Hat issue something that you can rally republicans and democrats behind. Both republicans and democrats in the congress and republicans and democrats in the country. There will be fringes on the extreme right and extreme left that wont go along, but i think the vast majority of the people will. This is an opportunity, mr. President , to pull the country together. Secondly, it is an opportunity to show real leadership, to take this issue and explain it to the American People and lay out the program for dealing with it. This is an opportunity for you to step forward and, frankly, mr. President , rebut the critics who unfairly criticize you for not showing enough readership. This is an issue for you. It is important, mr. President , because i think there is a good chance that how you react to this crisis will have a major impact on your legacy. I would try it. I dont know if it would work, but that is what i would try. This has been a rich, and informative discussion on this topic today. Please join me in thanking our guests. [applause] u. S. Airstrikes continued in iraq today, including the first reported use of landbased bombers against the Islamic State extremist groups. Central command said the combination of bombers, jets, planes, and drones hit targets near mosul. Says themilitary forces conducted 14 airstrikes on sunday after nine strikes on saturday. Tomorrow morning on the washington journal, the latest on the situation in iraq, where the kurdish population is in the northern part of the country. We are joined by the director of the of the washington dc office. President ussion on Lyndon Johnsons goals when improving education in the 1960s, part of our weeklong look at the great society. We will get comments as well , hereacebook and twitter on cspan. A look at the prime time lineup for next week, starting at eight eastern on monday, a debate on genetically modified food. Tuesday, and issues spotlight on the General Motors safety recall with highlights from the new york ideas forum, including the cancer biologists. Thursday we look at Climate Change and friday we look at the important sites in history of the civil rights movement. Book tv in prime time. Tuesday night at 8 00, afterwards. And then the writers of the second machine age talk about new technology fundamentally changing life and discussion on. Olitics with Robert Ehrlich friday, at 8 p. M. Eastern, indepth. American history tv is on cspan three, we have an entire week of the civil war and a look at the overland came Overland Campaign in virginia and the battle of fort stevens. Wednesday night, the anniversary of the union defeat. Thursday, the capture of atlanta and general shermans march to the sea. Friday, a look at hollywoods for trail of slavery. And the schedule one week advance on our website and let us know what you think about the programs you are watching. Join the cspan conversation. Like us on facebook, follow us on twitter. That theygers said are can considering the rule of law when gathering intelligence. His comments came when speaking about the future of the nsa. This is 15 minutes. Well, good evening. Can you hear me in the back . Can you hear me in the back . Excellent. First and foremost, thank you for taking time out of your busy lives to spend it together with us this evening to rear. To be honest, i was shocked to do an event in bc in the middle of august. I just didnt think there would be many people here tonight. Thank you for your willingness to take time out of your busy lives to spend some time. I am also grateful because frankly im here tonight for several reasons. First and foremost, many of you have heard me talk about this the commander of the United StatesCyber Command i am a Firm Believer that public ilog and transparency is an important part of securing our Mission Today and in the future. We have got to be willing to have a public dialogue. So, when i was asked if i would be willing to do this, i said no restrictions on media or questions. If we do this, rogers goes in with his eyes open. Because i think that is important. There is no doubt that one of my primary missions is to represent the hardworking men and women of the National Security agency and help the American Public understand who they are, what they do, and why they do it. Quite frankly, we havent had much discussion about that. The National Security agency, in simple terms, is tasked to defend the nation and its allies, comply with the rule of law, and be sure we always ran accountable to the american beat all. That is what we are about. Defending the nation, our allies , following the rule of law, and always remembering that remain we remain accountable to the citizens that we defend. Much of the debate about these capabilities has been highlighted around what nsa can do. What we have not talked much about is the context in which the capabilities are applied. One of the policies and legal met legal mechanisms in place to make sure that those capabilities are not misused against the citizens we would defend . What leads us to believe that the things that nsa does are in the best interests of the nation and our allies . Small partjob in no because i believe in the National Security agency and its mission. It does not mean we are perfect. You will not hear me say that. You will hear me say that we are committed to the rule of law and we will be held accountable and that when we make mistakes, we will stand up and acknowledge that and use the very compliance mechanisms put in place internally within the agency and, perhaps more importantly, using the broader set of thernal criteria made up congress, the courts, the department of justice, our teammates when we make a mistake, we will acknowledge it. In fact, much of what you have read has flowed from nsa Self Reporting where we have made mistakes and not wrongfully followed our own procedures. I highlight that in the course of the last few months you have reviews ofle public what nsa does, for example, in compliance with fisa 702, the 215 section, by external who have looked at us and said that nsa is complying with the law and has a robust set of mechanisms in place to make sure we dont abuse the information that we collect and that it is appropriately protected. It doesnt mean we are perfect, but i am proud of what weve put in place. In no small part because we have learned from our past mistakes. We implemented a pretty extensive Compliance Organization back in 2009, because we realized we needed to do things better. My compliments to general alexander and predecessors for his commitment to the idea of compliance and oversight. To do our mission, we have to do that. Aere is much debate and it is good one as a nation to talk betweene right balance the needs to ensure our security and the needs to ensure the recognition of the rights of our citizens . And it is not either or. We have got to address the valid concerns. The harder challenge to me, in some ways, is the acknowledgment between secrecy and transparency. That is the challenge for me as an intelligence professional. If i am honest i have spent my whole life thinking about protecting sources, methods, making sure that what we do is not compromised and that our ability to continue to do it remains intact . I realize that as an Intelligence Leader in the 21st century rogers, you have to be willing to talk to a broader set of people and in broad terms about what we do and why we do it. I am very comfortable with what nsa does and why it does it. Because i believe that we defend the nation and its allies. We follow the rule of the law and we always remember that we remain accountable to the American People. Accountability comes in many forms. It could be the congress that execute the oversight of our functions, the courts to grant us the authority to do what we do in many cases we have to make a case, in many cases, to a federal court to get permission to do what we do. Nobody writes us a blank check or gives us permission for a finite purpose for a finite. Of time. If we want to continue beyond that, we go back to the court to make a case again. When we make mistakes, weve got to make sure that we report to the court of we have failed in our compliance. The other challenge i have is the director of nsa, as i tell the organization about its new trapped, we cannot be by the past. We have got to learn from the past and drive. There is a mission that the nation depends on. Almost every major operation that i can think of that we as a nation have done in the course of the last year, for example, many other elements of the Intelligence Committee community have played a role. That is a good thing for the citizens of this country and for our allies. Are noter forget, we only about supporting the United States, but we are also about supporting our allies and i spent a great deal of my time as director ensuring that those partnerships remain focused on the future, remembering what it was that brought us together in the first ways. My challenge is how do i make sure that nsa remains effective in executing its mission . How do i make sure that we are positioned as the world around us changes to make sure that we maintain relevance and capabilities, always mindful to obey the rule of law as citizens of the nation that we defend . And that what we need to be doing now that if we dont do in five years to 10 years, we will be in real trouble . Another area i would give general alexander great marks is i was always impressed, early in his time as the director, and can remember talking to him about and him telling me about the efforts we needed to make now that would not be a factor for five or 10 years but if we didnt do it now, the person behind him will challenges. Thats hard and hard to do in an environment where the budget pressure is increasing, not decreasing. We have enjoyed relatively steady increases in funding over the course of the last decade. A reflection in large part on the strategic situation we found ourselves in as a nation and the two wars that we fought in which many, many of our countrymen made the ultimate sacrifice and came back fundamentally changed. Not only sacrificing in many cases their lives, but they became fundamentally different individuals. I think about them all the time. As we move into the future i am constantly thinking to myself what do we need to do to make sure that we remain relevant to those men and women around the world . Average citizens, traveling the world who find themselves in dangerous circumstances and bad situations . We are here to try to make a difference in all of those scenarios. Nothing to apologize for. When we do it, we always remember to obey the rule of law and be accountable to the citizens of the nation. ,verything we have done to date it has been about the law being correct. You could argue that the policy is or isnt something we need to be doing, but no one has come back to say that nsa has failed to follow the law or meet its obligations in ensuring that we protect the information that we collect in the course of our duties. It does not mean that we are perfect. But i fundamentally believe in what we do. I fundamentally believe what we do and how we do it. Will you stand for a minute if you were formerly an employee . I know there are some of you here. The reason i ask you to stand is because rogers gets the attention as a director, but what really matters to me are the men and women like this who have dedicated themselves to ensuring the defense of our citizens and allies. I just wanted to say thank you very much. [applause] as i think to myself about how we build the future, partnerships are incredibly important to the future. I have always agreed that the future to me is about integration and maximizing partnerships. Another reason why i am here tonight, i want to be public in saying that i need the help and capability that many of you in this room and others around the world bring to bear. You cant do this alone. The u. S. Government being the driver of technology . Thats not our scenario for the 21st century. The nsa needs good partners. They have two primary missions. To gain insight about the world around us and nations who would like to gain an advantage over us and groups, who if they have their way, literally every one of us would be dead. Think about that much in this society, but think about what we take for granted. A Stable Society in which the and thelaw is respected rights of individuals are codified in law. We have been blessed with that for 238 years. Take it for granted. You go around the world today and it flat out doesnt exist in other places. There are groups and individuals who if they have their way the entire idea of the inherent right of the individual to make choices in their lives would not exist. There are groups and individuals who believe that everything we stand for as a nation is diametrically opposed to their view of the world and the only way that thereve you can triumph is if we arent here anymore. I am not someone who jumps up and down and says see how terrible the world is . Know i am sometimes amazed by people who act as though we have no significant challenges out there. We have been fortunate as a september ofince 2001, we have managed to forestall Foreign Terrorists on u. S. Soil. We have had some domestic able tobut we have been foil those external to the United States who attempted to create in some form the events of 9 11, but we have lost citizens from around the world, not just u. S. Citizens, people from around the world whose only mistake was they picked a particular day to go to work in an Office Building or a particular day to do business and office will bring. But they went to work at the pentagon. Or they were on the wrong aircraft. Almost 3000 of them lost their lives. The individuals who perpetrate that remain out there. Remember that. Now, as i said, it is all about finding a balance. It is not either or. If the price of a cheese and achieving security is becoming something we are not, then they have one. And i have no desire to fundamentally compromised the rights at the heart of what is america. As the nsa director i am always mindful of those rights and am always mindful of what makes america america. I am always mindful of the values of our allies and partners. We arent in this alone. Help. Aid, i need your i need strong partners. The men and women of the National Security agency need strong partners. You got to see some of that here tonight. Once we conclude we will have something to eat and a session after dinner where i will take questions and answers and we will take it from there, but let me conclude again by thanking you for being here tonight, thanking you for your willingness to be part of a dialogue because we need a dialogue and as a nation we have to make some tough choices and make a wellinformed dialogue as part of those choices. Weve got to realize there is a wide range of opinions out there. Dialog represents multiple viewpoints. At its heart that is the strength of america. The idea that we can bring together lots of individuals with lots of different viewpoints and, yet, we can still remember who we are and what we are about. So proudhat makes me to be the director of the National Security agency because i believe in its mission and its men and women and i am proud to stand up and say i am the director and stand up and say i am a member of the nsa team and i will not apologize for that to anyone. Thank you very much for your time. Have a great dinner. I look forward to answering your questions. Thank you very much. [applause] Admiral Mike Rogers followed his remarks with q a for about half of an hour, joined onstage by terry roberts. So, welcome to my living room. Its a nice, little intimate chat that we are going to have this evening. Questions, we will start with those, but please send cards and letters. Some of you have already, but theyre like two pages long. Help me out, keep them nice, brief, and punchy, and we will try to get through as many as we can. So, welcome. First of all, i want to thank continuing to do your engagement and unclassified environments so that we can actually have conversations. You may not know, but mike rogers did his first unclassified session with me back in 2011. Justis not something he is doing because now he is the director of nsa. This is a continuation of something he has been doing for a long time. So, i was reading an article recently that the nato summit really . [laughter] , ando summit in two weeks one of the items on the agenda is the Cyber Defense policy. I dont know if you and your team, how directly involved you are, but what do you think some of the key points of a cyber from a policy commanders perspective should be . Before i answer the question, again, thank you very much. 2100 a Beautiful Company chair here. What do i think might be the elements of a Cyber Defense policy . Verse thing that is important is a recognition that Cyber Defense is not something that one single entity is going to do, that to be successful in this area it is about the partnerships i talked about, about harnessing the pardon harnessing defense in those sectors. Madef the commentaries within our own department is trying to figure out the future and the reminding everybody that it is about partnerships. How do we enable the partnerships to share information like how we are trying to do right now . As Cyber Command, the direction i have from the secretary of is that they are on order, so be prepared to a devise critical Critical Infrastructure. To do that, Cyber Command cannot do it alone. Partners. Me the partners often include information sharing both ways. If i put on my nsa hat, there is an insurance mission that i talked about that has an important set of capabilities to in providingrnment clear defensive capabilities. The challenge for me is i am not in those Critical Infrastructure networks. Nor would you necessarily want me. To create partnerships where the people that operate those can share information with us and i, in turn, can share information with them. These are the tactics and procedures. These are the things i think you need to work for. It that twoway dialogue. So great. What are you experiencing on your networks . I am interested in taking a look at those nationstates. When talking to my nato allies as a member of the alliance, one of the things we , ands try to highlight what you heard from chuck in this job, over the last decade it is the ultimate team sport. My experience leads me to believe that this is not the answer. I will keep on the International Theme for little while. Can you discuss how we are working, the royal we, how you are working with the director and the rest of the National Security team to build back trust with our allies . And International Prep for u. S. Companies . The first thing i would say is that for the majority of our foreign partners, we dont have a trust deficit, but clearly there are some real concerns. We each realize that we need each other. The partnerships that you keep hearing me talk about . Those are those relationships and ardor ships that we have with key allies and friends overseas. Them, they need us. This is a twoway street. To make the relationships work we each have to acknowledge that , though it sounds like different viewpoints, will come to a different conclusion. When you are a true ally, its amazing what you can work through with some of these challenges. In the long run, we all alternately remember that it goes back to my comments before dinner where i talked about defending our citizens in this nation, and our allies, and that we need each other to do that. It doesnt matter if you are in asia or south america, i welcome partnerships and asked my partners what nsa can what can nsa do to support you . Thats not a partnership or to relationship. I really want a Partnership Technology that there are times when there will be a difference of opinion. All i ask is that we keep talking to each other and work through this. The first 100 days. There you go. Right about now you should start to have a sense of your Top Priorities are for nsa and for cyber crime. [indiscernible] [laughter] we want to know your stretch goals. One goal as the commander of the u. S. Cyber command is to create the Cyber Mission force for the department. Them ask about the legacy of Cyber Command i would say that we created and operationalize the force and enable the Strong Foundation of partnerships for long time. Creating a longstanding isndation where cyber considered a normal operation. Not something specialized. Look, cyber and the ability to , something wefend are likely to live in for the , you have gotves to be able to operate in that kind of environment. I try to tell it to operational commanders, that they have to own the operational set. With your chief Information Officer you say go and do good stuff. As a commander you have to understand the risks you are taken and how that enables your broader capabilities. In the end it is all about risks. It is critical for this nation and its allies. Down. Do it with her head we have got to get our head up and focus on the mission. It is about following the rule of law and showing accountability. As always we do that we dont cut any code we dont cut any corners and we will be fine. Is making priority sure that even as we lose capabilities because of canromises, that we regenerate those capabilities. My third thing, really, as you heard me say in the opening remarks, these are not going to pay off for five to 10 years, but if we dont do it then, our successors are going to go what in the heck were rodgers and those guys doing . I believe you can see that future coming. I know that there are some things we have to do a little we are part of a and just one element of the Intelligence Community and it is amazing what we can do when working together on immigration. M honored to partner with further with john brennan at the and it is amazing what we do when we create strong, integrated partnerships. That is the future of the intelligence profession. We have something going on that we call the icu imperative. In my own words it is sort of of the National Security arena in the digital age. How do you maintain relevance in the digital age . Actually providing that extra. We believe that it might be a crime when the paradigm shifts, starting with sensitive sources and then seeing what else is out in the open source arena, perhaps starting with unclassified data, analytics, inside information, and then focus sensitive methods on the gaps. If you are not thinking about this, how are you approaching the digital age . Misunderstanding, but it sounds to me as though you are characterizing this as one versus the other. Right. One of the projects were working on right now how do we do signal intelligence in our own environment . It is a cultural issue for us. With unclassified connections around you, what do we know we are going to say . Level and gosecure to a different place many times. The vision for us in the future is how we bring those together to work on them simultaneously. Unclassified with a vision that i think we have for which is how to provide analysts and workforces with simultaneous access to both. It is amazing i will be honest, the ones with the challenge are not the young members of the workforce. Theyre like this is what i do at home, whats the big deal. Part of me says look, there are clearly technical challenges and risks but we want to go in with our eyes open. But we have got to bring these together. It is not either or. Living in the Digital World we have now it excites the heck out of me. There are great opportunities out there to generate greater insight amongst our allies. Technology is going to help us with accountability. It is not a risk. It is an opportunity. You were talking about the millennials. You have two, i have two. There are real challenges to recruiting and retaining and enabling them in the National Security arena and having, as you talked about, the right. Kill set you might not be able to do it with military only. You might have to have civilian integration there. Or you might have to have new ways of integrating contractor support. There is a sort of dynamic going power in general. What is your thinking . You do need both. The kuiper palance for us, in no particular order, i dont see certain things changing. Civilians if you look at the security,for national we have got to create a structure that harnesses the capabilities of all of those. The biggest thing i am interested in trying to do as the director of nsa is how do andreate mechanisms structure that will enable the workforce to work with us on the outside, Silicon Valley or other elements, potentially coming back. This idea for the future, many of you shipmates here tonight will tell me to start by talking about you. I am always routinely amazed by these people. I am going to do a session next week with a young lady who has been with us for 50 years. Im glad you said young. One of the things i spoke to leadership about was hey, that has a lot of positives to it, but on the flipside if we are not careful we will be a very insular organization. What do we do to create a more permanent membrane . I want them to get experience in the industry and in the corporate sector. Whatt them to understand drives the technical investments and the cuttingedge technologies. I never spoke never thought that as a naval officer i would be spending time with venture capitalist. Why . I want some of the best educators they have. Theyre willing to invest money into what they think will be the years, fivehat two years from now will form a baseline. They won monetary return. I am interested in understanding the technology that will be out there in a few years. I think we have got to create a workforce where you can move back and forth. How do we go to the Public Sector for internships . You want to send some people to work with us for a few years . I can put them to good use, show them what we do. We will have to sign nondisclosure agreements, essentially, but i want them to understand what we do. This will help them in those partnerships. One of the corporate sector challenges is that we dont understand or know each other well. Id like to see what we can do to try to change that. What shapes the corporate world . What things are many of you concerned about . What shapes your world view, what concerns you . What is it about nsa that you want to get a better understanding of . They sell everything you know, you think you are uncomfortable. I want people to form their opinions from fact, not conjecture. Not from a website view of the world. They have got to make up their mind as to what theyre comfortable with. The royal we hear a lot of government seniors talking about new kinds of partnerships, new kinds of relationships with industry and academia. But we dont see a lot of new mechanisms put in place. And i am not talking about the acquisitions. The ability tout have the open betting and sharing of ideas. Getting folks in government to articulate the requirement to have those insights. Is there any part of your plan that is about how you put those new partnerships in place . As you set the left and right limits, rogers is not the guy who sits here and tells you every step. We have been doing this for a long time. But i have done is provide the Leadership Team with a series of tasks, and this is one of them, where you come back to me on the phone. Partnershipsreat with the undersecretary of defense. Looking at most examples we have been granted authorities to change the pay scale on most of the technical fields. We approached our partners and said look, i think that we need to go about doing this differently. It is great to see them come back and say, make a case for what you want to do there. Very positive and the web for us. We love what we do and want to stay working, but i could make a lot more money on the outside and work a lot less hours. Frankly, i wouldnt have my neighbors looking at me and wondering if they could trust me. Have thosereasons i men and women stand up tonight is because nsa is about motivating people that want to make a difference. Not to go to work everyday thinking about in discriminating indiscriminate collecting data against people they dont know. That today they want to abuse their authorities in a way that has nothing to do with their mission. That is not what motivates those men and women. To make a difference. They want to do the right thing for the right reason. They are energized by the fact that they tell themselves that they go home every night trying to keep america and their allies safe. They are just like you. About thedont think world around them. I am honored to work with them. [applause] i had quite a few questions that i will roll into one. It is about the backlash. It has been getting established and they are putting the relationships in place. Where is ciber come sitting between authority, acquisition, capability visavis the services . I think you get that. U. S. Cyber command sets the standards. Skills you will have, and this is the training needed. For the services. The service are tasked with the responsibility to generate capability. Terms, we do have some authority. Under the current construct, u. S. Cyber command does not focus on acquisition. I dont buy or generate it ability. I stayed operational requirements. I dont go out and design them. That is what services do. I say that as a guy who just finished two and a half years at the navy, Component Commander for cyber. Thatdiscussion about, is the right longterm view to change that, is there a model we want to look at . I just sat down today and spent about an hour and a half. The question i posed to the team about we are coming up halfway through this Cyber Mission. Have a good vision for the future. We have a good set of standards. Broadk we have a operational concept. How are we going to generate true combat readiness . To me, it is like a ship. Like a carrier. Years or soht building it. The day it is commission, contractor turns it over to the u. S. Navy and we have a ceremony and on that day we certify everything on that ship works. Contractor has met their obligations. Crews manned at 100 . Every member of that crew has achieved qualifications that enable that ship to operate safely. We spend 12 to 24 months to train that carrier. Ciber is no difference. That . W are we going to do theocus on commissioning teams. That is great, but it does not get to war fighting skills. The nation is counting on us. We are spending a lot of money focused on that. As you can imagine, we have a few questions related to snowden. Many elements of government media and the public seem to be displaying an antinsa sentiment. How do you get the public to understand that nsa is clearly mandated legal roles and responsibilities, and its commitment to ensure we talked about that at a high level. Are there some specific things that you and your team are doing , especially with the new onslaught of articles today that came out . I think there is a couple things. This is not what is going to define us. Im not going to spend my time focused on this. We need to focus on the mission and do the right things for the right reasons the right way, defend the nation and our allies, follow the rule of law, a laser member we are accountable. That in mind, and we will be fine. Is that i think about, how do we address this knowledge deficit amongst some . Weng the components are have probably declassified, partnering we have probably than iified more stuff can remember in my entire career. We are trying to ask ourselves, so, what can we do to help en sure the nation has a sense for what we do and why . You have got to be willing to do it. Wrong, wet it [inaudible] we have to be willing to acknowledge that. We are not perfect. Is trying to systematically undermine the rights of our citizens, trying to systematically bypass the laws that we are required to execute. We are looking at disclosing more information than we ever have before. There is media here. They need to be here. Im not screening questions thet you need to ask what audience has in mind and we will take it from there. Is,her point i try to make it cannot just be about nsa defending nsa. It needs to be part of a broader dialogue. I am the first to admit if it will just be about nsa talking about nsa, we are missing the boat. Nsa needs to be a part of this dialogue. It needs to be much broader. Understand, there is a Legal Framework and position out there. We just dont unilaterally decide what were going to do and how we are going to do it. We have a set of policy mechanisms that help shape what nsa focuses its foreign Intelligence Mission on. Of core directed compliance requirements where we have to make a case, in many cases, to get the authority or permission to do what we do. We have regular congressional oversight, where we have to notify and i have to testify as well as privately for our primary oversight committee. Part of the challenge in this is if we are honest with each other, the mechanisms of governance within our nation right now do not enjoy broad trust and competence among our citizenry. That is a tough thing to acknowledge. It doesnt help us as a nation. It is the case. One thing i try to tell the team out of fort meade is, i am not going to waste my time wishing the world was a certain way. We are going to acknowledge the way the world is. We are going to be effective in doing that. We just have to acknowledge that this is part of this challenge. Much of what we structured originally was we insured congress as the elected representative of the citizens bring thetion will primary tools to ensure compliance. We find ourselves in a situation where much of our public does not trust many elements or has low confidence in many elements of our government. You do when your Compliance Strategy was founded on that approach . Hopefully you will see some things over the course of the next few months im not here to sell anything. Im not here to convince anybody. Stick to the facts