I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america and to the robo book for which it stands, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Before we get started, there are some people in the audience i would like to recognize the night. There is a large group from his family including his mother, daughter. We ask everybody in his family to stand. Thank you for being here tonight. [applause] also here with us this evening, Lieutenant Colonel robert friend. Good to have you with us this evening. [applause] a very special thank you to lori baker who donated the exoskeleton to gary. [applause] honorablemany get to do things we here as employees of the Reagan Foundation such as organizing president ial debates, events for cabinet members. We had george w. Bush here last night. Get to do here as employees of the Reagan Foundation such as organizing president ialfor me, getting to t the countrys heroes outweighs anything else i have the privilege to do. Getting to know tonight speaker has been a highlight of my career. This event came to happen because we were looking for speakers. For those of you who have not seen it come interactive is a largescale highly immersive exhibit which some cases half sine fiction can become reality. It shows how modernday technology has an influence on Popular Culture through the 1980s star trek, star wars, back to the futures changed the way we live, connect and play. We found a speaker that epitomizes that you recommended we bring the speaker and we thought here is a guy literally wearing a wearable robot. In doing research for tonight program, i found this from a 2013 article from the cofounder who makes the exoskeleton. It was sciencefiction technology. Helping people walk again who could not. We brought Science Fiction to reality in a very short amount of time it leads to tonights desk. Gary linford, u. S. Army retired. He is over 23 years of military service including serving as the armies i lead aviation regiment. As we saw a few minutes ago and units 1008 while conducting operations in iraq, his helicopter suffered a catastrophic mechanical failure and crash landed. He suffered a broken back which instantly paralyzed him below the waist. He retired from the army in 2010 but served as a flight instructor. In 2013, he is the First Military recipient for next the skeleton. Memorial day of 2014, 100,000 devices. Video, i was in the back room crying, gary walked down the aisle. As president reagan once said, are veterans of the heroes among andlet us pay the tribute resolve to live up to their example. I can think of no better person whose example i would like to live up to. Ladies and gentlemen, gary linfoot. [applause] [applause] gary made it. Thank you. My legs are shaking. I am nervous. Good evening and thank you for joining us. It is an honor and pleasure to be here. I have the opportunity to speak with you. I would like to recognize and celebrate his 97th birthday. I hope i am that good when i am your age. The film you saw, she did a fabulous job on it. It really captures the essence of what they are doing. Tonight i am going to tell you a story. My hope is that you hear the story of a family who has overcome and that challenges head on, never given up. It is a story of hope. It is our story. May 31, 2008 is a day the lives of me, my family and friends was changed forever. I have been a pilot for over 19 years. I have completed one combat rotation to afghanistan immediately following 9 11. All told, it was 861 days. We were known as the six guns. Our mission was to provide air support for special operations forces. I was at the apex of my career and there was no other job in the world i wanted. I was in my element and exactly where i needed to be. If you recall, the nation had been at war for a most seven years at that point. We had been in iraq for five years. 2008 was the end of a very successful search. We had them on the run. For my family, the constant deployments to iraq for a five times a year had become somewhat routine. Years. I would tell my wife and kids goodbye. I would be gone for the next 90 days. Missing holidays, birthdays, special occasions, and life at home went on without me. All i could think about was being home again. When i was home, all he could think about was getting back to iraq. All those years, and never really quite made it back home. That was our life. That was the routine. Im going to loosen this up, because i can hardly breathe. I call this my girdle. It gets my got sucked in. Gut sucked in. That was the routine for us. The 31st of may in 2008, i woke that day, showered and walked over to our hangar. I walked over to our Operations Center to report the daily status of my aircraft. They were shaping up was shaping up to be a routine night. Shaping up to be a routine night. We departed the airbase and headed for our Mission Support site in baghdad. We attended and operations brief. Headed for our Mission Support the brits are always fun to work with. Although we shared a common language, they were often very difficult to understand. Tom was the one who translated to american for us. The brief this night had a very heavy accent. I turned over to my guys and said did anybody understand a word he said . Everybody shook their head no. We were able to get a good translation and clarification and were good to go. Our mission that night was simple, one we had performed hundreds of times. It was 30 minutes south of baghdad. The ground force with linked up with fighting vehicles. They would ride to the objective. They would be difficult at the vehicle dropoff and then quietly and undetected walk up to the objective, where they would surround the target building. Once surrounding, they would call out the person of interest, the target. For us, it was low hanging fruit. Things got loud, meaning they had the assaults building. We would be called in to provide air support. We departed to proceed to our holding area. When we took off, i was in one of the rockets. Even at its gross maximum weight, the 650 engine with the rotor blades turning the night air. We lifted off into the sky. Climbing 300 feet, i called out our departure. Sometime after takeoff, when you hear a strange noise coming from the rear of the aircraft. This was the first and only indication of an impending failure of the engine to transmission. My copilot and i discussed the sound. Unable to determine the source, everything reading normal, no unusual vibrations. We continued our mission. Eventually, the noise all but ceased. June 1, midnight, zero illumination. Visibility was three miles. We had just arrived at the holding area. We were at a speed of 70 knots. Suddenly, it was a muffled but loud explosion coming from the rear of the aircraft. What that was was the kfx cufflink. We lost all power to our main rotor. We violently swerve to the left. We fell from the sky. I entered a descent and put the aircraft into a hard left turn. Simultaneously i made a mayday call on the radio. We were too heavy and falling fast. This was going to be a hard landing. My last memory of the landing was seeing the green blur of the ground rushing up to us through night vision goggles. I remember hearing the audio warning. We hit. The emergency to impact was less than 10 seconds. It was very surreal. If you have ever been any violent highspeed crash, you can pretty much relate to what it felt like. After the sound of the aircraft crash, the air leaving the lungs of our body, there was an eerie silence. Upon impact, my vertebrae burst. Paralysis was instant. I completed an emergency shutdown of the aircraft. Fearing we may be on fire, i yelled that we needed to get out. With my right hand i grabbed the door frame and attempted to step out. It was at that time i realized i could not move my legs. Then the pain kicked in. Greg had suffered a broken back and concussion. To this day, he has no memory of the crash or the events leading up to the accident. He was lying at the front of the aircraft. I grabbed my rifle and wanted to signal our sister ship. Greg heard the shots and was a bit loopy. He thought we were being shot at. He held they are shooting at us. I told him it was only me. I stopped shooting. I tried to contact the other ship. There was no success. There was nothing but dark. Nothing but pain. I checked my legs, hoping to find out that they had just been broken and i was in some sort of shock. At this point, i knew i had suffered a spinal cord injury. Images raced their my mind. They all told me the same thing. This was going to suck. After about 10 minutes, my friend steve suddenly appeared at my door and asked if we have been shot down. I told him no, i believe it was mechanical failure. He got myself and greg. A short time, two of our blackhawks landed with about 20 rangers. They secured the crash site. We were evacuated. Less than an hour after the crash, which is really remarkable, if you consider everything. Less than an hour, we were on our way to hospital. A hospital. A nurse handed me a phone and told me to call my life. I called mary. Mary had just walked into the front door when the phone rang. She was somewhat surprised to hear my voice. I asked if anybody from the unit had contacted her. My voice was calm and clear and i told her that id been in a bad crash and have broken my back. Mary was saddened that i would live a life of back pain but was relieved that i was ok. Then i told her i could not move my legs. She immediately went into crisis mode and had the frame of mind to have me talk to the kids. It would be a sleepless night for her and the kids. I am sorry. Our son simply asked if this meant if his dad ever had to go back to iraq again. Less than 20 hours, surgery was completed. I was on my way to walter reed medical center. The first three hospitals, i would spend my recovery and rehab. With mary by my side, we began our unwanted journey together. A spinal cord injury and paralysis is a very unique and complex injury. There were effects of injury that i never thought of that were then discovered. Beyond the loss of movement to my legs, there was loss of control of my bladder. Then theres the pain that never goes away. It is a very cruel injury. In those three months removed from walter reed, to the v. A. And shepherd center. I would learn more about this injury. Injury. I was focused on recovery and getting home, while mary was focused on what we needed once we were at home, including home and vehicle modifications. Together, we made a pretty good team. The next year was really all about learning the reality of being a paraplegic. Many hours were spent on the phone coordinating with doctors and the v. A. To get things done. Yet a learn how to patiently navigate our way through. In 2010, i was medically retired. That summer i began to work as a simulator flight instructor, teaching new aviators. Sometime that summer, if i remember correctly, at that time in my life it was pretty much a blur of change. I believe i fell into a depression. I fell into depression and a i definitely know i took out a lot of my anger and frustration out on mary. I was angry. I was ashamed of what i had become. I lost my selfworth as a soldier, as a man, as a husband, as a father. I had gone from being an elite special operations attack helicopter pilot, the alpha male fighting evil, to someone who could do very little for himself. In my mind, i was a failure. On the outside, i think i did a good job of covering it up. I tried to keep a smile on my face and a good attitude. I went to work, jumped around, tried to exercise you i tried to cover the pain and do my best not to complain. This injury was beating me down, and it was a death of a thousand cuts. I prayed to god that he would take this all for me. I prayed that it would just end. I wanted it all to be over. I have been to the edge and stared into that dark abyss. This is what i know. We are all here for a short amount of time, but we are here with and for a purpose. I truly believe that god has a plan for all of us. If it werent true, we would not be here now. I survived that crash, not because of mice. Her flight skills, although if you ask me i will do you how good i am. I believe i survived that night because god had a purpose for me. He was not done with the yet. It is for this reason that i chose, and my family chooses, to continue fighting together. We have never given up. When i prayed to god and told him i cannot do this, it was as if i heard him say you cannot do this alone. That is why i gave you your wife, your children, your friends, and you have me. If i heard him say you cannot do this alone. That is why i gave you your wife, your children, your friends, and you have me. God does not give you more than you can handle is not correct. He will give you more than you if i heard him say you cannot do can handle, but it is with him and through his strength that you will overcome and you will thrive. Mary and i have made a conscious choice to move on and live our lives to the best. We only not only to ourselves but our family and friends. We only to those who we have lost. Ive been given a Second Chance that many of my friends and fellow warriors did not get. I elect to those who did not come home to live a life worth living. It has been a tough road. In the end, i believe it will all be worth it. We have benefited from the kindness and generosity of many people. The exobionic skeleton purchased by the hero foundation. With this equipment we traveled the country, seeing and doing things i never thought possible. Talking to kids about advanced robotics and hopefully planting that small seed the mind of a child that will one day blossom into an idea to make changes in the world. We successfully completed an fda trial and it is now available to veterans of the v. A. We demonstrated that which was not too long ago thought impossible. I was honored to be the first paraplegic walk around the statue of liberty using the exoskelton. It was in april, for the First Time Since the accident that i was able to stand next to mary. I will never take for granted the Little Things in life. The Little Things like being able to get out of the bed in the morning and use the bathroom in less than two minutes, or the ability to climb three steps to knock on a neighbors door, or stand and hug my wife and kids. These things were lost to me. Some of them im getting back. As you saw in the video, i was able to walk my beautiful daughter down the aisle on her wedding day. Here is where i cant make eye contact with her because i will get choked up. I will stare right here. [laughter] gary i would offer the following advice. Trust in the lord, give thanks and remember each day is a gift. Get up every morning and find your purpose. Rewrite your story if needed, and discover what your why is. Why am i here . What is my purpose . It may not be what you thought it was but you have a purpose. Discover what it is and pursue it with everything you have. Surrender self of people you love, people who support you and will challenge you. These words of encouragement for each other. You never know what the simple words of encouragement will do for somebody. You may change their life. Bad things happen to good people. Throughout life at some point we will all face tragedies and hardships. Respectfully i say get over it. Ultimately you are responsible for your own happiness. You have to move on. No one ever said life would be easy. Accept the challenges of life cards you have been dealt to the best of your ability. In the end it will have been worth it. Lastly, never, ever quit. Thank you. [applause] [crowd noise] [crowd noise] [applause] to the left. Ok. Thats better. [laughter] [applause] we cant thank you enough for sharing the remarkable story with us. Lets give them one more round of applause. [applause] thank you. I know you have questions. I will try to take up too much time. Can we get a tissue up here . It squeezes the snot out of you. [laughter] i think watching you walk in and sit down, can you explain how the exoskeleton actually works . Gary it is basically the replacement of bone and muscles of my body. It fits around the outside of my body and mechanically and electrically it will stand me up. And then i will take control of it. I will activate it when i want to start moving. The way i walk is much like you would walk if you are going to step off with your left foot. You put your weight on your right foot and then you shift your cg forward. I do the same thing. When the device detects im within same parameters it will activate the step and i will continue to repeat that process. As long as i am shifting my weight and my cga, it will continue to work. How toit hard to learn walk . Its very intuitive. It is strange. I cant feel anything below my navel. It is kind of like balancing a broom on the tip of your finger in a way. Once i was able to trust the machine would stand me up and not let me drop to the ground it was just a matter of learning where those safe points were. It did about three days to learn it. After using the device after a couple of weeks or a month it was easy. I have seen videos and your son is helping you. How much are they actually doing in the movement . Gary once she stands me up, she has to activate the standing she handsd then control over to me and then she is there for safety purposes. If i can get the crutches to catch myself, thats how i do it. If im in a situation where im unable to get the crutches back, she can push me back into place. Do you know how you came to be the first person to receive an exoskeleton . Gary i will try to give you the cliff notes version. I have been involved in an organization. They are involved annually in an event hosted by American Airlines called skyball down in dallasfort worth. Every year they have a different theme. In the past is welcoming home power world war ii veterans or Vietnam Veterans or gulf war veterans. This particular year they were highlighting how robotics and technology were helping and influencing the lives of returning veterans. One of the folks that was on the board that year, his company had just made a major investment into xo bionics. Exobionics. Exoskeletons. Ut be great if we can bring one of these devices out to demonstrate it at sky ball. Jim, the director, said i know just the guy he will use. Yes if i would be interested in getting into the exoskeleton. I said absolutely. I flew to california and got trained over three days. About a month and a half later i walked out on stage. Are the limitations on how long you can use it or things you wish you could do but cant do yet . Gary the major limiting factor right now is battery power. That will always be an issue with devices like this. Depending on how much im walking, i can probably get an hour and a half out of one set of batteries. Then we can switch out the batteries. In total we can get about four hours. The battery life with the two sets. This device is limited to a flat, level surface without much of a rise. Can handle about three degrees of rise. It is unable to go up and down stairs at this point. Those are the major limiting factors right now. I wish i could run, climbed trees. In time, right . In time, one of these days. It will keep getting smaller. I have to ask the question. Some people name their boats or cars. Have you named the exoskeleton . Gary we have. Mary meet newman. Gary newman, give you remember newman from seinfeld. You are here with president bush. He mentioned you met him before. Can you explain how that happened . Gary shortly after returning from our first combat operations in afghanistan we came home. This was in april or may of 2002. Jsoc put on a capabilities exercise for the president. This was really president bushs first exposure and detailed briefing and demonstration of what the capabilities of jsoc were. It was some static displays for he was Walking Around and being everybody. I have the opportunity to meet him and shake cans with them. You did 19 overseas tours. What kept you going . Gary this will sound corny but its just a sense of duty, a sense of purpose. What we are fighting, this evil that is out there is something we have got to destroy. We will not do it sitting at home. I felt it was my job to go downrange and take the fight to the enemy. If nothing else, i would help keep us over there and not allow it to come home to the United States. [applause] being able to be a flight instructor, you able to keep that sense of purpose going . Gary somewhat. Its not as exciting. Im not scaring myself every night chasing rockets to the ground. I feel like i still have my finger in the next and unable to some way influence and help new aviators learn about the aircraft. A lot of it is not only our we teach systems in the simulator, but a lot of it is relating our combat experience to folks so they dont have to ok. We embellish a lot of stories. We tell war stories when we are but there on the console there is a purpose because many of the Lessons Learned in previous combat operations have been lost to us over the years here in if we can have people reminding us, telling us the Lessons Learned they will not be forgotten and they will continue on. Mary, can you share a few words about your journey throughout this . Mary i think thats when when we first did he was going to war i thought gary would either come home or he would not. The whole thing of a him coming home severely wounded did not really enter my mind. Gary was a pilot. To be very honest, my other friends, their husbands came home or did not. People rarely survive a helicopter crash. This whole thing of him being severely injured was not on the radar at all. I am very, very i consider myself one of the lucky ones. Im very thankful that gary did survive and thankful his mind is good. He is still the same person. His shoes last a lot longer. [laughter] mary he is shorter. Sometimes. Anyway, im thankful that i still have him. Immediately after he was injured lets figured out was my problemsolving mode and write it for a long time. And it still is. Last night president bush made a joke that he asked if you look at things differently that hes a painter. He looks into Ellen Degeneres eyes and think, i can make that color. When i enter a room i figure out how to navigate that room. Palette will get in and out. How he will get a rental car, how we will get everything to the airport. It is constant problem solving. Honestly am thankful for it. It is nice to have such a nice family. [applause] gary a funny story about shoes. One of the guys i work with he had an old pair of shoes. He was fixing to get rid of them. They still looked good on top. The bottoms looked wellworn. I asked if i could have those shoes. It would make me look a little more normal if the soles were worn. You must get stopped every day and asked the same questions over and over. Does it ever get tiring . Gary now because people are naturally curious. I will never fault someone for asking a question. Everyone has always been respectful. I was raised, and when i came up in the army, everyone has a thick skin. If you are insulted you moved on. I welcome questions from people because there is a lot about paralysis and injuries that are a mystery to people up there. If people are aware of what is like or what its about, maybe challenges you. I think it helps us all to make the world better place for folks dealing with special circumstances. I think thats a great need to taking audience questions. This is being recorded and the only way the camera can hear you is different microphone is brought to you. Right there. Thank you for your service. Did you have the option of jettisoning the rocket pods . Gary yes, we did. It seems after any kind of aircraft accident changes are made. One of the changes made to our aircraft was where the jettison panel for the rockets were. Where they were at the time of my accident was below the difficult control and to get to. We were going into combat operations. My copilot was hanging out the door with a rifle. It happened so quick. There just was not time in the 10 seconds or less to reach down and jettison the rockets. Now they moved the jettison panel to the Center Console where its very easy to reach up and hit those and jettison them. Right here on the end. Right here. My question is about the exoskeleton. Is this a first generation . Will there be new and improved ones to come . And how many people do you think are eligible now, and will the v. A. Provide them with an exoskeleton . Gary this one is the second generation. They are constantly working to improve their devices. On monday we are going up to berkeley, california to have some testing for the next model. Yes, they continue to improve. They want to make it lighter, more powerful, or functional. Because of the successful fda trials, these devices are available to carefully jakes theo paraplegics through veterans administration. They had to get tested and meet the criteria that they are premanufactured like ford or chevy. Competition is helping drive innovation. But if an individual meets the criteria to safely refitted for operating these devices, they are eligible to have them at home through the v. A. I salute you. I want to thank you your service, prior to the injury and since. And thanks to your lovely wife. Her job is certainly as special as yours was. My question to you is this, after spending time in a wheelchair and you spend a lot of time standing, has your physiology changed . Gary a little bit. What i found is moving helps the circulation and the swelling of the legs. It helps with the bladder. With bowel. It seems to be better when youre up and walking. The human body is not meant to sit for long periods time. I have been sitting for nine years so im ready to get up and walk around. There is physiology that seems to be better. Bone density. From the scans i have had it has improved a little bit. It is not gotten as bad as they someone,ect it to for decreased thehas density i lose over time. Then there is the ability to stand up and converse with someone. Look them in the eye. Your dignity back. Walking down the aisle was something that i was looking forward to because the character she married is a really good guy. [laughter] gary he is a good guy, but i always dreaded getting her down the aisle because it did not know how i was going to do it. I did not want to do it in a wheelchair. When the exoskeleton came along, it was a match made in heaven, a dream come true. Im glad we were able to do it. It meant a lot to us. Hi, gary. Thank you for your service. One question i thought of, you did 19 tours. How many the think he would have done if you didnt get in the accident . I probably would have kept going until i hit 30 years service. I have friends that my fellow [applause] [laughter] i have friends that deploying after i stopped. They worked around 30 or so. Keep in mind, rotations over there were somewhat different, words like conviction of horses going over there for 1215 months. Through his rainier where from 3090 days. We over there for 45 times the year. Thank you. Has a c4 level quadriplegic, i can unfortunately can relate to a lot of what you have been discussing here today. My question to you, as you pursue things, constantly trying to get Recovery Companies technologies used technology to advantage, do you have any suggestions or knowledge that might help people that cant use their arms . Thats difficult. Its hard for me to understand completely that someone who doesnt have the use of their arms is going through. I do remember when i was in shepherd center, one of the gentleman i was in with, he had a high neck injury. He was able to stand, but he couldnt use his hands. Him saying, if only i could have my hands back. I understand, but it dont know completely what i would say those my participate in a program called the congressionally directed Research Program i see a lot of research that has been proposed that there are a lot of credit is coming on the pipeline. I would say, dont give up hope. Make the best of what you have. Always be hopeful that tomorrow we will learn something more about this injury, how to overcome it. Theres a lot of similarity, betweenas there can be erickson where into a lake at the and 19 im not familiar, im sorry. There are so many people who have gone before me that have an injured. Many are able to accomplish ive seen people who are highlevel quadriplegics who can start drive cars, race cars. And i see people that are hundred more severely than myself, and theyre able to accomplish and do its like, how can i quit, when they are doing so much . Thank you so much for your service. Was this your first field crash . Ive been involved in one where we crashed downtown baghdad, a couple years prior. More of a hard landing to contamination. My craft was the first and last bad one, i guess. Thank you. Thank you for your service. I admire both of you. The helicopter malfunctioned fatigueue to equipment defect or has that been resolved . They were never quite able to determine why this cufflink fell what they did was that somewhere in the maintenance process, it totally aligned over time, vibrations continue to go until it reached a critical point and. Following that accident or a our inspectedet, they and determined it was just an isolated event. Ive a question about the exoskeleton. I was curious whether you were able to put it on by yourself or how hardsistance and is that process . I need assistance. It takes about five minutes, but intoard to get my legs position, get the strap on and everything. Thank you. I just want to thank you and your wife family for coming, this has been awesome, and for your service, thank you. I wonder how much this costs, and if this could be available to regular civilians. Counselingu do any with veterans . I do, i am involved with a Organization Called the coalition i will go talk to them, and hopefully mentor them. Of course the current cost of prohibitive. N is 110,000. However, as the systems develop, cheaper. Get other manufacturers that have been able down the cost point. So i think in time, and state continue to drop to become more affordable, available to everyday consumers. We are only going to take two more questions one over here, one over there. Thank you both, i was forwarded to the program very much. I have a question for both of you. What role did physical therapy play in your recovery . For my particular injury, and level of injury, there was not a lot of physical therapy to recover any kind of function. So my physical therapy pretty much as good of learning to transfer at least for the wheelchair, how can you preserve the functionality in my body that i have. To maintain it as long as possible as i age. Mary just getting him in and out of bed was a production. He was trying to get in and out you get a fresh packet, his spine was just fused, and we doesnt have has arms and shoulders. What i never ever thought about when i saw somebody in a abdominal was muscles. How to sitearn again. He had to learn how to sit again because he did not have that muscle. We hit it hard every day and figured it out. Once, she was driving and took a corner and i flopped over and said, hey, i am just a torso over here. Laughter] the first time we went, we twoably got a pass, maybe or three weeks after he was first injured to go somewhere. To the px. I was very protective of him, of course and he wanted to go look at something. I do zines or something and i was like, i cant leave him. I thought, ok he is not in second grade. He went in i thought, ok i will come and find you. But i could not find him because he was so short. Theuld not see him over clothing racks or anything else i was calling him on his cell phone and he did not answer and did not answer you and i was about to go get security to help me look more him and i said, i have been calling you and he said, oh, the phone was on vibrate and it was under my leg. [laughter] we have learned a lot. Do have one final question . Were going to thank you so much for sharing your journey with us and everyone in the audience. It has been a pleasure to meet you. Thank you so much. [applause] i am with the archivist of the United States, you talked about the mission of the national archives. How has that changed in a Digital Media era . Rides it has gotten more exciting. The use of electronic mail, the creation of government records and electronic format, the social media to accomplish the work of the government has influenced the way we do our business here. Do you get a sense of how much that digital archive you store and how that compares with the paper archive you have . In terms of paper, we have about 13 billion pieces of paper and 43 million photographs and about 6 billion electronic records. Of giving aa way sense of that, we started collecting electronic mail during the Ronald Reagan administration, about 2. 5 million email messages, 20 million from the Clinton White house, two hundred 10 million from the bush 43 white house and 220 million from the obama white house. So that tells you where were going in terms of electronic records. Twitter, facebook, are those official records of the United States . Certainly is. We got a lot of experience during the Obama Administration collecting weights. We have all of the obama weights and we are now collecting the President Trump tweets. Went weights are deleted comments and still part of the official record . We collect them. How has your staffing changed to handle the larger influx of the digital side of this process . S the staff size has not the step size has not grown dramatically but the competency of the staff certainly has changed in terms of the skills that we have now and the kind we are recruiting for a new staff members. Archivists tough time . This is the toughest time to be an arc of us. I excel you changing the future of the archives do deal with that . Were responsible for providing the guidance to the executive branch and the white house about how to use technology to do the business and making sure they are creating and maintaining and transferring those records. The challenges shifting the antigovernment to allelectronic recordkeeping process. An attempt to gauge the American Public in a work were doing. We know they have a lot of expertise so providing them opportunities to help us do our work. We have as i said 13 billion pieces of paper, a lot of those are in cursive. Cursive is not taught in schools anymore so we have a project that the American Public is helping us with, to transcribe records that are in cursive so that its today can see our can actually read the records of the country. That is one example of citizen archivists. What are examples of other projects you have in the works right now . Toopportunities for people help us identify people and photographs. 43 million photographs. We dont have all the information about them so we have a number of them that people are identifying people and places for us. Things like that. Thank you so much. Announcer funguses out on their 11day recess but when members return next week they will have three weeks before the monthlong august recess. Among the issues coming up, working on Health Care Replacement negotiations. Members are meeting with constituents during the break and different groups are airing at in states where key senators reside. The concessional Budget Office will offer a draft on the upcoming planned this coming thursday. That a jet is federal spending beginning in the new budget year october first. Andgovernment has its limit will decide whether to raise the limit and tie other issues to that vote. The Congress Returns to capitol hill next wednesday. President trump leaves for a series of meeting with World Leaders in germany and poland. First he will head to warsaw for the summit which includes leaders from the Central States and the balkans. He then heads to hamburg for the g 20 summit where he is expected to have his first facetoface meeting with president vladimir putin. Chancellor Angela Merkel of germany, president xi of china and president hollande up japan. Abbe of japan. Compromising values with beliefs. Opening their eyes to other people so that you can figure out your place in this infinite world. Cohost and managing editor of ms. Nd see on the media, gladstone discusses her book the trouble with reality a rumination on moral panic in our time, at which she looks at what constitutes reality in our time and how that has changed over the years. I set up at the beginning of the book our biological wiring and i wanted to show how we have involved a culture that was notgned to validate us and to challenge us. Certainly not to contradict us. It gave us the illusion that our realities where watertight, when really they were riddled with weak spots and places that would crunch in. Announcer sunday night at 8 00 eastern on cspans hugh and a. Q a. A panel debated the apple on whetherdispute Tech Companies should be required to help the government execute search warrants to acquire data. The attorney general, who altered memos regarding the use of enhanced interrogation techniques and former security secretary michael chernow. By thes hosted intelligence squared u. S. Foundation and the National Constitution center in san francisco. [applause] and, speaking of the applause energy, again because ma