Have much work to do in delaware. I have much work to help the people in delaware. I must finish what i started. It is really important to me. That is a man of great character. A man who understands commitment. That was beau. To his family, i want you to know i stand there with you and will always be there with you. He was a soldier a friend, and someone i admired. As i look for the perfect words i think back to 2012 when Vice President biden addressed the surviving members of our military forces who gave the ultimate sacrifice. You spoke about a day that would come, when the thought of your son, daughter, husband wife, brother, sister would bring a smile to the lips before a tear to the eye. That day will come. Beaus enduring presence brings us strength, fills our heart with joy, with smiles abounding. He was an extraordinary pe person and we will cherish memories of him. I suggest we celebrate his life by following in his legacy. Find the best in people and dedicate our lives to making the world a better place. Living our lives and changing one person at a time. Do this and beau biden will live in each of us and never be forgotten. On behalf of a grateful nation i would like to award the legion of merit to major joseph r. Biden the third with the Delaware National guard or lifetime of service as a soldier, advocate, an american patriot. You can please read the citation. Permanent order 1542. Biden, Joseph Robinett the third. New castle, delaware. The following award is announced. The legion of merit for exceptionally Meritorious Service while assigned to positions of increasing responsibility in the army, navy as the deputy staff judge for joint had force attachment Delaware National guard. Major biden demonstrated integrity, initiative, leadership, and outstanding professional judgment throughout his 11 year career as a judge advocate general in court offices. He is keeping in the highest tradition of military service and reflecting credit upon himself, the army judge advocate core the guard, and the United States army. Signed Lieutenant General of the United States army, director army National Guard. President obama a man, wrote an irish poet, who is original when he speaks the truth has always been known to all good men. Beau biden was an original. He was a good man. A man of character. A man who loved deeply, and was loved in return. Your excellencies general distinguished guests halley natalie, hunter, Kathleen Ashley howard, the rest of beau s beautiful family, friends colleagues, to jill and to joe. We are here to agree with you to grief with you. We are here because we love you. Without love, life can be cold and cruel. Sometimes cruelty is deliberate. The action of bullies, bigots or the and action of those indifferent to anothers pain. Often, cruelty is simply born of life. A matter of fate or gods will beyond our mortal powers to comprehend. To suffer such faceless seemingly random cruelty can harden the softest parts, or shrink the sturdiest. He can make one mean or b itter, or full of selfpity. To paraphrase an old proverb it can make you beg for lighter burden. But, if you are Strong Enough it can also make you ask god for broader shoulders. Shoulders of broad enough to bear not only your own burdens, but the burdens of others. Shoulders broad enough to shield those who need shelter the most. To know beau biden is to know which choice he made in his life. To know joe, and the rest of the biden family, is to understand why beau lived the life he did. For beau a cruel twist of fate came early. The car accident that took his mom, his sister, and confined he and his brother, still toddlers to beds as christmas time. But he was a biden, and he learned early the biden family room. If you have to ask for help it is too late. You are never alone. You dont have to ask. Someone is always there for you when you need them. After the accident, ann rushed in to help care for the boys and help to raise them. Joe continued Public Service and shunned the parlor games of washington. He met his most cherished duty of seeing his kids off to school, letting them know that the world was stable, that there was firm ground under their feet. As joe, himself, confessed to me, he did not do this just because the kids needed him, he did it because he needed those kids. Somehow, beau sense to that. How deeply hurt his family and father was. So, rather than using his childhood trauma as justification for a life of selfpity or selfcenteredness that very young boy made a very grownup decision. He would live a life of meaning. He would live a life for others. He would ask god for broader shoulders. Beau would a guide and look out for his younger brother. He would embrace his new mother. The two boys sheepishly asked their father when they get all mary jill. Throughout his life, no one would make Joe Baca Parker make a jok make joe laugh harder. They would look after his baby sister, he would always do the right thing careful not to give his family or friends cause for concern. It is no secret that a lot of what made beau the way he was was how much he loved and admired his dad. He studied law like his dad even choosing the same school. He chose a public his dad. He believed it to be a noble and important pursuit. From his dad he learned to get up and life knocked him down. He learned he was no higher than anyone else and no lower than anyone else. Something he got from his mom by the way. He learned to make everyone else feel like they matter. His father taught him everyone matters. He even looked and sounded like joe though joe would be the first to acknowledge that he was not joe 2. 0. As much as he reminded folks of joe, he was very much his own man. He was an original. It was a sign of an incredible family who brushed away the possibility of privilege for the harder and better reward of earning his own way. He was a soldier who dodged glory and exhibited true humility. A prosecutor who defended the defenseless. A politician who collected more fans than foes. The public figure who prioritized his private life above all else. He did not cut corners. He turned down an appointment to be delawares attorney general so he could win it fair and square. When the field was clear for him to run for the senate he chose to finish his job. He did not do these things they gain favor with a cynical public , it is just who he was. In his 20s he and a friend were stopped for speeding outside of scranton. The officer recognized the name on the license and because he was a fan of joes work with Law Enforcement he wanted to let him off with a warning but beau made him write the ticket. Beau did not trade on his name. After 9 11 he joined the National Guard and felt it was part of his obligation, part of what those broader shoulders are for. He did his duty to his country and deploy to iraq. As the general eloquently spoke to his service. What i can tell you as he was shipping out of dover, there was a lot of press wanting to interview him. He refused. He was just another soldier. I saw him when i visited iraq. His deployment was hard on hallie and the kids, like it was on so many families over the last 14 years. It was hard on joe and jill, that is why they threw themselves into their work with military families. You can hear it in the speeches, he means it so deeply. Like his father, beau did not have a mean bone in his body. The cruelty he had injured in his life did not make him hard it made him compassionate and empathetic. Itd make him abhor bullies. His grandfather thought his most egregious and was to use power to inflict pain on another. Beau squared his broad shoulders to protect people from that abuse. He fought for homeowners who were cheated, seniors who were scanned even went after bullying itself. He set up a Child Predator task force and convicted more than 200 of those who targeted vulnerable children. He did this in a way that was aligned to the suffering of others. Bringing in experts to spare children and their parents further trauma. That is who beau was. Someone who cared. Someone who charmed you, disarm do disarmed you, and put you at ease. When had to attend a fancy fundraiser with people who took themselves too seriously he would whisper something inappropriate in your ear. The son of a senator the most popular elected official in delaware, im sorry joe. He was not above dancing in nothing but a sombrero and shorts at thanksgiving to make the people he loved laugh. Through it all he was the consummate Public Service. A notebook in his pocket at all times to write down the problems of everyone he met, go back to the office, and get them fixed. Because he was a biden, the title that comes with family husband, father, son brother uncle those were the ones that beau valued above any other. At the Democratic National convention he did not spend all of his time in back rooms with donors, instead he wrote the escalators in the arena with his son, up and down, again, and again knowing, just like joe learned, would ultimately mattered in life. You know, if anyone can make a name for themselves in this reality tv age, especially in todays politics, if you are allowed and controversial enough you can get attention, but to make that name means something to have it associated with dignity and integrity, that is rare. There is no shortcut to get it. It is not something you can buy. If you do right by her children maybe you can pass it on. What greater inheritance is there . What greater inheritance than to be part of the family that passes on the values of what it means to be a great parent . That passes on the values of what it means to be a true citizen . That passes on the values of what it means to give act fully and freely without expecting anything in return . That is what our country was built on, men like beau. That is who built it. Families like this. We do not have kings, queens, or lords we do not have to be born into money to have an impact, we do not have to step on one another to be successful. We have a remarkable privilege of being able to earn what we get out of life with the knowledge that we are no higher or lower than anyone else. We know this not just because it is in our founding documents but because families like the bidens have made it so. People like beau have made it so. He did in 46 years what most could not do in 146. He left nothing in the tank. He was a man who led a life where the means was important as the ends. The example that he said made you want to be a better dad, or a better son, or a better brother or sister, better at your job, a better soldier. He made you want to be a better person. Isnt that the final measure of a man . The way he lives, how he treats others, no matter what life may throw at him. We do not know how long we have here. We dont know when fate will intervene. We cannot discern gods plan. What we do know is that with every minute we have, we can live our lives in a way that takes nothing for granted. We can love deeply, we can help people who need help, we can teach our children what matters and pass on empathy and compassion and selflessness. We can teach them to have broad shoulders. To the biden family, the sprawling intimate clan, i know that beaus passing has left a gaping void in the world, i can only imagine the burdens you have been carrying on your shoulders for the past couple of years, it is because you gave him everything that he could give everything to us. Because you were there for him, we will be there for you. Natalie and hunter, there are not words big enough to describe how much your dad loved you and your mom, but michelle, sasha aaliyah, and i have become a part of the family. We are always here for you. We always will be. My word as a biden. To joe and jill, like everyone else, michelle and i think god you are in our lives. Taking this right with you is one of the great pleasures of our lives. Joe, you are my brother. Im grateful every day you have such a big heart a big soul and such broad shoulders. I could not admire you more. I got to know Catherine Biden before she passed away. She was on stage with us when we were elected. I told joe once that out of everything bad that happens, something good will come if you look hard enough. I suppose she was channeling the same irish poet that i began with today. I said let grief be a falling leaf of the dawning day. As hard as it is right now through all of the heartache and tears, it is our obligation to beau not to think about what was and what mightve been, what to think about what is because of him. Think about the day that dawns for children who are safer because of beau. Whos lives are full or because of him. Think about the day that dawns for parents who can rest easier and families that are freer because of him. Some folks may never know that their lives are better because of beau biden, but that is ok. Certainly for beau was never the point fot for beau, a claim is not the point of Public Service. To the soldiers who served with him, who joined the National Guard because of him, the workers that still have their home because of them, and thanked him for helping them bus tables one night. And after talking for hours after taking his National Guard fitness test. And woman saved a kind of voicemail for him for five years wrote to say i loved the way he loved his family. And the stranger that road from halfway across this great country to say the only thing we can hope for is that our children make us proud by making a difference in the world. Beau has done that and then some. The world noticed. Jill joe, hallie, hunter natalie, the world noticed. They noticed. They felt it, his presence. Beau lives on in the lives of others. Isnt that the whole point of our time . To make the country we love fair and more just. Not just for natalie hunter, naomi, melia, sasha, but for every child. Isnt that what this amazing journey is all about . To make the life better for the next generation. Beau figure that out so early in life. What an inheritance beau left us. What an example he set. To our great good fortune in our youth, our hearts were touched with fire said all over Wendell Holmes junior. Above all, we have learned whether a man excepts from fortune her spade will look down and they or will scale the ice, the one and only success which it is his to command is to bring to his work a mighty heart. Beau biden brought to his work a mighty heart. He brought to his family a mighty heart. What a good man. What an original. May god bless his memory, and the lies of all he touched the lives of all he touched. There are no words that could adequately describe my love, admiration, and adoration for my brother. Nothing i say will give justice to what he means to me, to us. When trying to recall certain memories, i am at a loss. My life is a collage of memories and moments. Beau was a constant presence every day of my life. When i was in first grade i drew a picture of what made me happy. It was me Holding Hands with my two brothers, and i wrote happiness is being with my brothers. It was true then, and remained true throughout my life. I felt like the likeliest kid sister to be raised and built by two extraordinary men though as my husband points out, sometimes they did not read all of the directions. It is impossible to talk about beau without talking about hunter. They were inseparable and shared a love that was unconditional. Hunter gave him the courage and confidence to fly. Hunter inspired him with his wisdom, compassion, and independent spirit. Hunter gave beau strength, comfort, and courage. There was not one decision where hunter was not consulted first not one day where they did not speak, and not one road traveled with a were not each others copilots. Hunter was his confidant and home. When i was born, i was welcomed with open arms and held tightly by beauy and hunty, as i called them my whole life. Being with hunter and my family was the only place beau wanted to be, and he is with us forever. As a kid sister i always wanted to be by his side. Through his high school and College Years i was allowed to hang around as long as i saying i are on the mountain by the grateful dead. He would take me to the university of pennsylvania though the most unpopular thing to do was to bring your eightyearold sister to spend the night at your college apartment, that he did not care. I hung around my brother so much his friends nicknamed me flea. He was my first phone call anytime i needed support. He was my first line of defense before mom and dad. There were countless arguments at the dinner table, countless conversations where beau would torture me for hours before i realized what he was saying was the right thing. He never judged, he just listen. He offered his hand, shoulder, advice, and love. I could look at him and he knew instantly what i was thinking. He would always give a response that eased to me. Being with family was his favorite past time. Whether sitting on our parents porch, fishing, or eating around the kitchen table, he always wanted us around, and we always wanted to be around. He loved family trips especially thanksgivings in nantucket, a chance to be together around the fire. Since i can remember, the week of thanksgiving my brothers would get me out of class and we would pile up in the jeep and travel seven hours, my favorite car ride. Beau loved it so much that nantucket is where he proposed to and wed hallie. He was the constant anchor to me, my brother, my father, he was our protector mediator, the captain of our lives. He was my first love, and what a beautiful example of love he provided. My brothers brought my husband to me, meeting him first in 2008 at a fundraiser and spending time after. Hunter told me about this handsome, funny, good man they met. At the time i dismissed it, but two years later in his hospital room, after graduating with my masters, i would meet the man who would become my husband and their brother. Beau brought him to this family. Beau also brought us our sister hallie who he loved with all his heart and married for her strength and determination. I spent numerous nights eating dinner and hanging out mediating the banter between them. They had an effortless understanding and love. When the night settled in a could be found curled up on the couch, often beau begged hallie to rep his feet while they watch their favorite show. Natalie and hunter are as brave smart, and compassionate as their father. Natalie is a natural leader, and hunter is a protector. Beau disliked nothing more than pupil worrying about him. He took on everyone elses worries and had a we will get through this attitude. He taught us never to give up on ourselves or each other. I have been i had the tragic privilege of going to his chemo treatments with him. I will forever treasure our time together and the many conversations we had about life. During our breakfast he would make me listen to what i thought was his theme song, you get what you give either free radicals, even though he never stopped fighting and his will to live with stronger than most, i think he knew that this day might come. The words to this song are this whole dam world could fall apart, you will be ok. Follow your heart. You are in harms way i am right behind. In retrospect i think he played that song not for him, but for me. To remember not to give up or let sadness consume me or us. From the time i was young he never let me get off the phone saying goodbye. It was always see you, love you. Beau we will see you every day we wake. We hear your laugh, see your smile, feel your touch. You will be with us for every decision we make in moments of sadness, struggle, celebration joy. We will see you everywhere we go in the beauty of nature, and a smile from strangers, and in your beautiful children, who we will take care of like you took care of all of us. You were etched in every fiber of our being, you are the bone of our bone, the flesh of our flesh. You are ever present in our lives, today, tomorrow, forever. Thank you for all you gave, and will continue to give, as we continue living in your honor as she would want. As long as i have hunt i have you. Beau, see you, love you so much. I have to my sister. It makes it very hard. On behalf of my family i want to thank all of the religious leaders here to celebrate my brothers life. It means a great deal to us, and i know it would to him. Thank you. General, thank you for being here. Beau was so proud of his service to this nation, and he was especially proud to serve under your leadership. Mr. President , you know how much you love you you know how much he loved you. Thank you to all your done for our family michelle, take early in these difficult days. That was an incredible tribute thank you. Ashley, beau is so proud of you. He was so touched by the way you cared about people. The depth of your emotions. He saw the joy you bring not only to our family, or to the lives of so many people. He loved the way you laugh. He loved your smile. He was so proud to have been able to work with you in the service of the people of delaware. He loved that you married howard. He loved that very much. He loved the fact that he was the catalyst that brought howard into our family. I love the fact he gave me another big brother. Natalie, hunter, we have talked about this over and over again. Your daddy is going to always be with us. Your daddy is going to always be by your side. Your daddy will always love you. I can promise you will always be loved. We are a family whose love knows no bounds. He is a part of you. Natalie, he is that piece of you that allows you to be so caring and compassionate. He is the reason why you are so protective of your brother. The same way he was with me. Hunter Robert Hunter biden ii. He tied you and me together forever. And you are his calm and his focus. You are so much like your daddy. Watching the two of you fishing at the end of the dock, like seeing two images of the same person. And just like , valerie was there, always with unconditional love like we had with uncle jimmy, uncle frankie, uncle jack, uncle john, momma dada. You have your aunt ashley kathleen, you have your poppy. Nana and pop. We will surround you with the same love, a love so big and beautiful, the same love that made your daddy and me will now make you. And the love that your daddy had for you is the same love he had for your mom. He loved your mom so much. No one gave him more confidence and courage. Your mom is the most fiercely loyal and protective person i know. And i dont have to tell you that she would do anything for you. She was more devoted to your daddy than anyone else in the world. She would do anything for him. And she did everything for him. She gave your daddy so much love that he was able to give his love to everyone he met. Your mom shared your daddy with the world. And most important to me, she shared him with and kathleen, his confidence confidant, and coconspirator, usually conspiring against me. And your cousins thought of your daddy as a part of me. And you know that your daddy is a part of me and i will always be a part of you. We will all always be a part of you. We will always be one family. Because we always have been one family. You are at the center of the greatest love you will ever know. Mom, we amended all of our hearts medended all of our hearts once, you made the three of us whole. You gave us ashley, the greatest gift imaginable. You gave beau his strength, his steadiness, and a love that only a mother can give. He loved him with all of your heart. And we all know there was no one in the world you were more proud of. You adored beau, i loved watching that. And he adored you. And it is your strength, your steadiness that holds this family together. And i know that you will make us whole again. The first memory i have is lying in a hospital bed next to my brother. I was almost three years old. I remember my brother, one year and one day older than me holding my hand, staring into my eyes saying, i love you. I love you. I love you. Over and over and over again. In the 42 years since, he never stopped holding my hand. He never stopped telling me just how much he loves me. But mine was not the only hand that he held. Beaus was the hand that everyone reached for in their time of need. His was the hand that was reaching for years before you even had to ask. That is my brothers story. That is his story, not his accomplishments, and there were many. The special assistant to the attorney general he became the most popular elected official in his state, a major in the army National Guard. But to me my brother is not defined by his extraordinary resume. He is defined by the quality of his character. The boy, the man who always held you close. The one who always made you feel safe. The one who always made you feel braver than you might have been, the one you could always count on for a special kindness. The one who listensed, the one who is always there when you needed him most. The one who gave you credit for the things he does. He did. He was our leader, and he never asked to lead. He was our leader who never judged, who only inspired us through his example. He was clarity. A clarity that you could step into. He was the clarity of sunrise. A clarity that you could float in, a clarity that was contagious. He was that clarity not just for his family, but for everyone who called him friend. His friends can attest to the multitude of time when he came to their aid, without ever being asked. That is why we called him the sheriff. It wasnt because he was stern or unforgiving, he made us laugh more than anybody. He had more fun than all of us. We called him the sheriff because we all knew that if we were ever in trouble, if we ever needed someone to lean on, to find the right answer, we could all turn to beau. Growing up, every mom, every one of my friends knew that if you are with beau you are going to be all right. True. He was the sheriff who build us out, kept us safe, showed us the path home. He watched over all of us. Not one of us ever had to ask him, he was simply there always when we needed him. And he never expected anything in return. And you would never be in his shadow. We were always under his wing. From the time we were kids mistakes were never too great to be forgiven, nor too small to be consoled. Your problems were beaus problems. But he seemsed to carry them so effortlessly, like he carried so many of our secrets. You could unburden yourself to beau, knowing that he would never breach your trust. He was the person you wanted to be near. Because you knew he would make you smile, make you laugh, let you cry. He would just let you be you. Not only would he love you regardless, he would love you more because of it. There are so many people in this church today, across the country , who have a legitimate right to say, beau biden was my best friend. He was the best friend any of us have ever had. In shakespeares words he was a man taken for all and all, i shall not look upon his life again. That is to my brother was as a man and everything that he did as if the most important thing in your world was the most important thing in his. And it was genuine. It seemed every decision he made was guided by that same selflessness. He didnt join the army to be seen in uniform or do pad his resume. He didnt need to. He joined because he thought it was the right thing to do. Did not deploy to iraq to join to earn a star. He went because he thought it was the right thing to do. Did he ever tell anyone of you that he was a bronze star recipient . One of his closest friends said to me, i cannot believe beau beau never told me that he was awarded the bronze star. Beau simply thought it was a privilege to serve. Those who did not know my brother thought he went into politics, because if your name is bieden, that is just what you do. But for him, it was the right thing to do. It was the clearest path to help as many people as he possibly could. I know what my brother learned. He learned that from my dad. He learned that public life was not about serving yourself, rather it was about the privilege to serve those who cannot always serve themselves. Someone once said, dont wait to make your son a great man, make him a great boy. From a time we left the hospital 42 years ago, my dad went every moment he could with us. No events was too small or too great. We traveled with him across the country, around the world. We went to thousands of speeches debates. We rode the train with him for thousands of miles, we went everywhere with him. We assumed it was normal. To want to be with your dad more than with anyone else in the world. We learned by his example that even the smallest gesture could have the largest meaning. We attended the senate with him more often than any children of any senator ever. We would ride the subway and the conductor would say, you know your dad is my favorite. We would get into the elevator and elevator operator would say, you know, we love your dad. That is what made us most proud. We thought it was neat that he was a senator, and he knew some really important people. But we thought it was even neater that he was friends with mouse. We thought it was cooler that he knew every employee at the charcoal plant. Beaus true north, his integrity, his honor came from our fathers love. I believe there is a weight to love, a balance which determines the limits of how much one can give and one can receive. For beau, there seemed to be no such limits. The beauty of beau was not how much he was loved, but how much love he could give. He gave that love so freely. He gave that love and have in his laugh his touch, his words, but most of all, in his deeds. That is what made his love so special. To him, it was never a burden. It was always a joy. And that love lived in all of us. Sometimes in profound ways. It was a lot of whose light brightened our darkest moments. For so many, it was a quiet subtle love. A pure love that was expressed simply in the way in which he was near. A love so rich that all you had to do was hold his hand. He held so many hands. Parents of his fallen brothers and sisters in uniform. Victims of Violent Crime in his beloved city of bloomington. That is my brothers story. There are thousands of people telling the stories right now, telling the same story about when beau biden held their hand. My only claim on my brother is that he held my hand first. 42 years ago, i believe that god gave us a gift. He gave us the gift of sparing my brother. Sparing him long enough to give the love of a thousand lifetimes. God gave us a boy, who had no limits to the weight of love he could bear. As it began, so did it end. His family surrounding him, everyone holding on to him. Each of us desperately holding him. Each of us whispering, i love you, i love you, i love you. I held his hand, and he took his last breath. I know that i was loved, and i know that his hand will never leave mine. Steal my heart i feel my time my time has come let me in unlock that door i never felt this way before the wheels just keep on turning drummers begin to drum i dont know which way i am going i dont know which way i have come hold my hand inside your hand i need someone someone who understands i need someone someone who hears for you, i have waited all these years for you, i would wait until kingdom comes until my day until my days are done i see you come and set me free just say youll wait youll wait for me in your kiss in your blood i heard you laugh i heard you sing i wouldnt change a single thing the wheels keep on turning the drummers begin to drum i dont know which way im going i dont know what i have become for you, i would wait until kingdom comes until my day until my days are done. Set me free say you will wait say you will wait for me say you will wait you will wait for me say you will wait you will wait for me my dear brothers and sisters, before we go our separate ways, may our farewell express our affection for you, and ease our sadness and strengthen our hope. One day, we shall joyfully join again when the love of christ which conquers all things, destroys even death itself. May the choir of angels come to greet you may the lord in his mercy into your hands, father of mercy, we commend our brother beau in the sure and certain hope that together with the others who have died in christ he will rise again on the third day. We give you thanks for the blessings that you bestowed upon him in this life. There are signs to us of your goodness and our fellowship with christ. Merciful lord, turned towards us and listen to our prayers. Open the gates to paradise. Help us who remain to comfort one another with assurance of faith. We ask this through christ our lord. Amen. Friends of beau biden are invited to a gathering at arch mary academy at the completion of days mass. It will be an opportunity to celebrate beau biden. In peace, let us take our brother to his place of resting. [battle hymn of the republic] [bells ringing] [battle hymn of the republic] [no audio] [bells ringing] next a discussion on counterterrorism. After that, a house hearing on u. S. Energy security. Any house hearing on the shooting in texas and how terrorist are precluding remembers. On the next washington journal legal challenges to restrictions on voter access. Discussing a nationwide trial to test answer treatment using dna sequencing. And president ial debates looks ahead to the 20 16th president ial and Vice President ial debates and discusses how both parties should proceed with my merry election debate. He will take your calls primary election debate. We will take your calls. Washington journal at 7 a. M. On cspan. The new congressional directory is a handy guide to the 114th congress. Also, district maps here in a foldout map of capitol hill, and a look at congressional committees, the president s cabinet come in state governments. Order your copy today. 13. 95 plus shipping and handling at cspan. Org. Former Senior Bush Administration officials debate critics during a discussion on counterterrorism and war fighting. Speakers include armor cia director and director of National Intelligence and u. S. Ambassador here to this part of a series of discussions examining the bush presidency. It is just under two hours. Im the dean of the college of liberal arts and sciences here at hofstra. Is my pleasure to welcome you to the bush conference and to this forum that is entitled the bush doctrine and combating terrorism. We have with us to government officials two government officials. We have no formal academic takers at this particular forum. But participants will offer some remarks 1012 minutes in length. There will be an opportunity for them to ask one another questions and there will be the audit opportunity for audience members to ask questions as well here it i will introduce everyone as quickly as well. I will introduce everyone as quickly as i can. They have to leave at goss served as the last director of Central Intelligence from 20 042005. At that time, he became the first director of the Central Intelligence agency under that newly signed intelligence reform and terrorism prevention act. He continued in that position until may 2006. Previously had served as a congressman from southwest florida for almost 60 years. He was chairman of the House Committee on intelligence from 1997 until his nomination. He served for him a decade as a member of the committee, which oversees the Intelligence Community and authorizes its annual budget. During the 107th congress, he cochaired the inquiry into the terrorist attacks of september 11, 2001. He was a second director of Central Intelligence to have served in congress. John negroponte is a ready johnson distinguished fellow and strategy and senior lecturer and Global Affairs at the Jackson Institute of yale university. Hard to joining yale, he built a distinct prior to joining yale, he built a distinct followed by number of years in the private sector. He held government system positions abroad and a between 1960 and 1997 and again from 20012008. He has been u. S. Ambassador to honduras, mexico, the philippines, the United Nations, and iraq. He served twice on the National Security council staff. First as director in the Nixon Administration and then as deputy National Security adviser under resident reagan. President reagan. He also held a cabinet position under president george w. Bush. Carolyn eisenberg is a professor at hofstra. Author of a prize winning book. Shes written and spoken wisely. He is a consultant to several members of congress. She chaired a task force on the u. S. Occupation for a bipartisan coalition. Her articles have appeared in the journal of americas history, History News Network diplomatic history, medical history you, and nova review come and nova. She is going to publish a book. Stephen served as cochair of the university of virginias president ial Oral History Program and directed the Ronald Reagan oral history project. He received his phd in Political College from Boston College and has taught at the air force academy and the university of virginia. Is the author of two books. The latter is an examination of the use of covert operations by early american president s. He is a coauthor of the reagan years and has insider recollections. His most recent book rush to judgment was published in 2012. Amy goodman is the host and executive producer of democracy now appeared in National Daily independent Award Winning news program airing on over 1300 Public Television and radio stations worldwide. She has coauthored five New York Times bestsellers. Her work is earned her numerous honors and awards. The foundation for he was honored she was honored for journalistic independence Lifetime Achievement she reserved the livelihood award. Widely known as alternative nobel prize for developing an innovative model of truly independent grassroots political journalism that brings to millions of people the alternative voices that are often excluded by the mainstream media. She is a recipient of the american many awards. Her reporting in nigeria has won numerous awards, including a george pulled toward. Polk award. It is my pleasure to introduce director goss. Director goss thank you very much. We had a very refreshing session next door with some students and other folk in the audience who asked penetrating questions about the bush and the security and the threats. It is stimulating for someone like me coming back here and seeing what people are interested in, and things that matter today. Good questions and willing to tackle controversial issues. To talk about the bush doctrine a little bit, you need to understand it is really the change of a century. It was the beginning of new times, new landscape, new challenges, in a way that we hadnt quite expect it expected. Not only that, we were dealing with new thoughts and old machinery. Some old institutions have gotten accustomed to doing things in a certain way. They were accustomed to having things happen in a certain way. They would go to organizations that involved other countries. All of the sudden, rings changed. People have to come to grips with a new challenge. President bush has to deal with it. In my perspective, starting out with the role of chairman of the oversight committee, to with the diligent to get intelligence to advise the president of what he needed to know. To say that the u. S. Was not fully prepared to give the president all of the best advice that he needed to have to make the decisions that he needed to make. We were vocally called out known as blaming anybody for the peace dividend. That was a good thing we had. Resort of let our guard down and will continue to march forward. When 9 11 happened to us, it was a large wake up call. We had to take stock very quickly. Just about every how many arab speakers do we have who can help me and help colleagues on this committee understand what is going on . Very few. I would emphasize in that period the present understood that we needed to ramp up capability fast. Higher five spice. It takes time to recruit. It is not done overnight. The president committed early on five spies. It takes time to recruit. It is not done overnight. The president committed early on. We have the greatest capabilities in the world. What we havent had is the policies on how to use them. Where is the line between your privacy and your protection . I hope the debate will go on in our open society. President bush understood that the very well and fought hard to find that balance and perpetually keep that in front of us on the hill. I would say that the way it finally came out is the hallmarks of the bush doctrine once we saw what we were up against was strength, commitment, and engagement. I think that the president did an extraordinary job of getting us energized at a time when there was an audience in the world that was listening and watching to see what the u. S. Was indeed going to do. I think the president was let down somewhat by the information that he got. It wasnt as good then. As wonderful as the men and women are, they put up a great sacrifice, i dont think the president had all of the information he needed. I know he made statements he thought were true. It turned out to be wrong. That is going to happen. Where going to have victims if we dont have good intelligence. We need good intelligence at all times. We might get better decisions instead of making mistakes. My time on the hill ended up with our review of what happened on 9 11. The good point a lot of fingers at a lot people and say this happened and that happened. Were just going about our business. I think that was a collective decision we made. We got back on track. Somewhat unexpectedly in the summer right before an election. This is not a time that most people would say mr. President if you happen to lose, im out of a job. Maybe i dont want to do this. I really want to get out of washington. I was looking for an exit. First of all congress is beginning to lose they were losing control of the intelligence committee. And they wanted a little tighter rein. They decided that new architecture was necessary. Dci looked like it was going to be a shortterm job. Nevertheless, it was a job that meant managing 15 agencies in the Intelligence Community, and some that had very important people on the hill in charge of them. This is quite a team of people who someone who does not have cabinet level status has to manage. Number two was heading cia. Number three was fighting a war. We had a war going on, and we did not know what the next step was going to be. That was sort of an important job every day. Every day, we met in the agencys war room and went over what was happening. Then, we have the whole question of the real problem of the agency. The job is to manage the president which is done through the daily briefing. That is compiling the best information that the president needs to have every given morning. When we werent sure, took about five hours. Congress did indeed pass a law. We have a new architecture and a new set up which i think , ambassador negroponte will talk about. That meant that we had to spend some time readjusting how all these 15 agencies worked with each other. I do not think there is a human being in this world who could do this job. I truly dont. I said that. I was widely held last for it, but the truth of the matter is that other people who try to do all five of those things had similar thoughts about doing them. I think that the good part of it all is that we got through it in a very sane american way that does credit to is all. We ended up on the right side of just about everyone of those issues every one of those issues. Now, the last thing that i will say about the bush doctrine, given the fact that we were at a time of change, was i think president bush was so clearly aware of the fact that we were not necessarily dealing state to state, but dealing with people who are outside of the conventional norm. These people were ruthless troublemakers. Again, i am speaking of radical fundamentalists. I not addressing all of islam or muslims people. Im talking about the radical fundamentalists who declared war on us. The president never wanted that guard to be down again, and he never wanted to give those folks a sanctuary, a place where they could trade, get money, make their plans, arrange their travel, manufacture their passports, put out the past their propaganda. The president got that, and he did something about it. He understood very well that the radical fundamentalists understood strength, and he also understood that they would take advantage of weakness and disengagement. He got that part absolutely right. For that cup him a great deal. Thank you. [applause] ambassador negroponte good afternoon everybody and think you very much for this opportunity to w. Bush era. Perhaps first, let me pick up on to speak with you this afternoon about the w. Bush era. Perhaps first, let me pick up on a couple of things that director goss said. One is a detail, but in interesting one. That is the president s daily brief. When we made the transition from porter being the dci to be becoming the director of National Intelligence, there was about one month or so when we went in to see the president together at 8 00 every morning to brief him. That, for me, was a very helpful and interesting time to transition over to doing it myself with the staff in the ensuing months. One thing i want to say about president bush, and this is now 2005, he had been in office for four years. When any president has been in office for four years, they know the situation pretty well. They have met a lot of leaders. They meet dozens of leaders, international leaders, every year. It is kind of hard to give them a leadership profile, if you will, on somebody who they just saw the previous week at a nato meeting, or other meeting. He was a particularly good customer. George w. Bush really was fascinated by intelligence. He absorbed it. He liked that half hour that he spent every day and it was not just five days a week, it was six days a week that we briefed him. I think he was one of the best customers of intelligence that i have ever known. He had a dialectical style. He would look at the briefer and say, look, you wrote this, tell me what it says. He much preferred to have a conversation about issues than to actually read the material. Or, he would do that, if he felt he ought to. I can remember sometimes, we would bring in people in addition to the regular articles that we would show him every morning usually six or seven articles in the form of one page or halfpage. Sometimes, he would do a socalled deep dive into a country of interests or discussion of leadership of the country whose leaders were important to us and particularly inscrutable. We would do the steep dive. He would really get in to the discussion and valued it a great deal. We would bring young analysts from the cia to present their views wrigley to the president. Directly to the president. It was a good experience for the president , and a good experience, maybe a little intimidating at first, for some of the analysts but once they got used to it they counted for themselves very well. Not every president devotes that much attention, and concentrated scheduled time, to absorbing their daily intelligence. When i worked with colin powell, i was his deputy, he did not even have an intelligence briefing every day. We were his National Security and deputy National Security advisers respectively. We would simply give him the daily brief, and he was at his leisure to read it during the course of the day, and by the end of the day, he would give it back to us. Occasionally, if there was an article that we felt we should highlight for him, we would do that. Different president s have different styles. Bill clinton, apparently, did not ever meet an intelligence briefer. There was the famous story about the crash of the plane on the white house line, and they joke that it was the cia director try to get in to see the president. Anyway, we had a good customer. Im sure that he became an even better customer after 9 11. The second point i would like to make, before getting to a topic, is that i thought peter baker and others this morning made a very good point when they said that you really have to think of the presidency as dynamic, evolving, and the essentially, you have two phases of the bush presidency. You have the first four years and the second for. Four. They were really quite different. They were different because of changing circumstances, but also because of changing faces. Condoleezza rice moved over to become the secretary of state. She put a priority on taking a more diplomatic approach to a number of issues. Vice president cheney became less influential. Perhaps some of this have to do with issues of health. I do not think he was necessarily as energetic in the second term. Shortly into the second term secretary rumsfeld left office and was replaced by robert gates. The atmospherics were different. I think that goes to the issue of the book, bush doctrine, which i am coming to now. When i see the words bush doctrine and combating terrorism, i immediately think about the different justifications for the war in afghanistan and the war in iraq. I was at the u. N. When both of these wars were launched. The war in afghanistan in fact, i was notified by a flash telegram on a sunday. Sunday, october 6, 2001. Seek out the president of the Security Council and ask for a meeting this evening to inform the council that we are going to be launching attacks into afghanistan in the exercise of our selfdefense under article 51 of the United Nations charter. We dutifully did that that evening in the council. I do not think that we had any argument from anybody as to the fact that we were retaliating against afghanistan because of the 9 11 attacks. I think that was well understood, both internationally, and in our own country. There was an interesting footnote to that day for me which i think was a harbinger of issues to come. That is that the second part of my instruction said by the way, you should seek out the ambassador to the United Nations of iraq. This was sunday, october 6, 2001, mind you. And, you should seek him out urgently. And basically read to him the following talking points. The talking points were very tough. They said, and im paraphrasing but, if you, iraq, saddam hussein, even think about taking advantage of the situation that is created by our preoccupation with afghanistan, there will be hell to pay. It was thomas threatening almost threatening in its language. This is 2001. And bridges by, even though i was involved in negotiating the resolution 1441 in fall 2002 that led to the reinstatement of an inspection regime in iraq, in retrospect, it was clear that the administration had iraq on its mind right from the beginning after 9 11. If you read bushs book on decision points, he explains that he thought about iraq as soon as december 2001, and had discussions between december 2001 and the summer of 2002. I was not nearly as conscious of this in 2002, when i was working on negotiating the inspection resolution. I thought we had more time to allow for an inspection regime to work. As it turns out, that was more a matter of form, and it would appear that the decision had been made. I heard porter say in the earlier panel that were not exactly sure when, but it seems clear to me, that the administrations mind was made up, even as we were going to the united stations, that we were going to invade iraq. I think that is really the issue around which turns the question of judgment of the bush doctrine the doctrine of preemption and unilateral action. Ironically, it is something of an exception to the rest of george w. Bushs foreign policy. He evolved to a more moderate stance. It was such an important exception, and so much blood and treasure was expended in iraq that i think it will remain the major foreignpolicy issue on which george w. Bush and his and administration is charged. I think beginning in the second term, mr. Bush and his advisers fell back into a more traditional American Foreign policy approach, trying to avoid unilateral action, if at all possible. I can recall because i was deputy secretary of state at the time, and also because when i was director of National Intelligence, there were rumors almost constant particularly on wall street for some reason, that we were going to attack iran. From internal discussions, nothing was further from our minds. I do not think mr. Bush wanted to add to the litany of problems that we had on our hands at the time. I think the issue of iran was more trying to contain its Nuclear Development program through either diplomacy or by economic sanctions. I do not think that military i do not think that military action against iran was ever seriously contemplated. A related point, there was talk of the time subsequently of israel. It is not a oneoff thing. The way it was with the iraqi or syrian reactors. There are serious questions whether, given factors of distance, numbers of facilities, where they were located, and so forth, whether israel would have had the capability. I for one i am not sure that i would elevate the one major unilateral and preemptive