. Then what do you have . That is your day of implosion not progressive transfer that. Right now, russia has just plunked itself in, gone into the fight to support their friend assad, but in doing so they are supporting hezbollah, iran, and assad. If you have an interest in having a relationship with the sunni world, which they do, that is not a good equation. So, i think there is a there is a reason here. That is what happens always in diplomacy, obviously. Or in anything. In politics. People have to have a reason for doing something. They have to have an interest. Defined. Rest has to be you have to make it tangible. In this case, russia has lost an aircraft. They have seen what has happened with respect to the beheading of their russian citizen the other day. There is i just saw todays newspapers, which had a report on unrest in russia because of the economic situation. So i think there are reasons we all have to want to end this as fast as possible. And what weve tried to set up is a transitional negotiation where assad has to under the geneva communique begin to devolve some power. The election is fixed. We all said we are going to have an election. Even iran and russia accepted that. Iran had its own postal of pose constitutional ceasefire. A constitutional rewrite. A unity government. Even iran is pushing for a transition of some kind. And the question here is when and how can we get to the point where it is clear that really assad has to make a choice, and you can have a smooth transition where they are protected, the christians are protected, the jews are protected, the sunni are protected, and you have all segments of society . The other thing, as i said, which is not a small deal, is a nonsectarian unified state. It is absolutely vital to have iran, turkey, jordan, lebanon, russia, United States, and all of the other allies and Coalition United and wanting a in wanting a united syria. I think this is a decent shot. If russia and nd iran stand as iran are a block and allow assad to stiff the process and we get no transition at all, then it would be clear who the problem children are and our options will be narrowed and we will have to make some tough choices because we cannot allow this to go on. It is a Security Threat to the United States and to every country in europe. Its not just the threat in glurep terms of what happened in paris and elsewhere. Its a threat because this migration can alter the politics of europe in an existential way. We have a responsible to recognize danger. Ere are more than 200 chetch anyians fighting who could return it to their muslim population. There are people that have an interest in what weve been doing and i think its the right strategy and weve been trying to underscore what those interests are and get to act on those interests and if we can do that, we may get somewhere. Im not sitting here saying this will work. Im saying it could if everybody plays the role making the right choice of the road that they go down. But if they dont were still going to destroy daesh. Were just going to have to do it in a different way. Mr. Secretary as you head on, i think i speak for everybody here. We wish you god speed and thank you for all that you do. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions Copyright National able satellite corp. 2015] the Associated Press reported today that israels Prime Minister is now heading but national state. N his weekly Cabinet Meeting benjamin na tanya hue said in order to have peace the other side needs to decide that it wants peace as well. Tomorrow a wilson serp discussion on the Government Security process with intelligence expert who is previously worked for the bush, clinton and obama administrations. See that live at 10 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan. Monday night on the communicators. Terrorism and the use of social media. Well examine how social media is used by various terrorists and groups to radicalize people and groups all over the world. Were joined by the president of he research Media Research institute. Both guests testified on social media and social terrorism. If you look at the production of media worldwide, if you look at madison avenue and hollywood, theres no doubt that theres more of us than there are of them. But if you look at the narrow space where people are searching for this type of stuff and this sub world, this sub culture. So in the niche they outnumber everyone else and sending a different message and that of a Counter Terrorism mess safpblg think we ought to have a robust conversation in the United States that are on notice that their platforms are being abused. I think we have to have policies. Place if they dont we have to have a real robust discussion at some point that do these platforms support from these terrorist groups. Watch the communicators monday night at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan two. President obama discussed the Mass Shootings in San Bernardino, california. He talked about Counterterrorism Measures including preventing those on the nofly list from purchasing guns, making it harder to purchase assault weapons. This is almost 15 minutes. The president good evening. On wednesday, 14 americans were killed as they came together to celebrate the holidays. They were taken from family and friends who loved them deeply. They were white and black; latino and asian; immigrants and americanborn; moms and dads; daughters and sons. Each of them served their fellow citizens and all of them were part of our american family. Tonight, i want to talk with you about this tragedy, the broader threat of terrorism, and how we can keep our country safe. The fbi is still gathering the facts about what happened in San Bernardino, but here is what we know. The victims were brutally murdered and injured by one of their coworkers and his wife. So far, we have no evidence that the killers were directed by a terrorist organization overseas, or that they were part of a broader conspiracy here at home. But it is clear that the two of them had gone down the dark path of radicalization, embracing a perverted interpretation of islam that calls for war against merica and the west. They had stockpiled assault weapons, ammunition, and pipe bombs. So this was an act of terrorism, designed to kill innocent people. Our nation has been at war with terrorists since al qaeda killed nearly 3,000 americans on 9 11. In the process, weve hardened our defenses from airports to financial centers, to other critical infrastructure. Intelligence and Law Enforcement agencies have disrupted countless plots here and overseas, and worked around the clock to keep us safe. Our military and counterterrorism professionals have relentlessly pursued terrorist networks overseas disrupting safe havens in several different countries, killing osama bin laden, and decimating al qaedas leadership. Over the last few years, however, the terrorist threat has evolved into a new phase. As weve become better at preventing complex, multifaceted attacks like 9 11, terrorists turned to less complicated acts of violence like the Mass Shootings that are all too common in our society. It is this type of attack that we saw at fort hood in 2009; in chattanooga earlier this year; and now in San Bernardino. And as groups like isil grew stronger amidst the chaos of war in iraq and then syria, and as the internet erases the distance between countries, we see growing efforts by terrorists to poison the minds of people like the Boston Marathon bombers and the San Bernardino killers. For seven years, ive confronted this evolving threat each morning in my intelligence briefing. And since the day i took this office, ive authorized u. S. Forces to take out terrorists abroad precisely because i know how real the danger is. As commanderinchief, i have no greater responsibility than the security of the American People. As a father to two young daughters who are the most precious part of my life, i know that we see ourselves with friends and coworkers at a Holiday Party like the one in San Bernardino. I know we see our kids in the faces of the young People Killed in paris. And i know that after so much war, Many Americans are asking whether we are confronted by a cancer that has no immediate cure. Well, heres what i want you to know the threat from terrorism is real, but we will overcome it. We will destroy isil and any other organization that tries to harm us. Our success wont depend on tough talk, or abandoning our values, or giving into fear. Thats what groups like isil are hoping for. Nstead, we will prevail by being strong and smart, resilient and relentless, and by drawing upon every aspect of american power. Heres how. First, our military will continue to hunt down terrorist plotters in any country where it is necessary. In iraq and syria, airstrikes are taking out isil leaders, heavy weapons, oil tankers, infrastructure. And since the attacks in paris, our closest allies including france, germany, and the United Kingdom have ramped up their contributions to our military campaign, which will help us accelerate our effort to destroy isil. Second, we will continue to provide training and equipment to tens of thousands of iraqi and Syrian Forces fighting isil on the ground so that we take away their safe havens. In both countries, were deploying special Operations Forces who can accelerate that offensive. Weve stepped up this effort since the attacks in paris, and well continue to invest more in approaches that are working on the ground. Third, were working with friends and allies to stop isils operations to disrupt plots, cut off their financing, and prevent them from recruiting more fighters. Since the attacks in paris, weve surged intelligencesharing with our european allies. Were working with turkey to eal its border with syria. And we are cooperating with muslimmajority countries and with our muslim communities here at home to counter the vicious ideology that isil promotes online. Fourth, with american leadership, the International Community has begun to establish a process and timeline to pursue ceasefires and a political resolution to the syrian war. Doing so will allow the Syrian People and every country, including our allies, but also countries like russia, to focus on the common goal of destroying isil a group that threatens us all. This is our strategy to destroy isil. It is designed and supported by our military commanders and counterterrorism experts, together with 65 countries that have joined an americanled coalition. And we constantly examine our strategy to determine when additional steps are needed to et the job done. Thats why ive ordered the departments of state and Homeland Security to review the Visa Waiver Program under which the female terrorist in San Bernardino originally came to his country. And thats why i will urge hightech and Law Enforcement eaders to make it harder for terrorists to use technology to escape from justice. Now, here at home, we have to Work Together to address the challenge. There are several steps that congress should take right away. To begin with, congress should act to make sure no one on a nofly list is able to buy a gun. What could possibly be the argument for allowing a terrorist suspect to buy a semiautomatic weapon . This is a matter of National Security. We also need to make it harder for people to buy powerful assault weapons like the ones that were used in San Bernardino. I know there are some who reject any gun safety measures. But the fact is that our intelligence and Law Enforcement agencies no matter how effective they are cannot identify every wouldbe mass shooter, whether that individual is motivated by isil or some other hateful ideology. What we can do and must do is make it harder for them to ill. Next, we should put in place stronger screening for those who come to america without a visa so that we can take a hard look at whether theyve traveled to warzones. And were working with members of both parties in congress to do exactly that. Finally, if congress believes, as i do, that we are at war with isil, it should go ahead and vote to authorize the continued use of military force against these terrorists. For over a year, i have ordered our military to take thousands of airstrikes against isil targets. I think its time for congress to vote to demonstrate that the American People are united, and committed, to this fight. My fellow americans, these are the steps that we can take together to defeat the terrorist threat. Let me now say a word about what e should not do. We should not be drawn once more into a long and costly ground war in iraq or syria. Thats what groups like isil ant. They know they cant defeat us on the battlefield. Isil fighters were part of the insurgency that we faced in iraq. But they also know that if we occupy foreign lands, they can maintain insurgencies for years, killing thousands of our troops, draining our resources, and using our presence to draw new ecruits. The strategy that we are using now airstrikes, special forces, and working with local forces who are fighting to regain control of their own country that is how well achieve a more sustainable victory. And it wont require us sending a new generation of americans overseas to fight and die for another decade on foreign soil. Heres what else we cannot do. We cannot turn against one another by letting this fight be defined as a war between america and islam. That, too, is what groups like isil want. Isil does not speak for islam. They are thugs and killers, part of a cult of death, and they account for a tiny fraction of more than a billion muslims around the world including millions of patriotic Muslim Americans who reject their ateful ideology. Moreover, the vast majority of terrorist victims around the world are muslim. If were to succeed in defeating terrorism we must enlist muslim communities as some of our strongest allies, rather than push them away through suspicion and hate. That does not mean denying the fact that an extremist ideology has spread within some muslim communities. This is a real problem that muslims must confront, without excuse. Muslim leaders here and around the globe have to continue working with us to decisively and unequivocally reject the hateful ideology that groups like isil and al qaeda promote; to speak out against not just acts of violence, but also those interpretations of islam that are incompatible with the values of religious tolerance, mutual respect, and Human Dignity. But just as it is the responsibility of muslims around the world to root out misguided ideas that lead to radicalization, it is the responsibility of all americans of every faith to reject iscrimination. It is our responsibility to reject religious tests on who we admit into this country. Its our responsibility to reject proposals that Muslim Americans should somehow be treated differently. Because when we travel down that road, we lose. That kind of divisiveness, that betrayal of our values plays into the hands of groups like isil. Muslim americans are our friends and our neighbors, our coworkers, our sports heroes and, yes, they are our men and women in uniform who are willing to die in defense of our country. E have to remember that. My fellow americans, i am confident we will succeed in this mission because we are on the right side of history. We were founded upon a belief in Human Dignity that no matter who you are, or where you come from, or what you look like, or what religion you practice, you are equal in the eyes of god and equal in the eyes of the law. Even in this political season, even as we properly debate what steps i and future president s must take to keep our country safe, lets make sure we never forget what makes us exceptional. Lets not forget that freedom is more powerful than fear; that we ave always met challenges whether war or depression, natural disasters or terrorist attacks by coming together around our common ideals as one nation, as one people. So long as we stay true to that tradition, i have no doubt america will prevail. Thank you. God bless you, and may god bless the United States of america. Members of congress reacted to the president s remarks on twter. Represent pete king said not one proposal would have prevented california attacks, nothing about need for increased surveillance of muslim community. Pitiful. Represent jeff duncan said the president used strong rhetoric but nothing of an actual plan to fight isis. And this from senator bob casey. Tonight, president obama provided an important update on the shootings in San Bernardino and our fight to defeat isis. Tomorrow Homeland Security secretary jay johnson talks about his departments operations with defense one, executive editor kevin barron. It includes Cyber Security and border security. Our live coverage begins at 8 30 eastern on cspan two. Then live at 10 30 p. M. We hear from michael mechanical. Mccan mccall. You can hear them both live on cspan2. Abigail fillmore was the first first lady to work out side the home teaching at a private school and successfully lobbied school for the first library. And he created fashion sensations. Stores sold quick on women trying to replicate her stale. Jacqueline kennedy was responsible for the White House Historical association. Name ony reagan saw her a list of communist sympathizers. These stories appear more atured on cspans book, first ladies. The book makes a great gift for the holiday. Giving reader as look into the personal lives of every first lady in American History fascinating women and how their legacies resonate today. It has received numerous reviews including this one from michael besh delmbings off who says cspan is a national trer and its path breaking series on americas first ladies is another reason why. Cspan has performed another valuable service with a series on the first ladies. Nowhere else can you fight such an insightful look into the lives and influence of these women. And jane hampton cook, first lady historian and biography noticed that it is a valuable insight on our nations first ady and the porn role they played in shaping america during their husbands president. Crferings spans book first ladies is available in e book or in your favorite online bookseller. Be sure to other your copy today. Next, a discussion on how business can prepare for active shooting incident in the workplace. From washington journal this is almost 40 minutes. Washington journal continues. Host i want to look up bill gage. He is a Security Consultant now. We wanted to talk about responses to active shooter situations in public and workplaces. How should we prepare for that potential . Guest good morning and thank you for having me. That is probably the number one question i get asked right members of the public and companies that reach out to me in how should they prepare. Really, the one thing that i tell them is that survival is the mindset. This week, after the events in california, we heard a lot about flight and fight and that has been around for a while. It is sort of a Public Service announcement along the lines of, if you see something, say something. That is great, but what i tell people, that is the Great Program to follow, but that is a battle plan. What do we know about battle plans . A member of the military will tell you that no battle plan survives first contact. What i generally tell people is that survival is a mindset. Each one of us has to make a decision in our mind that we will survive no matter what. When you extend the survival and talk to people who have committed Mount Everest and have been in human survival situations like that, you have done trend that those people made the decision in their mind that they would survive no matter what. This i want to show you map, courtesy of pbs, and gives you a sense of the number of shootings that have taken place this year alone that are identified as Mass Shootings and the definition is three or four or four more victims either killed or injured. 355 incidentsk, have occurred. The that we have. If you go to shopping malls, work, the movie, grocery store, in a park, in a school. Washington post had a great piece this week on the debate on what makes an active shooter and what does not, even in fbi stated that came up last year, a groundbreaking study, even that would became controversial because of what actually are the criteria theyre using to define an active shooter. There is a debate amongst criminologists, i call it the debate, theylk debate active shooter events on the rise, a or b, or are they , soipitated by social media what i generally tell people is to live your life and do what you want to do, but make that personal decision that you will survive no matter what if you find yourself in one of these situations. Host that meet share with you what the chief of police of washington, d. C. , said and she said i always say that if you can get out, getting out is your first option, best option. Host that is kind of counterintuitive to what cops always tell people. We never told people, take action, this is a different scenario. Guest absolutely. I was very excited to hear her say those words. Here is why, when i started consulting with companies when you ago or so, nobody wanted to hear the fight part of the rent part of the run and flight part. It was controversial and nobody wanted to publicly talk about the firsthe was public official to come up and say, you can make a difference during these events. When you study some of these after action reports of active shooter prevents, savvy were people lost their lives, we followed that sometimes people went into what i call the crisis lockdown mode where they actually got in the hallway, near an exit that could allow them to escape and simply got in a fetal position and waited to be killed. In addition, after action reports had a list where individuals had an opportunity to sort of fight back and they so not, and that is very sad i was happy that she came out and said that publicly. In my opinion, that is the first time that has been publicly said. 202 is the area code. Democrats. 000 for 202 7488001 four republicans. Our guest is bill gage. ,ur line for independents 202 7488002. Let me share with you what a member of the Judiciary Committee said about legislation to deal with this potential, including red flags for employers and employees i am also working on legislation to address this workplace violence. It might be workplace related if it is not a terrorist attack, that to make sure when employers hire somebody, they have the most information possible about whether they have had a problem with violence, rage and so on. I want to make sure that when like what the critic my Congressional District with the tempos and with the television station or reporter that after a while after he was terminated from employment, he committed outrages acts of so i so two people went to make sure that when that television station hired an individual, they got more information than name, rank and serial number. More and more employers are not passing on to the next employer useful information that would help them avoid those types of circumstances, so i want to make sure that we have the incentives to do that, so i am working on legislation to a comp or stop. Host as you hear from the chairman of the judiciary has committee about what happens in this situation as in virginia with the reporter killed live on camera, along with the photographer, when an employee is about to be fired, what are some of the red flags that fellow employees should be aware of . A second. s back up one of the things i talk to companies about, i talk about steps to security and one of the first things i tell them is security begins at the employment application. The moment somebody applies to work or your company, there should be some sort of ve tting process, regardless of their level of involvement, and i recently did a security review for a large 500 fortune company, and one of the most sensitive areas of the company and for nondisclosure reasons, i cannot get into the company and what they do, but the point is they have some facilities that are really sensitive. If those facilities were breached or damaged in any way, probably a major impact on the u. S. Economy and i asked, those employees that have access to that having sensitive facility, how are they vetted . They say, i trust him. In my mind, i thought, really, you trust them . A person orevel involvement in the company, especially to the most sensitive aspects, should have the highest level of defending of vetting. Security begins at that employment application. In addition, the second think is security should have a direct role and should be partnered with hr. I recently did that with another company, ask the right questions, and in my opinion, hr and security should Work Together. Anytime there is an action or an employee is fired. In addition, security should partner with hr when hiring decisions are made. Sometimes, people have things in their background, they are not bad, but sometimes people of questionable things in their background and hr are great people, they are professionals, but when it comes to security decisions, they should go out Security Professionals to make those decisions. I agree with them wholeheartedly that there has to be some action. In my mind, the way to do that is not wait until an employee when you have party discovered went an employee works for you, but it needs to start when they apply and bring security in to partner with hr. Those have farreaching effects to the companies that i have recommended that too. A former secret service agent, you protected barack obama and george h. W. Bush and whenere with barack obama he traveled to sandy hook after the horrific shootings and after the shooting in colorado. What was that like for you . Guest gutwrenching. I remember being in the hospital in colorado with some of the was a short distance away and i could see the anguish on their faces, and i remember talking to some of the Police Officers with initial responses to the events in colorado and listening to the police radio traffic. Week i that this remembered that this week watching the horrific events unfold in california, and it sort of brought home to me the fact of how tragic these situations are. They truly are tragic. Host one of our viewers pointing out that Liberty University is advising students to carry concealed guns. Is this smart . Guest that is probably the second most received question and the first one is, what can you do to survive . My second one, should business allow me to carry a gun or should i carry a gun . S is what i tell people the Second Amendment debate in this country has become sort of a social debate along the lines of abortion and debates like that. What i typically say is, lets. Ot get drawn into that debate if you feel so led to carry a gun for your own safety, by own means, and by a local laws, do so. I actually advise citizens against doing that for liability region reasons because businesses have to ask themselves certain questions, how will go up and be stored . How is this person trained . A lot of issues involved in the, so i typically are businesses not to allow their employees to carry firearms on the job. Host this from another viewer, should shooter drills be as common as other drills . Guest i get asked that frequently, in my professional opinion is that active shooter drills, if you will, and in some cases, i called them [indiscernible] drills because some of the drills bring in actors and blank rounds fired, and there has been there have been lawsuits, a Google Search reveals some, one in oregon involving a teacher, in a was a participant security drill with the secret service where we were doing training at the college, and one member of the staff had been away on vacation and did not check or emails or seek signs that were placed throughout campus by the local police department. She was actually good chance it with the president of the universities secretary, and only burst into the office as part of the scenario and found her there, it was very traumatic for her. That is what these lawsuits are about, the trauma these people have experienced. I am not a big fan of those of drills. I think they are more for First Responders than the average employee. That is what i reinforced the companies. Shows are fine if you want to do that, great, but the main thing you should do is teach survival mindsets. Host our guest is bill gage, graduate of Virginia Military institute and earned his masters in boston. Matt from new york, good morning. Caller good morning, gentlemen. Nice day out today. I would like to say about the security and the application process, hello . Host yes, we can hear you. Caller recently, didnt obama decide that we should not be able to have on employment applications if you are a felon . Guest he did, and several hases, maryland being one, is if they, absolutely. I think that is something that, once again, it should not be a no go for an employee. What if someone committed a felony 30 years ago and now applies within your company and they have a crime free life and reestablish themselves and have not violated any laws . Should they be eligible for employment at your company . I think each situation should be taken individually and you to check with your state and local law if you are a corporation or Company Looking to hire someone who has been convicted of a crime and check with the Legal Department and make sure you are following your state and local. Aws definitely, security begins at the employment application. Host lets go to nikki in houston, texas. Caller i was curious. I understand that we need to protect ourselves and so forth, but based on what has recently happened, it seems to me that the person who worked in the job had no records. I understand that we want to have guards, but a lot of people understandably want to have guns, but a lot of people do not like guns. This is just my analysis, in order to get past, you have to put your gun on the table when you go into your job and it is ridiculous. I think we need to talk about ways to have peace and that we can find ways to embrace each others religion. Host thank you. Guest absolutely. I agree wholeheartedly, but caveat is being that there are bad people in this world. I tell businesses and corporations all the time that hope is not a plan, trust is not a plan. You have to plan for bad things and bad people. Host in maryland, good morning. Caller glad i made it on your show. My main reason for calling is to say that i appreciate what he is telling us. I think it is good for us to hear. When you have a lot of information, you have less fear. It reminds me when i was in Elementary School and we would have drills and we would get under a desk, so the place right so the place i think they should after a list schools, and my husbands work like a childrens day camp in the summer. I think just being aware. I know you are talking about workplace, but it could be a problem anywhere and it is a this. That it has come to and when we remembered what happened on the plane in 9 11 when they fought back. If they would have been successful, it would have saved a lot of lives. Host joanne, let me ask you personally when you go about your day, to have a greater sense of fear or you do not worry about it . Guest i wasnt afraid until i got more information about what has happened in california, but i feel like it could happen anywhere. Radicalized or change their mind. We hear that muslims are peaceful, [indiscernible] host thank you. Guest i want to follow up on one thing that joanne said. One thing that i tell people all the time is this concept of premade decisions to prevent panic. I am very appreciative of what she had to say because she said, listen, i have thought about these things and she talked about knowledge and information. I own son, my sevenyearold son, came home from school and started telling me a story about how some kids in his First Grade Class got in trouble because they were talking during a drill. He is seven years old and you have to sort of pull it out of him, and i was able to get out of him that they did an active drove because there might be a bad man on campus. While the sun, i have had to deal with that personally, but one of the things, when i talk about these decisions of panic, i am reminded of a holocaust survivor who held the door shut so the active shooter cannot enter in the classroom and told the students to jump out of the window. When you think about the decisions going through his mind at that moment when he was holding the door shut, he had premade decisions already and he realized there were things in life worth living for and dine for and saving others was one of those things. Premade decisions are important. Host and that there was a window or door for them to get out. Guest absolutely, that is true. As chief lanier said, if you cannot run and you cannot hide, the next option is to fight. Once again, i was excited to find a public official had come out and said, do not forget the fight portion. Host this is form this is from jody who had a fire drill where she says, our family had a fire to for our house, we drove but never had to use that info, never had a fire, but it was useful. Host next caller. Caller i think it is dangerous were telling folks to arm themselves and be a vigilante. You are telling folks to fight when theirives adrenaline is running and everybody is in a panic, so you have two people or three people shooting at one gun shooter and then i come in with my gun and everybody is shooting, so how am i supposed to know who is the bad guy . Guest these situations are hope hedynamic and i was not confused. I am not advocating anybody arming themselves, but what i am saying is that there is a survival mentality in all of us that has been programmed over thousands of years, biology, evolution. We all have the inside of us. What i am saying, whether it be a teacher, lawyer, doctor, they all have to survival mindset. Let me just follow up on something that he said. Reports arethe coming out of california, and we know a lot of times first reports are round, i heard several employees of the facility talk about how they began to evacuate and leave the building, and they were told by Security Professionals to go back inside the building and shelter in place. I do not know if that is come from but those were the initial reports, but that bothered me as a security professional because sometimes as Security Professionals, firefighters or police are assessed with an evacuation of the building and they need a headcount, they need to ensure that every inch and foot, room, sterile is searched the facility. I understand that as a first responder, i get that, but if i am there and i am almost out of the building and somebody tells me, wait, do not leave, go back to your office and shelter in place, i will tell him no. Host almost reminiscent of 9 11 with the world trade centers. Guest absolutely. I was in washington, d c, in 9 11, and you think about the gridlock and the chaos and people ended up walking home. Host lets go to patricia in new jersey. Caller good morning. I love my show washington journal. Host we love you. You are for phoning them. Caller i dont even know where to start. I am going to be 64 and i am really sad. I think what was not in the or what is missing, a lot of times, minorities are mistreated in the workforce. Lawsnow they have work where you can fire them for no reason, and if they want to get rid of us, they can. That makes us angry. We are out here trying to survive